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Crazy for You: Breaking the Spell of Sex and Love Addiction
A bestselling author redefines love and sex addiction as a spectrum disorder, and offers a new approach for healing.
For anyone who has wondered
Why does everyone else seem to be able to make romantic relationships work, and I can't?
What's wrong with me?
Why is love so hard ?
Bestselling memoirist Kerry Cohen is all too familiar with the questions she often hears from her clients—and has asked herself. Even though sex and love are some of the most universal, sought-after experiences we have, many of us lack the tools and understanding to approach them in a healthy way. Without knowing it, many people struggling with sex and love actually fall somewhere on the spectrum of sex and love addiction (SLA).
Sex and love addiction is still wildly misunderstood. It's shrouded in secrecy and shame, and many counselors lack the training to address it—leaving people who need help without resources. Yet SLA isn't a binary of you are or you aren't, rather, it's a spectrum. Kerry Cohen knows this all too well as both a therapist and someone who identifies on the SLA spectrum. Based on research and her own clinical experience, Crazy for You dives into SLA and provides an inclusive framework for understanding relationships, along with practical exercises and advice for self-assessment, discovery, and
For anyone who has wondered
Why does everyone else seem to be able to make romantic relationships work, and I can't?
What's wrong with me?
Why is love so hard ?
Bestselling memoirist Kerry Cohen is all too familiar with the questions she often hears from her clients—and has asked herself. Even though sex and love are some of the most universal, sought-after experiences we have, many of us lack the tools and understanding to approach them in a healthy way. Without knowing it, many people struggling with sex and love actually fall somewhere on the spectrum of sex and love addiction (SLA).
Sex and love addiction is still wildly misunderstood. It's shrouded in secrecy and shame, and many counselors lack the training to address it—leaving people who need help without resources. Yet SLA isn't a binary of you are or you aren't, rather, it's a spectrum. Kerry Cohen knows this all too well as both a therapist and someone who identifies on the SLA spectrum. Based on research and her own clinical experience, Crazy for You dives into SLA and provides an inclusive framework for understanding relationships, along with practical exercises and advice for self-assessment, discovery, and
- GenresSelf HelpLoveNonfiction
304 pages, Paperback
Published September 21, 2021
40 people are currently reading
1146 people want to read
About the author
Kerry Cohen
19 books269 followersKerry Cohen is the author of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity; Seeing Ezra: A Mother’s Story of Autism, Unconditional Love, and The Meaning of Normal; Dirty Little Secrets: Breaking the Silence on Teenage Girls and Promiscuity; as well as three young adult novels – Easy; The Good Girl; and It’s Not You, It’s Me. Her essays have been featured in The New York Times' "Modern Love" series, The Washington Post, Brevity, Literary Mama, and many other journals and anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 23, 2021
Crazy For You -Breaking the Spell of Sex and Love Addiction tells us three things.
1. Explains the spectrum of sex and love addiction.
2. Gives the strategies to break the spell of sex and love addiction.
3. Teaches how to navigate healthy relationships.
I think it is important to note that this book is not just about sex addicts. It is also about love addiction. Though they both are different they certainly fall in the same SLA (sex and love addiction). You do not have to be a person that constantly wants sex to benefit from reading Crazy For You.
I am going to be honest right up front here and let you know I felt uneasy before reading this book. In my younger days all I wanted was someone to love and for someone to love me. If I did not have someone to shower with love I felt empty. After reading this book I realize now that I definitely fall in the SLA. I have spent many years getting to where I felt complete and whole on my own. I wish I could have had this type of book in my younger life. It would have saved me and others so much heartbreak.
I highly suggest picking up this book and giving it a read. Especially if you are a young lady or teen. You may save yourself years of heartbreak.
I received this advanced reader copy in a gracious giveaway on Goodreads by Hachette Books.
1. Explains the spectrum of sex and love addiction.
2. Gives the strategies to break the spell of sex and love addiction.
3. Teaches how to navigate healthy relationships.
I think it is important to note that this book is not just about sex addicts. It is also about love addiction. Though they both are different they certainly fall in the same SLA (sex and love addiction). You do not have to be a person that constantly wants sex to benefit from reading Crazy For You.
I am going to be honest right up front here and let you know I felt uneasy before reading this book. In my younger days all I wanted was someone to love and for someone to love me. If I did not have someone to shower with love I felt empty. After reading this book I realize now that I definitely fall in the SLA. I have spent many years getting to where I felt complete and whole on my own. I wish I could have had this type of book in my younger life. It would have saved me and others so much heartbreak.
I highly suggest picking up this book and giving it a read. Especially if you are a young lady or teen. You may save yourself years of heartbreak.
I received this advanced reader copy in a gracious giveaway on Goodreads by Hachette Books.
December 15, 2021
What is sex and love addiction?
*obsessive thoughts and compulsions about your romantic relationships
*remaining in a dysfunctional or abusive relationship due to fear of being alone.
*intense depression, anxiety and despair when a relationship ends.
If love hurts is a true statement for you. If you have a pile of tumultuous relationships it’s time to see it’s not just them with the problem. As always the first step is knowledge.
