SCA: A Program of Recovery - 3rd Edition (Revised and Expanded)

Book excerpt: This book contains more than four decades of experience, strength, and hope in recovery from sexual compulsion. It has been written, edited, and published entirely by members of Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA). This 3rd edition is an expanded and updated version of SCA’s previous recovery book. It includes commentaries on the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions as adapted from the original principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, as written by members of SCA. They provide context for working the Twelve Steps and practical wisdom in the observance of the Twelve Traditions. This version also contains new commentaries on The Characteristics Most of Us Seem to Have in Common, an early work that SCA members developed in the 1980s. The book begins with a Foreword written by Alexandra Katehakis, Ph.D., who is a Clinical Sexologist and Founder of the Center for Healthy Sex. She is the author of numerous books on sex addiction and intimacy issues. This edition addresses the individual in recovery and then discusses how SCA members recover together in groups and the fellowship at large. There are also chapters on sexual anorexia and pornography, apps, and internet addiction that SCA developed to address the fellowship’s changing needs. After extensive revisions, many separately released SCA publications, including Moving Through Withdrawal, Avoiding Common Pitfalls, Secret Shame, etc., have chapters in this edition. Other chapters from the SCA: A Program of Recovery, 2nd edition, were revised and updated before inclusion in this edition. These sections address designing a sexual recovery plan, sponsorship, the telephone as a recovery tool, compulsive masturbation, abstinence, and ways to avoid a “slip.” The chapters on individual recovery conclude with SCA’s version of The Promises of Alcoholics Anonymous: The Gifts of Recovery. The group recovery section has updated chapters on starting an SCA meeting, what happens at SCA meetings, and doing service in SCA. Origins of SCA, which are stories written by some of SCA’s founders, appear unchanged from the previous edition. This book also contains twenty-eight (28) stories of individual recovery, written by various SCA members. Keywords: 12-Step Recovery, Sex Addiction, Sexual Compulsion, Compulsive Masturbation, Spirituality, Anonymous Sex, Romantic Obsession, Sexual Sobriety, Pornography, Apps, Webcams, Recovery from Shame, Withdrawal, Sponsorship, Abstinence, Anorexia, Low Self-esteem