This disease is 100% fatal, if you factor in trauma - homicides, suicides and the things that go with them. With alcoholism, we see a deterioration of the liver, the brain and other organs. I suggest that we are going to see similar organ deterioration in sexual compulsivity, addiction or dependency - not by the same chemical impact, but by the changes that occur through the stress that is involved. Organ problems occur whenever people live in conditions of chronic stress.

Under stress, corticotropin-releasing factors or CRFs, coming from my hypothalamus, create a "red alert" condition in me. This calls for my constant control, because I'm terrified that I can't live with the outcome. So, I attempt to "manage my life", which is a losing proposition from the start. Some of us in this room will relapse and, whatever our compulsivity, it will always be over the second half of the first Step. That has been my experience - I'm trying to run my own life, to keep too many balls in the air. Even under the guise of wonderful behaviour and doing wonderful things in service. I forget that my primary objective is to fit myself to be of maximum service to God and others; not to be of maximum service. I can't give away what I haven't got.