Marriage Crisis: Compulsive Behavior

When a spouse has an extramarital affair, it can cause irreparable damage to the relationship – but is it more forgivable if the cheating spouse has fallen prey to uncontrollable sex addiction? The wives on today’s show had to make the decision of whether to stick by their spouse’s side despite compulsive sex addiction. Find out more on their stories below:

Although Robert’s and Susan’s marriage has spanned 20 years, Robert started cheating just two years into the relationship. Cheating was alluring and easy to hide since Robert’s job as a police officer justified his long hours away from home, so it wasn’t long before he indulged in a series of one-night stands and prolonged affairs with different women.

When Susan learned of his affairs, she was devastated but decided to stay with Robert for the sake of their three children. She now says that she is rebuilding her trust one day at a time, but she submits Robert to polygraph tests and forbids him from masturbating or looking at pornographic magazines. Robert is also keeping busy as a counselor for other men who have succumbed to sex addiction.

Andrea met Anthony when she responded to a personal ad that he’d placed. After two years of dating and living together, Andrea became pregnant and they decided to marry. While Andrea was carrying the baby, Anthony started becoming addicted to pornographic websites and magazines and soon decided that he wanted “the real thing.” Anthony blames his cheating on the fact that Andrea was so busy taking care of the children that she forgot to take care of herself. Four affairs and thousands of hours online later, Anthony is working hard to repair his marriage with Andrea though he is reluctant to go through therapy or counseling.

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To contact today's expert, sexual addiction therapist Dr. Doug Weiss, call 719-278-3708 or e-mail Heart2Heart@xc.org.

The following organizations provide help and support for sex addiction:

www.netaddiction.com
www.sexaddicthelp.com
www.safersociety.org
www.onlinesexaddict.com
www.sash.org