Is there a point when outpatient counseling is not the most effective treatment for sexual addiction? Yes. Here are four reasons: a) Change of environment. The client is better served through inpatient therapy when his living environment or other external factors are contributing to his addiction. b) Increased accountability. Inpatient residential therapy is called for when the client would benefit from daily accountability and counseling. c) Distraction-free. Residential therapy can expedite the treatment process by permitting the client to focus on healing without the other distractions in his life. d) Specialized expertise. Finding counselors who specialize in sexual addiction is challenging. Most counselors are generalists who counsel clients on a broad range of issues. Inpatient, residential therapy is conducted by counselors who specialize in sexual addiction counseling exclusively. 

Are there residential treatment program for those in sexual bondage which are both Christian and biblical? Not many. I am only aware of two in the whole country. Most residential treatment programs are secular or utilize the “higher power” approach used by most twelve-step approaches to addiction. The problem with a secular “cookie cutter” approach that treats all addictions the same is that sexual bondage is unique and unlike any other. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” Sexual sin is a unique sin against the addict himself. The treatment, therefore, must involve the whole person, body, soul, and spirit. Formulaic approaches simply are not effective in the long run in dealing with the extreme toxicity and intransigency of this sin. A Christian residential treatment program understands and treats all three parts of the person, body, soul, and spirit.  

Additionally, a Christian treatment program understands that sexual bondage is a sin not a disease and only God is the Healer of sin. Secular treatment programs treat all addictions as diseases. The sin of the addict is not acknowledged nor is the Bible the basis for the treatment plan. A Christian program utilizes the Bible as the basis for their treatment plan for those in sexual bondage. They understand that the identity of the addict needs to be in Christ rather than in their addiction.  Addicts have permitted sin to “rule in their bodies” and need freedom (Romans 6:12).

Jesus and Jesus only can set the captives free,

Irv