Roadblocks to Recovery

Roadblocks to Recovery:

1. Lack of commitment/time to work all aspects of the recovery program.
2. The addict decides to work recovery for his partner to not lose his or her relationship.
3. Lack of full disclosure by the addict to his therapist.
4. Lack of full disclosure by the addict to his partner.
5. The partner does not commit to his or her individual recovery.
6. The partner is co-dependent and/or has unprocessed trauma that if untreated, will keep the relationship from healing.
7. The partner prematurely forgives the addict without allowing himself or herself to go through the grief process.
8. The partner refuses to enforce boundary consequences in the relationship.
9. The addict is working his or her recovery for sexual addiction but failing to work his or her recovery for intimacy anorexia.
10. The partner is refusing to process his or her anger towards his or her addicted partner and is using the anger to keep his or her partner at a distance despite the addict’s therapeutic progress.
11. Neurodevelopmental issues such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are drivers for compulsivity and emotional issues in the relationship.
12. The partner has intimacy anorexia or reactive intimacy anorexia and is unwilling to do the IA dailies to experientially work towards healing in the relationship.
13. Personality Disorders are present in one or both partners and have contributed to the chaos of the addiction cycle without insight into applying what has been learned in therapy. The likely personality disorders are Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, Anti-social Personality Disorder, and Schizoid Personality Disorder.
14. Partners have refused to forgive his or her addicted partner but have stayed in the relationship out of dependency.
15. Addicts have refused to forgive themselves despite receiving forgiveness from his or her partner and higher power.
16. Addicts burn themselves out on recovery and gradually “checkout” of doing homework assignments, group work, meetings, and maintaining accountability.
17. Addict struggles to develop empathy for his or her partner’s emotional triggers and continues to get defensive when his or her partner experiences a trigger.
18. Addict uses the excuse of spiritual enlightenment or miraculous healing to absolve themselves from having to work his or her recovery like everyone else.
19. Addict has an obvious co-occurring addiction that he or she refuses to address via treatment.
20. Addict fakes recovery by pretending to work his or her program while secretly continuing to act-out.
21. A partner has obsessive compulsive disorder and cannot stop ruminating about his or her partner’s addiction and recovery.
22. Unrealistic expectations of recovery and/or relationship recovery.

Sexual Recovery Growth Index (Hallman and Wood, 2023) 

The Recovery Growth Index (Hallman and Wood, 2023) is a therapeutic tool that is used to measure one’s therapeutic progress in acting-out and/or acting-in recovery. We developed this tool to assist clients in breaking through denial in conjunction with a multitude of individual behavioral metrics that are critical to developing healthy attachment and emotional regulation. It can also be used to develop insight into one’s acting-out/acting-in struggles and assist in informing individual therapeutic interventions. Since its’ inception, client feedback has indicated that the Recovery Growth Index sets our individual and group treatment methodologies apart from other recovery programs. If you are someone struggling with acting-out and/or acting-in behavior, or you are a partner of someone with sexual acting-out and/or acting-in issues, reach out today to begin an innovative recovery program featuring the Recovery Growth Index.