This book is so perfectly written and explained that it could easily be the workbook used for their counseling classes.
Book releases Sept 21st.
*obsessive thoughts and compulsions about your romantic relationships
*remaining in a dysfunctional or abusive relationship due to fear of being alone.
*intense depression, anxiety and despair when a relationship ends.
If love hurts is a true statement for you. If you have a pile of tumultuous relationships it’s time to see it’s not just them with the problem. As always the first step is knowledge.
This book is so perfectly written and explained that it could easily be the workbook used for their counseling classes.
Book releases Sept 21st.
September 9, 2022
This book is full of wisdom. It makes rather complicated concepts very accessible and gives practical suggestions on how to implement change. It made me look at my relationship history differently, while creating more compassion for myself. Finally someone wrote down exactly what I needed! It is very well written too, it flows easily. Cohen's invitations to reflect were very valuable for me and I am looking forward to continue with them. Also: inclusive language, honouring all kinds of different people and constellations.
January 17, 2022
i wish cohen had written more related to single people’s experiences with SLA, or maybe more specifically people who aren’t in committed relationships/already have a lover. i’m not in a committed relationship so i felt like a lot of the advice was things i couldn’t apply bc of that. i guess it’s more stuff to keep in the back pocket for the future.
either way, i love cohen’s writing
either way, i love cohen’s writing
February 9, 2022
Found this on a whim, but I really liked this book. I think I read it all in about 2 weeks on my lunch breaks. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it dealt a lot with couples instead of the single person, but it was still really informative. I would recommend it to anyone trying to understand and break the spell of codependency and are on the SLAA spectrum.
September 30, 2025
As a therapist who specializes in sex and love addiction and someone in recovery from this addiction, this is the most helpful book on the subject that I have read. Kerry provides expert knowledge and guidance on how to navigate recovery and relationships. Highly recommend!!
June 4, 2022
Highly recommend for al the humans.
January 6, 2023
This book is an eye opener. I'm a therapist and got those to help my clients but realized myself in much of the book. Highly recommend !!
June 20, 2022
3.5/5: Helpful perspectives from a therapist about how childhood attachment styles influence romantic behavior in later life, raising awareness and forwarding coping mechanisms based on a variety of anecdotes.
September 18, 2022
📕Raising a child is really a tough job. You mold that child to be in image of yourself or someone that you created in mind. You don’t know what faults you load on this child and how many different ways you can mess them up. So apparently you can give them live and sex addition too by making small mistakes, making them feel too vulnerable, not loved, or less protected. Damn! How can we raise not broken children when we are trying to fix our own broken pieces?!
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📗”We live in a society that has little tolerance for discomfort. We are encouraged by the assurance of easy fixes. There is always something we can buy that promises to make us feel better and finally get what we want. If we just subscribe to this or upgrade that, if we become wealthier, prettier, thinner, smarter, more powerful-then we will finally be happy. So much self-help literature focuses on positivity. There is nothing wrong with being positive, of course. There is nothing wrong with saying affirmations to ourselves in the mirror or with being grateful for what we have. However, life isn't that simple, and neither are human beings. The difficulty of life is an existential truth, and to make ongoing happiness a goal only sets one up for disappointment. It makes more sense for us to aim for a certain level of comfort with discomfort. When we can tolerate emotions like fear, anger, and sadness, we can engage with other people more effectively.”
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📘”Probably the strongest pathway to feeling better is acceptance of what
is. Acceptance of reality. Acceptance of the self you are now. Acceptance of what came before and where you're going next. Being present, grounded in the right now helps banish anxiety. When we go into the future or delusions about the present, into all the what-ifs, we create unnecessary suffering for ourselves. We feel best when we stay with what is, knowing that it is fluid. It rarely works well when we push ourselves before were ready.”
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📗”We live in a society that has little tolerance for discomfort. We are encouraged by the assurance of easy fixes. There is always something we can buy that promises to make us feel better and finally get what we want. If we just subscribe to this or upgrade that, if we become wealthier, prettier, thinner, smarter, more powerful-then we will finally be happy. So much self-help literature focuses on positivity. There is nothing wrong with being positive, of course. There is nothing wrong with saying affirmations to ourselves in the mirror or with being grateful for what we have. However, life isn't that simple, and neither are human beings. The difficulty of life is an existential truth, and to make ongoing happiness a goal only sets one up for disappointment. It makes more sense for us to aim for a certain level of comfort with discomfort. When we can tolerate emotions like fear, anger, and sadness, we can engage with other people more effectively.”
-
📘”Probably the strongest pathway to feeling better is acceptance of what
is. Acceptance of reality. Acceptance of the self you are now. Acceptance of what came before and where you're going next. Being present, grounded in the right now helps banish anxiety. When we go into the future or delusions about the present, into all the what-ifs, we create unnecessary suffering for ourselves. We feel best when we stay with what is, knowing that it is fluid. It rarely works well when we push ourselves before were ready.”
December 18, 2024
The best book I have found on this topic thus far. It offers a lot of practical wisdom and examples.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews