Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA)

What Is Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA)?

SLAA is a peer-support program for individuals struggling with sex addiction, love addiction, fantasy addiction, romantic obsession, or patterns of co-dependent relationships. Membership requires only the willingness to stop repeating harmful behaviors and to seek recovery.

SLAA centers on personal growth, emotional sobriety, and developing healthy connections with others and yourself.

Is Sex and Love Addiction Real?

Yes. These patterns involve repeated sexual or romantic behaviors that spiral out of control, causing emotional or relational harm. Clinically, the compulsive sexual component is often related to hypersexual disorder, while the relational and emotional patterns are understood through frameworks like attachment theory.

Common characteristics of sex and love addiction include:

• Forming relationships quickly often occurs without healthy boundaries or a personal connection.
• Confusing intimacy with rescue, pity, or neediness.
• Switching between relationships or avoiding intimacy altogether to avoid feeling alone or abandoned.

How Does SLAA Work?

SLAA is based on the Twelve Steps and Traditions adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous. The program offers meetings, literature, and sponsorship to support recovery. It focuses on personal reflection, accountability, and establishing healthier emotional patterns.

Participants often work on:

• Recognizing “bottom-line behaviors” and defining their personal sobriety.
• Exploring root patterns of attachment, fear, and self-worth.
• Building emotional sobriety and healthier boundaries.
• Working toward healthier relationships instead of cycles of obsession or avoidance.

The SLAA 12 Steps

SLAA adapts the original 12-Steps to address compulsive sex and love behaviors.

1. We admitted we were powerless over sex and love addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to sex and love addicts, and to practice these principles in all areas of our lives.

SLAA vs. Other ‘S’ Fellowships

The landscape of support groups for sexual and romantic issues can be confusing. SLAA is unique because it addresses both issues together.

• SLAA addresses both compulsive sexual behavior and compulsive emotional/romantic attachment (“love addiction”).
• Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) and Sexual Compulsives Anonymous (SCA) focus primarily on stopping compulsive sexual behaviors.

Many people find SLAA helpful because it recognizes that for them, these two issues are deeply intertwined.

What to Expect at a SLAA Meeting

Attending an SLAA meeting for the first time can feel intimidating, but meetings are designed to be welcoming, respectful, and safe. They are available in-person, online, and by phone.

Here’s what you can expect at most SLAA meetings:

• A safe, judgment-free environment: Anonymity and confidentiality are central to the fellowship.
• Readings from SLAA literature: Meetings usually begin with readings of the 12 Steps or other approved materials.
• Open sharing: Sharing is always optional. You can simply listen and observe until you feel comfortable.
• Support without advice-giving: Members share their own experiences rather than offering direct advice.

How to Find a SLAA Meeting

There are no fees or membership requirements to join SLAA. You can find a global directory of in-person, online, and telephone meetings on the official SLAA website.

Find Healing and Support

If you believe you are struggling with compulsive sexual or emotional behavior, you are not alone. Professional, confidential help is available. You can connect with a qualified therapist who specializes in this area through convenient online therapy or speak to someone immediately by calling the free SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

Our Find Treatment Help page has resources to help you take the next step in your healing journey.

Written by

Jessica Miller

Editorial Director

Jessica Miller is the Editorial Director of Addiction Help. Jessica graduated from the University of South Florida (USF) with an English degree and combines her writing expertise and passion for helping others to deliver reliable information to those impacted by addiction. Informed by her personal journey to recovery and support of loved ones in sobriety, Jessica's empathetic and authentic approach resonates deeply with the Addiction Help community.

Reviewed by

• Fact-Checked
• Editor

Kent S. Hoffman, D.O.

Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer

Kent S. Hoffman, D.O. has been an expert in addiction medicine for more than 15 years. In addition to managing a successful family medical practice, Dr. Hoffman is board certified in addiction medicine by the American Osteopathic Academy of Addiction Medicine (AOAAM). Dr. Hoffman has successfully treated hundreds of patients battling addiction. Dr. Hoffman is the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of AddictionHelp.com and ensures the website’s medical content and messaging quality.