Partners of Sex Addicts: Recognition of the Trauma

Partners of sex addicts have sometimes been labelled as: codependent, enablers, co-addicts,and "dis-eased'
just to mention a few of the terms that I have heard in the last few years. The women whom I work with do not fit these labels that were automatically assigned to them in the past. Partners of sex addicts have been betrayed, exposed to lies
and secret keeping from the person that they thought was their best friend, confidant, and partner in life. Once a person’s life is turned upside down due to the revelation of a loved one’s sex addition, sex addiction induced trauma is likely to follow.

Sex Addiction-Induced Trauma (SAI-T) is defined by Omar Minwalla as:“the specific type of trauma and traumatic symptom clusters that result from the direct impact of sex addiction and its associated chronic patterns of sexual acting out, relational perpetration, emotional abuse, deception, betrayal, psychological manipulation and compartmentalization on self and others, particularly partners and spouses impacted by sex addiction.”

Barbara Steffens also described in her book, Your Sexually Addicted Spouse, the trauma symptoms that are often present in many partners of sex addicts. Advocacy for the partner of the sex addict has been slow to change the ways experts in the field work with partners. Finally, it is here.

The Association of Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists (APSATS) was recently established by a team of professionals from across the United States who work with partners from a sex addiction induced trauma model perspective. The Association of Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists (APSATS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the professional training and certification, public education, research, and advocacy for treatment of sex addiction-induced trauma.

Announcing the inaugural APSATS Board of Directors and officers:
Barbara Steffens PhD, LPCC, BCC , CCSAS – Cincinnati, Ohio - President
Omar Minwalla, PsyD – Los Angeles, California - Vice President
Janice Caudill, PhD, CSAT, SRT, SEP – McKinney, Texas - Vice President
Dan Drake, MFT, CSAT – Los Angeles, California -
Secretary
Dave Brown, M.Div.,LISW, CPSAS – Cincinnati, Ohio - Treasurer
Dorit Reichental, MA, MFT Intern, CPCC, ACC – Los Angeles, California
Richard Blankenship, MA, LPC, NCC, CCSAS – Atlanta, Georgia
Marnie Breecker, MA, MFT, CSAT – Los Angeles, California
Ella Hutchinson, MA, LPC, CCSAS – Houston, Texas
Ingela Edwards MS, LPC Intern, NCC – McKinney, Texas

I am proud to be a part of this movement and to serve on this board. For more information about APSATS, email [email protected]
or visit www.partnertraumaspecialists.org

Ingela Edwards, MS, LPC-Intern, NCC, therapist at McKinney Counseling and Recovery, specializes in helping individuals and couples heal from sex addiction, infidelity, intimacy anorexia, and intimacy deprivation. McKinney Counseling & Recovery serves the McKinney, Plano, Allen, Frisco, Dallas and Sherman area.

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