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In my Atlanta counseling practice I regularly help people who are facing the painful consequences that happen when their previously secretive sexual behavior is suddenly brought out into the open. (The other side of this equation is when a person finds out that a spouse or other important person has been holding sexual secrets, often for years or even decades.  While this article is written primarily for the person whose behavior has been discovered, the main concept applies either way.)

On October 16 2020 I had the high honor of presenting the 2020 Carnes Award Keynote Address at the annual conference of the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH). The title of this presentation was "A Framework for Categorizing Problematic Sexual Behavior", and it reviewed a way that I created for evaluating sexual behavior patterns for their problematic aspects. Several others pages on this site include summaries of this framework. I had a lot of fun preparing for this address and then delivering it, and I'm grateful that it was well received.

Atlanta counselor and therapist Bill Herring LCSW, CSAT offers a persepctive on the elusive search for happiness.

In 2019 Atlanta counselor Bill Herring LCSW, CSAT received the prestigious "Carnes Award" from the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH). Here is a photo of Bill standing with Dr. Patrick Carnes himself just after receiving the award.

This brief post summarizes a set of questions devised by Atlanta counselor Bill Herring to distinguish different forms of what can collectively be termed "problematic sexual behavior".

Atlanta counselor and therapist BIll Herring LCSW, CSAT uses a famous saying to highlight the value of pressing forward during difficult times to achieve new outcomes.

Endings are also beginnings, and Atlanta therapist Bill Herring points out that an old way of life that falls apart creates room for a better way of living to take its place.

Atlanta therapist and counselor Bill Herring LCSW, CSAT summarizes the chapted he wrote for a book about the early years of the sex addiction field.

This is a description and link to a podcast of Atlanta counselor and therapist Bill Herring LCSW, CSAT describing bis framework for categorizing patterns of problematic sexual behavior.

In one scene from the movie "Casablanca"  a corrupt police captain pretends to be surprised that a crime has been committed and issues orders to "round up the usual suspects" instead of going after the person he knows is the real culprit.

In my Atlanta counseling and psychotherapy practice I occasionally use the phrase "round up the usual suspects" to refer to the tendency of many people to revert to a well-worn set of unhelpful beliefs or emotions when dealing with a difficult situation.