DiscoverConversations on Sex, Addiction, and RelationshipsIs It a Purge or Real Recovery? Understanding Binge-Purge Sex Addiction
Is It a Purge or Real Recovery? Understanding Binge-Purge Sex Addiction

Is It a Purge or Real Recovery? Understanding Binge-Purge Sex Addiction

Update: 2025-08-30
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They haven’t acted out in a while but is it recovery… or just the purge phase?



In this episode, Dan Drake Jeanne Vattuone and Tim Stein take on a powerful listener's question about the binge-purge subtype of sex addiction. When someone stops their acting out behavior for long stretches of time, it can look like sobriety but is it actually recovery, or just a temporary pause in the addiction cycle?



The discussion explores what binge-purge really means (and how it's different from recovery, sobriety, or even cross-addiction), how to identify signs of “acting in” behaviors like emotional shutdown or passive-aggressiveness, and why some partners still feel unsafe even when no sexual acting out is occurring.



They also discuss the “whack-a-mole” pattern of addiction and how to spot deeper patterns of compulsive coping, even when sex is off the table.



#BingePurgeAddiction #SexAddictionRecovery #BetrayalTrauma #WhackAMoleAddiction #ActingInVsActingOut #DryDrunk #EmotionalRecovery #PartnerSupport #AddictionEducation #TraumaHealing #CompulsiveBehaviors

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Is It a Purge or Real Recovery? Understanding Binge-Purge Sex Addiction

Is It a Purge or Real Recovery? Understanding Binge-Purge Sex Addiction

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