ABSTRACT
The core belief is a deeply held view of oneself which might well have been lost to his/her vision of him/her. Most of us defend ourselves against the implications of our core beliefs with a whole retinue of management techniques. Once one has become adept at identifying his/her automatic thoughts and the core beliefs that underlie these, he/she is ready to start making a formulation. A formulation is a diagrammatic outline of one's situation which sets out the fundamentals of the problem of his/her sexually compulsive behaviour. The formulation is set out as a simple model, which is divided into four sections: set-up, core belief, management techniques and escape mechanisms. The set-up for the behaviour is the historical situation which set the framework for it, and usually occurs in childhood. Next comes the core belief. Most sex addicts have the core belief that they are not OK, that they are intrinsically flawed or somehow are not measuring up to expectations.
