Sex &Porn Addiction
What does alcohol have to do with Sex Addiction, you ask? In the early 1900’s, alcoholism was seen as a moral problem. The belief by many of the religiously conservative during the temperance movement was that if alcoholics would just stop drinking and become a godlier man or woman there wouldn’t be a need for the drink. Today, Sex Addiction is often viewed as alcoholism was 100 years ago, as a moral problem. However, with the advance of brain science and imaging, it is an established fact that the same pleasure pathways in the brain that are stimulated through sexual acting out are the same pathways of addiction regardless of the substance or process an individual engages in.
Sex addiction has many different ways it manifests. Some include having affairs, the use of prostitutes, the use of Ashley Madison website, Craigslist personals, Massage Parlors, Anonymous Sexual hook ups, trolling social media sites or chatting anonymously with someone just to name a few. There are a host of phone apps that make it that much easier to act out. Regardless of the way someone acts out the effects on marriages, families, careers, etc. all lead to the same spiritual bankruptcy as any addiction out there. There are people who recover from this addiction and learn to have healthy sexual lives.
Internet Pornography is at epidemic proportions. The highest risk group are boys 12 to 17 years old. This is very alarming considering the human brain doesn’t fully develop until around age 25! Internet pornography is available, affordable (mostly free) and anonymous. This is referred to as the Triple A Engine. This contributes to the addictive quality of internet porn. Boys can see hundreds of images in just a few minutes. As a result, neurochemicals in the pleasure center of the brain get released which feels good and behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated. Combine viewing porn with masturbation and you have two behaviors that get fused together in the brain. Not only does this condition a boy to objectify woman but pornography begins to distort their view of what real sexual intimacy is. As they grow older and begin having sexual relations with women they often experience Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction or IPED. Men having erectile dysfunction in their twenties use to be unheard of. But it is becoming quite common. With proper treatment, it is reversible. Married men often call us to seek help only after their wives have discovered their pornography use. Wives often report feeling betrayed and give their husbands the ultimatum to seek help with their porn use or face divorce. If this is you or someone you know, contact us so we can help begin the healing.