What's Dr. Minwalla's Story?

Lighthouse to Vanishing Point

Dr. Minwalla has been a lighthouse for patients, a lightning rod in the sex addiction field, and a source of illumination for mental-health professionals. Now, his 20-year journey of sitting with human beings and listening to human voices has become the vanishing point—where theories of infidelity and compulsive sexual behavior converge with treatments for systemic abuse, injustice and complex trauma into a plane of extraordinary space and vibrational science.

Born in the Heart of the
Sex Addiction Debate

Born in the
Heart of the Sex Addiction Debate

In 2002, the profession fiercely debated: “Is sex addiction real, and what do we call it!?” Dr. Minwalla, a postdoctoral fellow in Clinical Sexology, embarked on the journey to find out. His professional career assumed a singular focus: Figuring out how to better treat compulsive sexual behavior and infidelity—and he did.

A Lighthouse

As the Clinical Director for multiple national sex addiction treatment centers, Dr. Minwalla soon recognized the acute trauma symptoms of partners and spouses of sex addicts. He began to research and study partners’ experience in 2006, spotlighting the misdiagnosis of partners in sex addiction treatment. His academic writings dismantled the codependency and co-sex addiction models. His national conference presentations became a source of hope for patients and professionals alike, particularly for survivors.

A Lightning Rod

Staying true to his scientific observations and clinical work, Dr. Minwalla founded the Institute for Sexual Health (ISH) in 2009. Despite pushback, Dr. Minwalla’s voice remained true and persistent in his research, practice, and his unwavering advocacy for survivors. By naming “deceptive sexuality,” Dr. Minwalla illuminated the psychological operation of integrity-abuse used to enact infidelity. He identified a specified psychological abuse disorder and form of intimate partner abuse: Integrity-Abuse Disorder (IAD).

A Source of Illumination

After two decades on the frontline as a first responder, Dr. Minwalla finally arrived at his simple and clear conclusion: Integrity-Abuse Disorder is thriving in darkness. The psychological operations of integrity-abuse remain occluded, insidious, and extend to society at large. Dr. Minwalla’s powerful educational metaphor, the “Secret Sexual Basement”, has made accessible to everyone the personal, relational, and sociological abuses that comprise deceptive sexuality.

The Vanishing Point

So, after 20 years of clinical incubation, his story of figuring out how to better treat compulsive sexual behavior and infidelity— has resulted in Deceptive Sexuality and Trauma Treatment (DSTT), a clinical technology for the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of deceptive sexuality and trauma-related stress disorders. DSTT subsumes traditional treatments for infidelity, compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and sex addiction by illuminating decades of missing pieces, clinical errors, ethical deficits in current modalities, and both professional and cultural blind spots. However…this story doesn’t quite end here.

At Lightspeed

In 2022, Dr. Minwalla for the first time presented his grounded theory and work to a diverse group of professionals, outside of his clinical incubator. With peer-reflection and feedback, Dr. Minwalla recognized a unique language and method for the treatment of systemic abuse and complex trauma, called Intentional Vibe Trauma Treatment. IVTT is intended to help not just patients seeking psychological treatment, but to help humanity, and particularly survivor-centered communities, move towards truth, justice, and psychological health.

Intentional Vibe Theory

Intentional Vibe Trauma Treatment (IVTT) is an emerging model developed specifically for the treatment of systemic abuse, victimization, and complex trauma sequences. IVTT offers human beings— particularly survivor-centered communities— a conscious way to create extraordinary space to move the organic will and empathy of human beings towards justice, truth and psychological healing. Intentional Vibe Theory (IVT) postulates that Intentionally Manipulated Reality (IMR) promotes disease and Intentionally Accurate-Authentic Reality (IAR) promotes health. 

The Institute for Sexual Health (ISH) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Institute for Sexual Health maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

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©️ Omar Minwalla, Psy.D. 2023-2024, All Rights Reserved.

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Trish Haight, LMFT

Licensed Psychotherapist

Trish Haight, LMFT is a certified Deceptive Sexuality and Trauma Therapist (DSTT), a specialization in deceptive sexuality and trauma (DST), offered by The Institute for Sexual Health (ISH).Trish is a leading professional voice in Deceptive Sexuality and Trauma Treatment (DSTT) and is an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Member of The Institute for Sexual Health (ISH), and currently teaches Level 2 and 3 of the DSTT Professional Training along with Dr. Omar Minwalla, Licensed Psychologist and Clinical Sexologist. Trish formally trained directly under Dr. Omar Minwalla and was an instrumental part of Dr. Minwalla’s original core clinical treatment team at The Institute for Sexual Health from 2009 – 2015, which is referred to as Dr. Minwalla’s, Sacred Clinical Incubator, giving birth to both DSTT and IVTT, Intentional Vibe Trauma Treatment. IVTT is a treatment for systemic abuse, injustice, and complex trauma, and relevant in particular to survivor-based communities.

Dr. Omar Minwalla, Psy.D.

Licensed Psychologist & Clinical Sexologist

Dr. Omar Minwalla is a Licensed Psychologist and Clinical Sexologist trained at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Minwalla has spent 20 years as a first responder on the front lines of treating infidelity and compulsive sexual behavior. His grounded theory of Deceptive Sexuality and Trauma Treatment (DSTT) not only establishes a new standard of care for the treatment of infidelity, compulsive sexual behavior disorders, and sex addiction, but shines a light on a unique method for the treatment of systemic abuse, injustice and complex trauma, called Intentional Vibe Trauma Treatment (IVTT). Dr. Minwalla is the founder of The Institute for Sexual Health (ISH) which was one of the first and only U.S. treatment centers to challenge the “co-sex addict” model and articulate the systemic abuse associated with infidelity and compulsive sexual behavior disorder.

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