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Dear forum members, I hope that someone can understand my issue because I really feel that I"m losing my mind and this feeling is really awful. I'am married and we have two young children. When my first son was 18 months I discovered casually that my husband subscribed to a web site that helped people with the same sexual desires to meet and have fun together he filled a form describing his preferences and himself as someone who was missing something. I also find some emails between him and a few female members of the site exchanging in a very direct language. I was in shock.... so in pain.... also because I had noticed that he was mentally somewhere else but when discussed the issue with him, he told me that all was OK and that with the arrival of a baby it was normal that we were tired and had less intimacy and things like this. By this point my trust and confidence towards my husband were gone..... but somehow we continued our journey together also because he seemed really desperate at the idea of losing me. When I was pregnant of the second child (4 years passed from the first discovery) I intercepted an SMS of a woman saying "If you want I'm available to speak now. Call me if you can'. When I asked about the identity of this woman he first told me the name of someone that I also knew, but then seeing that I did not believe him he admitted that it was his ex.... The thing that made me suffer was the fact of lying.... in fact, he had registered the number of his ex under another name. Again a huge discussion.... we started therapy and the therapist said to him to stop this behaviour.... (simple to say ....more difficult to do....). Once I found on his mobile plenty of websites helping find a sexual adventure in the area you are living in. He always told me that he had only online chats, but how can I believe him? And also if it was online for me nothing chance. At this point I suggested the idea of an addiction also because it seemed that when discovered he was completely devastated.... sometimes he admitted having a problem, but then quite soon questioned himself if he was a sex addict or not.. seems not wanted to admit not even at himself. He started therapy but I'm not sure that here in France where we live he found the right therapist. He also started attending a12 step group, but it closed very soon because not enough members!!!! So the last discovery a week ago.... another message on his phone a woman saying "sorry if I not answered your call I was not alone.... hope you are fine big hugs" Again the same scenario ....who is this woman? My husband trying to escape the situation; has cancelled his previous call and at the end admitted it was still his ex ! I never knew that they were still in contact and also if they are not living in the same town I'm scared and upset because this aspect of his life was always hidden to me. Why all these lies? He knew that telling the truth was the only way to rebuild a trust that was seriously damaged, but he decided to continue his lies letting grow even more suspects and distrust. The question is how to protect myself from all this emotional pain? How to be not involved? I think that maybe putting a physical distance between us is the only solution so that I'm not triggered all the time with his segrets. I also considered divorce but economically for me this will be very difficult and not sure I can afford it now. many thanks for reading me and sorry for my english ....I'm italian and its not easy to write in another language. bye to all Monica

Our second testimony follows the journey of a partner of a sex addict. From the initial discovery through to where they are today as a couple. This testimony provides advice on what she would have done differently and things they did as a couple to heal. We hope this testimony will help you feel less alone and provide support as you travel your own journey of recovery. This testimony concludes our blog series for partners of sex addicts and porn addicts. If you missed the series, then you can catch up by following this link. -------------------------------------------- Just over 4 years ago my husband left his laptop open in his study. I spotted an email for a hotel reservation (when I was going to be away). That night I asked him why he had booked a room. There was a long silence, so I knew it was not good. I was distraught and fled the room. About 15 minutes later, my husband found me and explained he had been going to strip clubs with some of his colleagues and had met a young woman there, they had become friends and had met occasionally for drinks, however it had got to the point where he wanted to take it further. I was devastated., felt sick and literally could not believe this was happening to me. We had been married for a long time and had never doubted our relationship. I had always trusted him; he is not a risk taker and had been a dependable husband and father. He told me how sorry he was and that he realised now that it was a mistake and would end it there and then. I felt numb and tried to convince myself it was a stupid mid-life crisis and it had been nipped in the bud. I was too ashamed to tell anyone. Over the next few weeks, I could not convince myself of the coincidence of the discovery and so I asked him to be completely honest with me. He admitted that he had met her in hotels a few times over several weeks and had developed feelings for her. I cannot describe the pain and sadness I felt. I found it very difficult to function for the next few weeks, I lost my appetite, had brain fog, could not sleep and suffered a complete loss of confidence. I told no one, I was sure they would all judge me. So, what happened next? Well, we decided to embark on relationship counselling and made good progress. We both realised how much good there was in the relationship – our children, we enjoyed each other’s company and shared the same interests. However, I