February
2014
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1
FEBRUARY 2014
Sexual Addiction Treatment Services
SATS Welcomes Beth Songer
Special points of
interest:
 New Clinician Beth
Songer
 Mindfulness Retreat
 Ted Talks
 Apps for Recovery
 12 Step News
 Arousal Addiction
 Book Review
We are very excited to
introduce our newest staff
member, Beth Songer. I
met Beth working at
Midatlantic Rehabilitation
Services where Beth also
works as a substance abuse
counselor. I was
immediately impressed with
Beth’s demeanor and
compassionate approach to
work with her clients. It
was through observing
Beth with her clients and
our discussions of clinical
issues that influenced me to
ask her to join SATS as a
clinician in the Bethlehem,
PA office.
her clinical training, Beth is
an ordained Buddhist priest
and Reiki Master. She
brings a diverse spiritual
background to her clinical
work.
meditation. This practice can
be so valuable to recovery and
personal growth. Beth’s expertise with mindfulness in both
teaching and practice will be a
great resource to the clients of
SATS.
We are most excited about
a particular skill that Beth In addition to seeing individual
clients for SATS in Bethlehem,
brings to SATS, which is
her work with mindfulness she will facilitate mindfulness
meditation seminars in the West
Conshohocken office.
It is my hope that, in the future,
Beth will also be facilitating
groups for SATS in the
Bethlehem office.
We look forward to working
with Beth and anticipate that
her new clients will as well!.
Beth has a Master’s Degree
in Pastoral Counseling
from Moravian Theological
Seminary. In addition to
Mindfulness Meditation Retreat
participant become more
comfortable with their own
mindfulness practice.
SATS will be presenting a one
day Mindfulness Meditation
Retreat that will focus on using
mindfulness skills to enhance
the recovery process.
This retreat will be presented by
Beth Songer. Beth is an
ordained Buddhist priest and
has over thirty years experience
in the practice of mindfulness
and meditation.
Date: March 29, 2014
Time: 9:30 am to 4:30 am
The seminar will combine
education, mindfulness practice,
periods of meditation and the
opportunity to process
experiences to help the
Cost: $150.00 per attendee
Location: SATS W. Conshohocken
office. 900 Matsonford Road, Suite
200, W Conshohocken PA 19428.
Please contact the office for more
information and registration.
PAGE 2
FEBRUARY 2014
TED Talks—Our Favorite TED Talks that support recovery
Esther Perel: The Secret to desire in a
long-term relationship - This TED talk
discusses the relationship between love
and desire.
Brene Brown, Listening to Shame—It
is no secret that I love Brene Brown’s
work. We use her Connections
Curriculum in our practice and I
recommend her books to many of our
clients. Listening to Shame is a great
20 minute talk that speaks to the
essence of shame and vulnerability.
Gary Wilson: The Great Porn Experiment—This Ted talk is from a Glasgow event. It is a great talk that looks
at some of the science behind the effects of pornography on the brain. He
discusses Arousal Addiction, which
can look like social anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD and performance
anxiety.
Philip Zimbardo: The Demise of Guys?
- This is a short Ted Talk that looks at
how internet use, video gaming and
pornography influence “arousal
addiction” and negatively influence
young men’s ability to socially interact.
Tony Porter: A Call to Men - This is a
great talk that shares the speakers life
experience of being socialized to “act
like a man” and the effects this has on
women. This is his call to break free
from the “Man Box.”
These are just a few of the Ted Talks
that we find helpful and insightful for
our clients. We encourage you to look
for others that can enhance your
recovery experience.
Apps to enhance Mental Health
In today’s day and age, it seems as
though there is an app for everything.
Here are a few apps specifically geared
for mental health.
Positive Activity Jackpot—This app
uses Pleasant Event Scheduling to
help users overcome depression and
build resilience. It can help users find
nearby healthy activities and allows
them to invite friends to join.
Breathe2Relax - This app is a
portable stress management tool.
Using touch screen technology, the
user can record their stress level and
then use the breathing exercises to
help with mood stabilization.
community who struggle with the same
mental health issue. It is a mobile
support group.
T2moodtracker - This app was originally developed for military use. It
allows the user to track and monitor
emotional health. The user can create
items to track anxiety, depression,
stress and PTSD. This is a great app to
help track mood for those with Bipolar disorder or Major Depression.
Live Happy—This app is designed by
Positive Psychologist, Dr. Lyubomirsky
to help its users boost happiness based
on her research and its findings.
SATS has not used all of these apps.
Please always remember that a mobile
app is not a replacement for therapy or
medical care.
Bi-polar Disorder Connect—This
app connects users to others in the
Sex Addiction Blogs—Interesting Reads
Sex and Intimacy in the Digital Age is a blog
by renowned author and educator in the
sex addiction field, Robert Weiss. His
blog can be found at http://
blogs.psychcentral.com/sex. This is a
blog he writes for the website psychcentral.
Dr. Linda Hatch, the author of Relationships in Recovery has a blog associated
with her website that is dedicated to sex
addiction. This is another great resource for education on the topic. Her
blog can be found at http://
www.sexaddictionscounseling.com/
blog/
Married to a sex addict
(www.marriedtoasexaddict.com) was
voted one of the top sexual addiction
blogs of 2013 by Residential Treatment Center. It is a blog that focuses
on progress and positive experiences.
