Cybersex and Internet Sex Addiction

Online sex addiction and Internet infidelity are prevalent in today’s society with the easy access of mobile devices and the constant availability of sex sites and online pornography. Internet Infidelity accounts for a growing number of divorce cases. Partners engaged in an online affair go through several personality changes and often rationalize that an online affair isn’t really cheating. They believe it is a harmless flirtation because it doesn’t involve any “physical touching”. However, the emotional pain and devastation to a once warm and loving relationship is just the same. This course shows you specialized techniques in treating these new relationship problems. This course reviews the signs of Internet infidelity, how they develop, and how they differ from offline affairs. You will also learn specialized counseling techniques to help couples improve communication and repair broken trust after an online affair. As Internet sexuality is evolving as quickly as the technology itself, you will learn the latest trends in online sex such as sexting, Snapchat, virtual reality, and take a close look at the online sex industry.

The intermediate course consists of four articles. The first article outlines how to evaluate and treat Internet infidelity. Unlike spouses who catch their husbands or wives in open adultery, a spouse may initially enter counseling with little more than a suspicion of a partner sharing intimate words with another woman or man through texting or dating sites. Signs of an online affair are masked by the daily use of technology. Therapists learn how to identify online affairs and what makes them so alluring. The second article explains the psychological, emotional, and social motives of online sex users. It also reviews how physical, sexual, and emotional abuse impact technology-based sex and how healthy online sex can be used in healthy situations. The third article outlines case studies of deviant online sexual behavior and explains how the anonymity of the Internet allows people to explore hidden or forbidden aspects of their sexuality. Utilizing illustrative case studies, the article outlines the five stages of the addiction process. The fourth article provides strategies for curing online sex addiction. From the patient perspective, you will learn how clients can manage their online behavior, use filtering or monitoring software to stop online sex addiction, and ways to deal with relapse prevention in high-risk situations. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course.

Disclaimer: This course is purely educational and does not intend to serve as a license (or permission) to mental health professionals to prescribe or practice any of the approaches discussed in this course unless they fall within the scope of practice of your profession. Check with your licensing board about the scope of practice of your profession to make sure you practice within that scope.It also does not serve as a permission to title yourself in any specific way.