The Recovery Movement had its big push in the 80’s and 90’s. It was followed by cognitive therapy and medications.

The movement did not go away, rather it went underground and into the night of church basements every where. It combines the theory that most problems are learned and that the culture of America is inherently addictive. HELLER (2005) NEW REPUBLIC, 7/4/27-30.

The start was probably with Alice Miller whose emphasis was on exploring early child hood traumas and later combining it with the 12 step movement and genetic inheritance. The total package is a paradigm that can be understood by many lay people and can be used to help each other and themselves.

CARNES (1992) DON’T CALL IT LOVE-RECOVERY FROM SEX ADDICTION (NEW YORK: BANTAM BOOKS) ON PAGE 384, notes that addiction is encouraged and then condemned. Media and related glamorizes sex. Culture enables and confuses its members about sex.

To beat the blues and pathology of sexual addiction, an individual most go through the 12 steps, take a personal inventory of child hood traumas and abstain or replace with a non-harmful obsession with the help of a higher power.

The process is live long. Tax payers don’t pay a dime for most of the activities listed above. It appears to work and that ain’t bad.