When she hung out her shingle as a sex addiction therapist in 1997, Alexandra Katehakis had only a handful of colleagues.
“There were five people in this field and we all knew each other,” she said.
These days, Katehakis, a licensed marriage and family therapist, has hundreds of competitors and has grown her Los Angeles solo practice into the Center for Healthy Sex, “a full-blown organization” with a team of counselors, an intensive outpatient program, a range of therapy groups, an expansive website and training for other therapists.
Celebrities have been the greatest evangelists for treatment. “My practice wouldn’t exist without them,” Katehakis said.
The for-profit field is booming, thanks largely to Tiger Woods and other celebrities whose public visits to rehab have moved sex addiction, a controversial diagnosis not recognized by the medical establishment, into the mainstream and led a growing number of Americans to conclude that they — or in many cases, their spouses — needed treatment.
Full story: Sex addiction rehab a thriving industry