Boom time for porn addiction therapy
Addiction therapists and counsellors are busier than ever in this tough economic climate. There’s been a spate of recent news stories and articles about the correlation between the economic downturn and the rise in problem, compulsive behaviours.
And it’s totally plausible too. Rocketing debt and redundancy brings on immense anxiety, wrecking our self-esteem and the daily structure of our lives. Internet porn provides an instant distraction; a source of brain-numbing escapism.
What may have been a daily porn fix after work or at weekends can easily become a full-time preoccupation. I’ve spoken to guys who struggle to search for jobs online or tap out their CVs. At any time of day or night, porn is a few clicks away and it seens so much more convenient.
To quote the article linked above: “That drink of alcohol, that taste of sugar, that sex or shopping or Internet porn brings a sense of calm.”
From reading these news stories, it also strikes me how porn is so frequently lumped together with the ‘traditional’ addictions of drink, drugs and smoking. This is a recent trend, and generally quite positive. I’m always keen to make the distinction between porn obsession and other addictions because there are some fundamental differences. We certainly want to steer clear of the old-school disease model of addiction, and in many ways the term ‘addiction’ itself doesn’t even apply.
But by including porn in these discussions and stories, we do build awareness that porn addiction is no more shameful or desperate than smoking or overeating. A porn habit has the same basis of escape and comfort seeking. And just as smokers are successfully quitting every day, even in these difficult days, people are also overcoming their problems with porn. As with all these things, it’s a matter of having motivation and a plan.
I’m strongly of the opinion that using porn, or having a problematic relationship with internet porn should NOT be classified as an addiction as such. I know this sounds rather confusing perhaps because using porn has many many overlapping similarities to physical additions to substances like alcohol or drugs but using porn is NOT an addiction. In my opinion using porn is or can develop into an obsession (becomes obsessional) which is slightly different from an actual addiction.
NOTE:- Addiction and obsession are not quite the same things. Why does this matter isn’t this just splitting hairs really??. [ans] Well no actually!! The term addiction is a medical term and it tends to suggest that the addict is nothing more than a hapless victim and thus cannot control the problem. The term Obsession tends to place the emphasis in a slightly different place, far far less on being a victim who has no control. On the contrary an obsession IS behavior that is the result of making a choice and the person with the obsession does not lack a choice in how to behave.
**Were I do agree is that despite porn obsessions being wrongly classified as an addiction. I do see using porn as being on a par with using alcohol, drugs, or comfort eating i.e. eating disorders or eating obsessions. I think many many of these things serve the same purposes i.e. to avoid feelings especially feelings or distress, hurt or pain.
Alex
To me it is not at all surprising that people turn to easy accessible forms of comfort when the economic conditions get tough. The tougher the situation the more a person will naturally look for easy ways to comfort themselves or to escape (i.e. porn as a form of escapism). And with so many UK households now having high speed access to the internet using porn has literally never been easier. But perhaps the flip side of this particular coin is that never too have there been so many people struggling with their relationship with porn?
Alex
As personal levels of stress and distress goes upwards in the current recession, from areas like pressure at work due to short staffing or from large numbers of staff in your company being culled to save costs, to stress from personal debts, personal relationships also suffer, redundancy biting through to being unemployed and so forth its a long list potentialy. The more people turn towards ways to cope i.e. coping mechanisms. Using Porn and internet porn useage goes up when there is increased stress & emotional distress as the more we want some relief from our problems and the more we want to escape. Sadly using porn paradoxically only further adds to the pain and wont help solve our problems.
i just found this website and cant believe what ive just read. im being made redundant from a large non-profit organisation at the end of july. i will be receiving a very small redundancy payment and they are even giving me time off to look for jobs and go for interviews. and yet what do i spend this time doing? playing online games or mostly looking at hardcore porn sites. its like half of my brain knows that my income will end in a few weeks, and the other half just wants to switch everything off and focus on porn. ive even found myself thinking about seeing a prostitute, is that how ill spend my redundancy money? its insane.
alex your comments describe my situation exactly. like a coping mechanism that i just cant switch off even when my income and home is on the line. even harder to switch off in fact.
The Chinese have the right idea – banning the stuff outright, including on the Internet. They want a productive society – we in the West don’t.
To answer Alex’s question in the first post:
Porn is definitely an addiction, but is a fundamentally different sort of addiction to the “traditional” ones. It has different characteristics, works on different impulses, etc.