Sexual Compulsives Anonymous
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Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA) is a twelve-step program for recovery from sexual compulsion. Sexual Compulsives Anonymous was founded on June 22, 1982 in New York City to address particular issues of sexual compulsion among gay and bisexual men. Today, the program is LGBT friendly, open to all sexual orientations and there is an increasing number of women and heterosexual men participating—the majority of members, however, are gay and bisexual men. Sexual Compulsives Anonymous meetings are most likely to be held in urban areas with larger gay and bisexual male populations. The majority of members is white, but vary in age and socioeconomic background. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop having compulsive sex.
Sexual recovery plans
Sexual Compulsives Anonymous supports healthy sexual expression and does not expect members to repress their sexuality, which, in extreme cases, is associated with sexual anorexia. Members are encouraged to develop their own definition of sexual sobriety that does not place unreasonable demands on their time or energy, place them in legal jeopardy, or endanger their health. SCA members incorporate their definition of sexual sobriety in what is known as a sexual recovery plan. Sexual recovery plans are modeled on the work of Patrick Carnes, a sexual addiction researcher; building on the practice in Overeaters Anonymous (OA) of members creating individualized “food plans.”
Sexual recovery plans have three columns: abstinence, high-risk, and recovery—similar to the three circles used in Sex Addicts Anonymous. The sexual recovery plan is used like a blueprint for recovery. The abstinence column includes “bottom-line” behaviors corresponding to relapse and from which the member asks his Higher Power to be freed of. The high-risk column includes behaviors, emotional states, ritualized activities, and situations that make the addict vulnerable to relapse. The recovery column includes positive behaviors that support the addict’s wellbeing and meet his or her needs in a healthy manner.