still felt I was in a very dark tunnel with no light at the end. I had a niggle that I did not have the whole story. So, after 8 months since the first discovery/disclosure, I decided to go through his emails on his laptop. I found hotel reservations going back 2 years. I could not believe he was still lying to me. I confronted him and told him I needed to know the complete truth. He said, ‘are you sure, there will be no going back’. He then told me that he had been regularly paying for sex and looking at pornography for many years. There is no way I can explain the pain I felt, the sadness that what I had perceived as a good, strong marriage was a complete sham, that suddenly everything I believed in seemed to be shot to pieces. After this final disclosure, my husband enrolled on a 12-week sex addiction recovery course. The leading therapist asked me not to make any decisions on the future of our relationship until the course was finished. To give the relationship time. After the course ended, my husband attended weekly group sessions for 4 months and then later he attended individual therapy to help him understand the root of his addiction. We also continued couple counselling. Initially, I could not find any support for myself. A local retired therapist saw me for two sessions. Weeks later, I found the Partners course at the Laurel Centre. This course provided me with knowledge of the function of sex addiction, how to look after yourself, but most importantly a network of other partners who could relate to what I was going through. These partners were my lifeline in the early weeks and 4 of us (3 women and 1 man) are still in touch and meet up regularly. After the course, because I felt I still needed an outlet but had not told any close friends or family, I attended individual therapy sessions for a few more months. If I could do things differently, I would have confided in someone close to me. The only person I could discuss my feelings with was my husband, which was difficult because he was the one who had caused me all the pain! There was no one safe to vent my hurt and anger to, so my anger did not get vented often enough in the early stages of discovery. My anger can still bubble up. We went through a full therapeutic disclosure a year after I found the email and 5 months after full discovery) and with hindsight I wished we had done this sooner, so I would have had the full story much earlier on. As a couple, we put the following rules into place: Created a shared online diary - so I would know his work schedule Inform me immediately of any changes to his work plans I had full access to his laptop and his mobile phone Activated ‘find my phone’ on his mobile phone – so if I felt anxious, I could check to see where he was. Each evening we sat down and discussed our day – how we were coping, if there had been any triggers, what we had done in the day etc On a monthly basis we go through our family finances Parental controls onto the Wi-Fi (to help with the porn watching) The above provided a framework for me to help restore trust in my husband. To help rebuild the relationship, we made time for each other and listened to each other. We took more interest in what the other was doing, we had more empathy for each other, we went on date nights and planned new activities and holidays together. If I could give advice to a partner who has just found out that their partner has a sex addiction and/or porn addiction, then I suggest the following: Seek professional help in the area of sex addiction and porn addiction. Confide in someone you trust, who can hold your anger and pain, but not tell you what to do or judge your actions (either a friend or family member) Be kind to yourself – your whole life has fallen apart. You may not want to eat, you might not be able to sleep, you might want to isolate yourself, or not get out of bed in the morning. It is important to look after yourself physically and mentally. There are still times when I struggle and question why I stayed in the relationship. However, my husband and I have a much better relationship today, and this would not have happened without the discovery of his addiction.

Back in January 2020 we started a blog series which focussed on the partner of a sex addict. We covered many different aspects of the partner’s journey from discovery, management of self-care, understanding emotional triggers and setting personal boundaries through to thinking about the relationship – do you leave or stay and rebuild? We wanted to finish the blog series with two real-life testimonies from partners who have walked the painful path. We hope the testimonies will give you encouragement that the thoughts, feelings and reactions you are experiencing are normal. We also wanted to give you hope that relationships can mend after the discovery of sex addiction or porn addiction. Please find below the first testimony. Our second testimony will follow next week. At the bottom of the blog is a link to some further help for partners. Testimony It has been 5 years; I had a knock at the door from a lady from HMRC. She told me that she had come to assess the assets in our house after a long line of unpaid tax debt from my husband. As the day unfolded, the story that my husband put forward made less and less sense, and by the early hours of the following morning, I turned to his emails to desperately try to make sense of the fact that we were close to losing our home. It was there that I saw the first email about booking an appointment with two sex workers. Over the next few weeks, I felt as though someone had unzipped my world and I was watching it fall apart around me. I felt completely out of control! I did not trust that anything was as it seemed anymore. My husband drip fed me a disclosure. Just when I thought I had found out all there was to know, I would discover something else. “That’s everything” he would say, there was always more. This felt incredibly cruel to