Process & Behavioral Addictions · Houston
Process & Behavioral Addiction Treatment in Houston
Specialized, master’s-level treatment for the compulsive behaviors most programs miss: sex and love addiction, gambling, and technology. Led by a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist, individualized, and dual diagnosis-forward. Private pay, with superbills for out-of-network reimbursement.
01CSAT-Led Expertise
02Dual Diagnosis-Forward
03IIP · PHP · IOP
04Private Pay · Superbills
A Houston Differentiator
Specialized care for behavioral & process addictions
Process and behavioral addictions hijack the same reward systems as substances, but they are too often treated as willpower problems or left out of care entirely. Heights Behavioral Health is one of the few Houston programs built to treat them in depth, led by a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist and delivered by master’s-level clinicians. Because these patterns rarely travel alone, co-occurring trauma, anxiety, depression, and substance use are treated in the same plan through our dual diagnosis approach, and every plan is built around the person rather than a fixed program.
Private, Discreet, in The Heights
Behavioral addiction treatment built for real life
Most people searching for process addiction help are still going to work, running companies, raising families, and holding it together on the outside. Our behavioral addiction treatment is built for that reality: a calm, private setting in the Houston Heights, a small boutique practice where you are never a case number, and scheduling that protects your life, including evening IOP and virtual sessions. Executives, professionals, and high-visibility clients come to us precisely because compulsive gambling, sexual behavior, and screen use thrive in secrecy, and recovery requires one safe place to finally be honest. Here, that honesty is met with clinical skill instead of judgment, and complete discretion at every step.
What We Treat
The behavioral addictions we treat
Each behavioral addiction has its own triggers, rituals, and recovery path. Every one of them is treated here with specialized, judgment-free care, and each has its own dedicated page below.
CSAT-Led
Sex, Love & Pornography Addiction
Confidential, specialized care for compulsive sexual behavior, pornography, and love and relationship addiction, led by a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist.
Compulsive Gambling
Gambling Addiction
Treatment for compulsive and problem gambling, from casinos to sports betting and trading apps, with the financial, relational, and emotional fallout addressed together.
Screens & Gaming
Technology, Gaming & Internet
Help for compulsive technology, gaming, internet, and social media use that has taken over time, relationships, work, or school.
Our Flagship Program
Intensive Individualized Program was created for exactly this
Most programs bolt process addiction work onto a substance use template. We built ours the other way around. Our Individualized Intensive Program was created specifically for process and behavioral addictions and the mental health concerns that drive them, so care can be fully customized around the client. It moves through three structured phases on the bones of the ASAM criteria, and as clinical intensity steps down, recovery mentoring steps up, handing structure off smoothly to everyday life. CSAT-led therapy, EMDR, trauma work, and process addiction work are woven into whichever phase you are in.
Therapy Modalities
The therapies behind process addiction recovery
Compulsive behavior is the surface. These are the evidence-based therapies we use to treat the urges, the nervous system, and the pain underneath, matched and combined around you inside individual therapy, group work, and every level of care.
Certified Expertise
CSAT-Led 1:1 Therapy
Individual therapy guided by a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist: a structured, task-based framework built for compulsive behavior, breaking denial, interrupting the cycle, and rebuilding healthy intimacy and self-trust.
Trauma Reprocessing
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing helps the brain reprocess the trauma that so often drives compulsive behavior. When the old pain loses its charge, the urge to escape into the addiction loses its fuel.
Body-Based
Somatic Experiencing
Compulsive behavior is often an attempt to regulate a dysregulated nervous system. Somatic Experiencing releases that stored survival stress and builds real regulation, so urges lose their grip on the body.
Brain Training
Neurofeedback
Non-invasive brain training that helps calm an overactive nervous system and strengthen impulse control, supporting steadier focus, better sleep, and a quieter craving loop while the deeper work takes hold.
Retrain the Pattern
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT maps the triggers, beliefs, and rituals that keep the compulsive cycle spinning, then rebuilds them: urge management, relapse prevention, and honest thinking that holds up in real life.
