Facing The Shadow

Facing the Shadow [3rd Edition]: Starting Sexual and Relationship Recovery Paperback – December 1, 2015

For all addicts, a moment comes when they realize they have a problem. There is sudden clarity—the insight that life has become unmanageable. That moment, however, is fragile. It is easily lost to craving and denial. People struggling with sex addiction find the old refrains creeping back into their thinking: My situation is different. . . . This will all blow over. . . . People are over-reacting to my behavior. Or, This is hopeless. I'm just too perverted to change.

"If any of those thoughts occur to you, you are exactly where you should be," notes Dr. Patrick Carnes in the introduction to Facing the Shadow. Starting with those gentle words, he guides readers through a series of reflections and exercises that pierce denial and light the path to healing from sex addiction.

Facing the Shadow, used by thousands of therapists with their clients, is based on the thirty-task model of recovery from addiction that forms the basis of Carnes's work. This newly revised and expanded edition takes readers through the first seven of those tasks, including specific performables that are built in to the exercises. The model also supports Twelve Step recovery programs.

Patrick Carnes, PhD, is a therapist, speaker, trainer, and author whose books include Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction, A Gentle Path Through the Twelve StepsContrary to Love: Helping the Sexual Addict, and Don't Call It Love: Recovery From Sexual Addiction.

Recovery Start Kit

Recovery Zone, Vol. 1: Making Changes that Last - The Internal Tasks Paperback – January 11, 2009

Recovery Zone, Volume One picks up where Facing the Shadow leaves off, guiding readers to begin working tasks eight through thirteen of Dr. Patrick Carnes' innovative thirty-task model. This book helps readers understand that true recovery is achieved by learning to cope with difficult situations and emotions.


Stopping addictive behavior is the only way to start recovery. However, stopping the behavior is not enough to stay in recovery. True recovery is achieved by learning to cope with difficult situations and emotions. Dr. Patrick Carnes helps readers know how to deal with difficult affective states and guides them to a place of resilience so they can decide what is important in their lives. Readers will learn how to live optimally in their Recovery Zone. The work sets the stage for recovery tasks 8-13, providing readers with a practical approach to recognize the underlying emotional causes that perpetuate the addiction cycle.

Facing Heartbreak: Steps to Recovery for Partners of Sex Addicts Paperback – October 16, 2012

When you discover that the person you loved and trusted most in the world is hiding a secret life as a sex addict, the result can be devastating. Facing that heartbreak is what this book is all about. The healing process will take time regardless of whether you decide to stay in the relationship or leave.

Facing Heartbreak weaves real life stories with practical therapeutic advice and specific tasks that gently educate, empower, and guide the partner of the sex addict through a process of recovery. Using Dr. Patrick Carnes' thirty-task sex recovery model, readers will learn to heal from the heartbreak and betrayal as they discover hope and healing.