me. I felt shock, disgust, shame and horror both at him and myself; how could I not have known about this! I had been planning our babies first birthday one minute and then sat in a sexual health clinic the next. I think one of hardest thing for me to process was the grief. The loss of the husband I thought I knew and a feeling of losing who I was. So how did I move forward? Well, my husband agreed to attend a rehabilitation programme as well as receive individual therapy with a trained sex addiction counsellor. We also attended couple counselling. The day my husband packed his bags to go into rehab, I remember feeling intense fear but also a sense of relief. I had been so swept away with the addiction that I was becoming more and more unwell. In a traumatised state of fear, I was trying to control the addiction. I became a detective and my husband’s personal rescuer! It was my personal one to one therapy with a Laurel Centre therapist that helped me realise two vital things; 1 - I did not cause the addiction and 2 - I could not control it. I had to learn to let go and take care of my own journey of recovery. The hardest part of recovery for me was looking in on myself. In order to empower myself I had to open a closet of childhood trauma and dysfunctional relational problems. By looking at my past, allowed me to find the control over my own feelings and gain the tools I needed to recover. I realised that the only person I had any control of rescuing was myself! We gradually started to break down layers of defences in our relationship, we have become aware and respectful of our individual triggers. We have now found healthier ways to communicate our pain. The biggest issue that we both had was our fears. In facing the things that are holding us back, we are now able to communicate our fears and our needs to each other in a way that allows us to have a truly emotional and physically intimate relationship. And the best part is that we can now model these to our child and help break any cycles of shame going forward to our future generation. Through a structured therapeutic list of boundaries that were constructed by us and our therapists, I started to learn to take small leaps of faith to enable me to trust my husband again. But most importantly I began to learn to trust myself. If I could give you some advice from someone who has walked the path before you….it is this be kind to yourself; you are more than just a partner of a sex addict. Seek the help of a trained sex addiction therapist that really understands addiction and the trauma it causes a partner. Be willing to grow from this and not just stay a victim to it. If you have a desire to hear about details about your partner’s disclosure, do it in the safety of a therapy room if you can. I found that my husband was a professional in the art of denial. Trying to make sense of it was soul destroying and futile. Trying to reason with denial left me feeling crazy and that I was losing my mind. My therapist would gently remind me that recovery is a process, just trust in it one day at a time. It may sound unbelievable at this stage, but you will be ok (with or without your partner) and you may even feel grateful one day from the lessons it brings you. Click here to find further support for partners of sex addicts and porn addicts

Hello Last New Year's Day (2017) I found out my husband had a porn addiction, had always had this issue. I found out because I was putting washing away in his cupboard and he had bought some used ladies knickers, which included a photo of the woman. Its fair to say the bottom dropped out of my world, my daughter (second child) was 10 months old and my son was 4. I had just returned to work. It was a dreadful and stressful time. My husband had just started a new job. I can see how this was all a contributing factor. We started marriage counselling, I saw a counsellor and he saw a counsellor about his issues. He completely engaged in the process. She told me she had never seen anyone engage as well in treatment. He knows and understands his triggers, he has lapsed a couple of times and we have dealt with it by adding restrictions to his phone. He did tell me about the time he lapsed. It sets me back in how I am coping with the problem. I know he loves me and that he's in recovery, we have a great relationship on the whole, make each other laugh, enjoy each other's company, still enjoy our sex life (after some work) but I have so much anger. Particularly in the run up to the anniversary of finding out. Which if I'm honest has ruined Christmas and new year. I worry that I'll never fully trust him again. He kissed a woman at his work do before we were married, I am not sure I ever forgave him. But it was under similar circumstances, after his work do, when he was drunk. He has only had one relationship, with me. I was his first and I think he has disappointment that he never had his chance to sow wild oats. He says not, but I think a lot of this is to do with this issue. I understand that addiction is complex rooted in all sorts of family relationship issues. i think it's a little bit about his lack of experience too. Particularly given his preferences. What worries me is that, how can he ever really be happy with me. How will I ever be enough? How do I really work through this? Will it ever go away? The boundaries are set and he knows that another serious issue would be the end for us. But I don't know if I could ever go through with it, he's a wonderful father, I have come from a divorced family and I so did not want that for myself or my children. The waiting...the waiting for the next mistake is killing me and I don't know if I can ever trust him again. I am not sleeping, I am angry a lot, with him and it has affected all my relationships. My ability to trust people has also been affected. There are times when it is easier, but I feel like Christmas and the run up to the new year will always be like this. Thanks for reading