De-Stigmatizing Sexual Addiction with a New Framework with Carol the Coach

Bill Herring is a certified sexual addiction therapist who has maintained a private practice in Atlanta for over 30 years.  For many years Bill was a board member and conference chair of the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (“SASH”). Bill has published many professional articles, including one we will be discussing today. In 2017 he wrote a chapter for a book on the history of the sex addiction field.  That same year Bill wrote “A Framework for Categorizing Chronically Problematic Sexual Behavior”, which won Article of the Year by the publisher.  In 2019 Bill received the prestigious “Carnes Award” from the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health for his pioneering work advancing understanding of this field of study.  Just about anything you want to know about Bill can be found at billherring.com.

Today, Carol the coach will be interviewing Bill, who will be talking about the framework for categorizing problematic sexual behavior that he introduced in 2017.  This framework provides a way to distinguish types of sexual behavior as problematic without having to label the person.  This helps avoid the conflict that often happens when a person is reluctant to self-identify as a sex addict while still wanting help for their sexual behavior.  This framework allows people who may not be truly sexually addicted to receive assistance for their sexual concerns without having to accept a diagnosis.  By using five short conversational questions this framework gets to the heart of what is problematic about any type of sexual behavior without assigning labels.  This framework has a lot of implications for people who struggle with their sexual behavior as well as the professionals who want to help them improve their lives.