Treatment of sex/porn addiction and chemsex with EMDR

An increasing number of clients showing symptoms of sex / porn addiction or chemsex inspired us to develop a treatment regime within the inpatient rehabilitation of drug addicted clients. A considerable amount of the addicted clients experience shame or guilt and a strong connection between sexual behaviour and drug consumption often leading into extreme ‘relapse-sessions’. Treatment Programm for sex / porn addicted or chemsex are rare. EMDR Therapy shows promise in the treatment of above mentioned addictive behaviours especially if combined with addiction to illegal drugs, primarily psychostimulants. EMDR Therapy protocols and procedures have the potential to change extreme patterns of consumption regarding drugs as well as reducing the intensity of porn or chemsex related imagery (Kerschl, 2016). The reprocessing of triggers and traumatic memories is also part of the treatment protocol. The workshop gives an overview on the theory behind this approach. Clinical case examples and videotaped EMDR Therapy sessions illustrate the EMDR approach and application of the CravEx protocol (Hase, 2008), to reprocess also the addiction memory. Preliminary results show the potential of EMDR Therapy to reduce relapse regarding addictive behavior as well as the use of illegal drugs.

Conference

English

Michael Hase

Hase, M. (2022, June). Treatment of sex/porn addiction and chemsex with EMDR. Presentation at the 23rd EMDR Europe Conference, Valencia, Spain