i was reading this article in Jane on sex addiction and thinking about the problems with the twelve step program pattern. There seems to be no connection between who goes there. In sex addiction it is meant for anyone who views there sex or romantic or fantasy life as destructive. So everyone from a 21 college virign who jacks off once a day and a middle aged woman in an unhappy marriage who devolps a massive crush on the UPS driver to a pump and dump pyschotic and violent sadists or pedophiles could be at the same meeting. Can we not tell the college kid and the people who revel in fantasy that they are not evil ?

At overeater anonymus if you talk about your addiction it becomes a temption. For example they do not say cheese they say produce product that may be cubed .

At AA they cannot tell the difference between a complusion, a habit and a binge. Addicts are complex and need to be treated differently depending on there addiction and there habits. People act out differently and twelve steps cannot motivate all .
Those who are complusive will change to coffee or cigarettes or even meetings . If you have an addictive personailty , does the compulsion that underpins your personality ever change ?

I am sure the ritual helps , 12 steps to let you move one foot in front of the other and group therapy is a carthatic
it must help.