Lastly, Dr. Weeks is starting her own blog
called Dr. Jen’s Recovery Readings. This
blog is in its infancy but will soon be full of
posts regarding sex addiction, addiction recovery and issues related to sexually addicted
offenders and victims of sexual abuse. Check
it out at http://
drjensrecoveryreadings.wordpress.com/
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1
PAGE 3
Area 12 Step and Recovery News
It’s that time of year again!!
The retreat encompasses a series of
seminars, workshops and activities that
The 10th Annual GDVI-SLAA will enhance recovery skills. There are
Spirituality Retreat Weekend also 12 step meetings and workshops
is here. The theme this year—There is on sponsorship. Additionally, topics
Hope…..
will include HOW training, sexual
The retreat will be held at the
Daylesford Abbey, located at 220 S
Valley Road, Paoli, PA on March 1416, 2014. The retreat starts Friday at 6
pm and runs through Sunday at 11
am. The cost is $275.00 for full
registration including a single room
for both nights and meals Friday
through Sunday.
anorexia, forgiveness, procrastination, and
cross addictions. There will also be yoga
workshops and evening entertainment.
I encourage my clients to attend this retreat
as I have only heard good feedback about
the workshops and seminars. Every person
I know who has attended this retreat has
had a great experience and came back feeling energized in their recovery and feeling
very connected to the recovery community.
For more information contact
dviretreatcoordinator@slaadvi.or or 856745-4844.
Arousal Addiction—The Demise of Guys?
Arousal Addiction is a term used by
Dr. Philip Zimbardo in his Ted Talk
and book, The Demise of Guys. He
states that online pornography addiction and excessive video gaming can
be termed Arousal Addictions.
Arousal becomes based on novelty
and variety. Things that are the same
are soon habituated and the person
seeks novelty to sustain attention.
Dr. Zimbardo postulates that boys,
who predominantly are the viewers of
online pornography and make up the
majority of gamers, are rewiring their
brains in a manner that demands
novelty, change, constant stimulation
and excitement. This rewiring then
creates a generation of boys who are
out of sync with traditional teaching
methods in schools and interpersonal
romantic relationships.
It is suggested that Arousal Addiction,
or the constant seeking of novelty, is
at least partly responsible for the increase in erectile dysfunction seen in
young men. With continued exposure
to online pornography, the reward
circuit in the brain gets “burned out”
because it has been over stimulated.
This can create a dependence on pornography and result in an inability or
difficulty in getting aroused to usual
stimuli such as sex with a real person.
Consequences of this desensitization
can be vast, including: lack of
spontaneous erections, lack of arousal
to previously viewed pornography,
inability to orgasm during sex with a
real partner, and the inability to
maintain or even get an erection with
a real partner. As these problems are
the result of brain changes, erectile
dysfunction medication does not help
the situation.
So what can be done? One of the key
elements to combating this arousal addiction
and its consequences for young people is to
talk about it. This requires parents to have
very real and candid talks with their children
about sex, intimacy, pornography and other
topics that they might find uncomfortable.
The key to overcoming this issue is to unplug.
Whether the issue is video gaming or
pornography, in order to heal, the brain needs
time away from the stimuli to rewire and return dopamine functioning to a more normal
level.
For more information on the arousal
addiction process, you can go to the website,
www.demiseofguys.com. Here you will find
more information on the work of Dr.
Zimbardo as well as resources and online
discussion of what can be done about the
issues.
All information in this newsletter comes from
the ebook, The Demise of Guys that is
available on www.amazon.com as a kindle
ebook.
Sexual Addiction Treatment Services
900 Matsonford Road
Suite 200
W Conshohocken PA 19428
826 Delaware Ave
Bethlehem PA 18015
Phone: 610-844-7180
E-mail: drjenniferweeks@gmail.com
Www.sexualaddictiontreatmentservices.com
At SATS our goal is to provide our
clients with a safe, non-judgmental
atmosphere where we can work
toward improving the emotional well
being of individuals, couples and families dealing with the pain of
addiction.
We believe in an individualized,
holistic approach to treatment that
empowers our client to take
ownership of their recovery. Our therapists are trained and
experienced in multiple treatment modalities in order to address issues of
compulsive behaviors as well as the
underlying trauma and family of origin
pain that so often accompanies addictive behaviors
Book Review: The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Yes, this is not a new book. It has been
on the market for many years. So why
review it now? Sometimes it is good to
go back to a classic and in the month of
Valentine’s Day it seemed appropriate!
Gary Chapman breaks down how we
express love and feel love into five
different “languages.” These are:
Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service,
Receiving Gifts, Quality Time and
Physical Touch.
Mr. Chapman postulates that
relationships can become problematic
after the “honeymoon” phase because
couples do not understand each other’s
love language. If one partner expresses
love by doing acts of service for their
partner and the partner’s language of
love is words of affirmation, the result
can be feelings of resentment or lack of
appreciation in the relationship.
If we can come to understand how we most
frequently express our love to our partner this
helps us as it is often an indicator of what is
important for us as well. The key, according
to Chapman, is finding out what love
language your partner speaks so that you can
learn to express your love to them in a way
that is meaningful to them. Of course,
ideally, this works both ways and both
partners make an effort to show love to each
other.
I find this book helpful for clients, as we
often talk about partners in a relationship
missing each other’s cues or not being on the
same page with their communication. Perhaps, this book can help readers glean a little
insight into their relationship and help to
make things more peaceful.