Regulation Skills
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
DBT builds distress tolerance and emotion regulation, the skills to ride out an urge without acting on it. Practiced in individual work and reinforced in our skills-based groups.
Ready When You Are
There is no shame in asking. Just a confidential call.
One confidential conversation and an ASAM-guided assessment tell us exactly where to begin. No pressure, no obligation.
Understanding Process Addictions
What is a process addiction?
A process addiction, also called a behavioral addiction, is a compulsive relationship with a behavior rather than a substance. Gambling, sex, pornography, gaming, scrolling, spending: each delivers a surge of dopamine the brain learns to chase. Over time the pattern behaves exactly like a substance addiction, with tolerance, escalation, restlessness when the behavior is unavailable, and continued use despite mounting consequences. Because the behavior is legal, often celebrated, and available on the phone in your pocket, people wait years longer to seek help. It is not a willpower problem. It is a recognized, treatable clinical pattern, and treating it is one of our core specialties.
How We Treat It
As much structure as you need
Care begins with a thorough, nonjudgmental assessment guided by ASAM criteria, not an intake checklist. Some people need weekly specialized therapy; others need the containment of our Individualized Intensive Program, PHP, IOP, or evening IOP to interrupt the cycle. Treatment is dual diagnosis-forward and trauma-informed throughout, family involvement is offered because these patterns affect the people closest to you, and intensity adjusts as recovery takes hold.
Signs It May Be Time
When a habit stops being a choice
- The behavior keeps escalating
- You hide it from people you love
- You have tried to stop and cannot
- You use it to escape stress or pain
- It is costing money, relationships, or self-respect
Start Confidentially
Prefer to start in writing?
Tell us a little about what is going on and the best way to reach you. A member of our admissions team will follow up personally and discreetly. Please do not include sensitive medical details in the form.
Call (877) 549-5102
Confidential Consultation Request
Common Questions
Process addictions, answered
If you do not see your question here, call our admissions team at (877) 549-5102 and we will walk you through it.
Do you take insurance?
We are private pay and also work with out-of-network benefits. We will explain costs and verify your specific benefits before you commit to anything.
What is a process or behavioral addiction?
A process addiction is a compulsive pattern of behavior, such as sex, gambling, or technology use, that a person keeps repeating despite harm. It engages the same reward pathways as substance addiction and responds to the same kind of structured, evidence-based treatment.
Do you treat process addictions alongside mental health or substance use?
Yes. Process addictions rarely occur alone. Our care is dual diagnosis-forward, so we treat co-occurring trauma, anxiety, depression, and substance use as part of the same individualized plan.
What level of care do process addictions need?
It varies. Some people do well in weekly specialized therapy; others need more structure to interrupt the cycle. Our Individualized Intensive Program was created specifically for process and behavioral addictions and co-occurring mental health concerns, and an ASAM-guided assessment tells us where to start.
Is treatment confidential?
Yes. Care is private and discreet. We are private pay and out-of-network, and we are careful with your information at every step.
Do behavioral addictions really respond to treatment?
Yes. Process addictions respond well to specialized, evidence-based care, especially when underlying trauma, shame, anxiety, or depression are treated at the same time.
How do you treat process addictions?
With certified, shame-aware care: CSAT-led therapy where relevant, CBT and DBT skills, trauma therapies like EMDR and Somatic Experiencing, neurofeedback, and shame-resilience and relapse-prevention work, all customized to you.
Clinically reviewed by Joni Ogle, LCSW, CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapist). Last updated July 2026. Heights Behavioral Health provides licensed outpatient behavioral health care for adults in Houston, Texas, delivered by master’s-level clinicians. This page is for education and is not medical advice.
Contact Admissions
Take the first, private step
One confidential call connects you with admissions, a clinical assessment, and a clear next step.
Crisis Notice
Heights Behavioral Health provides scheduled outpatient care and is not an emergency or crisis service. This page is general information, not medical advice. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 if someone is in immediate danger.
