Alexandra Katehakis

Alexandra Katehakis
Residence United States
Fields sex therapy, family therapy
Institutions IITAP, AASECT, Center for Healthy Sex, The Meadows
Alma mater Antioch University
Notable awards Carnes Award (SASH, September 2012)

Alexandra Katehakis is the Founder and Clinical Director of the Center for Healthy Sex in Los Angeles and the author of Erotic Intelligence: Igniting Hot, Healthy Sex While in Recovery from Sex Addiction[1][2] and co-author of Making Advances: A Comprehensive Guide for Treating Female Sex and Love Addicts[3] and the daily meditation book, Mirror of Intimacy: Daily Reflections on Emotional and Erotic Intelligence.[4] Katehakis is a clinical supervisor at American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists and clinical supervisor and member of the teaching faculty for the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) a national certifying body for sex addiction therapists. She is a regular contributor to Psychology Today[5] and The Huffington Post,[6] as well as a prominent expert panelist at sexuality conferences and public events.[7][8]

Biography

Alexandra 'Alex' Katehakis is a licensed psychotherapist (MFT) with a 1997 graduate degree from Antioch University. She holds licensure and certification[5] with several different mental health organizations: Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) with the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP); Certified Sex Therapist (CST) with the American Association of Sex Educators Counselors and Therapists (AASECT); Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS).[7]

She joined the Walking Theater Group in 1992 at the invitation of actor Joseph Culp who co-founded the process with John Cogswell, Ph.D. She later co-founded the Walking-In-Your-Shoes Group with Culp and shared in the further development of this transpersonal body mind process.[9][10][11]

In 1997, Alexandra Katehakis was one of the early pioneers in the field of sex addiction.[12] She became certified as a sex addiction therapist by Patrick Carnes, Ph.D. In her practice, Kathehakis focuses on treating sexual dysfunction, sexual anorexia, sexual addiction and love addiction in individuals and couples.[7] Her first book, Erotic Intelligence, lays out a healthy model of sexuality for sex addicts[13] allowing for the diversity of erotic expression while raising the possibility of consecrating sex as a spiritual act.[14] Since 2006, Katehakis has studied affective neuroscience with Allan N. Schore, incorporating Affect Regulation Theory[15] and interpersonal neurobiology into her Psychobiological Approach to Sex Addiction Treatment (PASAT).[16]

In 2009, Katehakis’s article “Affective Neuroscience and the Treatment of Sexual Addiction” was published in Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention.[17] The article focused on the neuropsychobiological impact of early childhood trauma on the affective, cognitive, and behavioral development of sexual addicts.[18]

Katehakis is the 2012 recipient of the Carnes Award, an acknowledgement for her contributions to the field of sex addiction, presented by the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH). She’s also a co-recipient of the 2013 Clark Vincent Award from the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) for her role in co-writing the clinical textbook, Making Advances: A Comprehensive Guide for Treating Female Sex and Love Addicts.[19] In 2013, Alexandra Katehakis joined the clinical team at the Meadows inpatient trauma and addiction rehabilitation center in Arizona as a Senior Fellow.[16][20]

Alexandra Katehakis is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and The Huffington Post, writing their annual Best and Worst Sex List.[21] Katehakis makes appearances on radio, film[22] and television news shows, as well as online and print interviews.[8][23][24] Some of her more notable appearances include Inside Hollywood,[25] Spike TV,[26] Los Angeles Times[12] and CNN.[27] She has appeared on panels at national conferences to discuss sex addiction alongside the likes of Dr. Drew Pinsky and Daniel J. Siegel,[28] as well as movie screening panel discussions for Shame (2011 film)[29] and, with the film's co-writer Matt Winston, Thanks for Sharing.[30]

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