Lust, Anger, Love

Book excerpt: Sexual addiction is a problem that affects millions of people. Maureen Canning, LMFT, who has extensive experience treating sex addicts, explains its roots and how those afflicted can recover. This book also explains the poisonous childhood seeds that lead to public scandals like the revelations involving former congressman Mark Foley. Canning shows how compulsions are the product of early childhood abuse and how patterns, from the most violent to the most commonplace, develop. She explains that the overriding emotion sexually addicted people feel towards the partners with whom they seek intimacy is anger turned into sexuality, or "sexualized anger." This yields a false sense of security and power, an "aggressive tendency," which destroys any chance of a healthy relationship. Lust, Anger, Love offers a comprehensive and enlightening look at the origins of these little discussed behaviors and maps out a plan for recovery.