Porn Addiction Help

Can people be addicted to porn? Yes. Treatment for porn addiction is available for those who need help.

Is there help available? Yes

Can I get into rehab for porn addiction? Yes.

Let our experienced addictions clinicians explain what porn addiction is and how to get into recovery.

Treatment for porn addiction is available.

Treatment for porn addiction: What is porn addiction?

Porn addiction is a condition where someone, quite literally, is addicted to viewing pornography to the point where other elements of daily life are ignored or completely abandoned.

Relationships are damaged, work and study deadlines ignored.

Despite the cost you keep spending money to feed your habit.

Some academics believe it is a subset of sex addiction yet has different roots to it.

What is known is that there is an ever growing body of research to show that porn addiction has a massive impact on brain chemistry. In short, it is the same as taking drugs.

What happens in the brain?

When you view pornography the brain is flooded with a supernormal stimuli.

This level of stimulation is far higher than if you see someone you find sexually attractive.

When you view internet porn naturally occurring feelgood chemicals are released by the brain.

The problem is that, in time, if you keep activating the brain in this way you will not be able to experience pleasure unless you continue to view internet porn.

Your brain will develop a state known as tolerance. This is because your brain, in reaction to the continued release of feelgood chemicals, rewires itself. You will need more and more of these chemicals in order to experience any pleasure.

Thus, whereas five minutes of porn would have been enough to make you feel happy, you now need to spend an hour with more extreme porn to have the same effect.

This is precisely the same effect as taking heroin or drinking alcohol.

Addiction is addiction. It matters not if it is a substance or a behaviour. The effects and treatment is the same.

The Damage Caused By Porn Addiction

As with any addiction, porn addiction will, very quickly, start to impinge on your life.

Everyday tasks will start to suffer as will work and study deadlines.

The costs will start to mount up and even though you know you can not afford to feed your addiction, you spend money you shouldn’t.

Relationships will suffer, even breakdown.

You will stop looking after yourself until you become completely, totally and utterly incapable of holding down a job and a relationship because of your addiction.

Many people who are addicted to porn will soon be unable to maintain an erection without watching it and even fail to be able to perform, sexually, with a partner.

Many people are not aware they’re hooked on porn until it escalates to the point of affecting other areas of life such as relationships, friendships or work. Or until they notice that they can no longer get an erection without using pornography and sex with a partner no longer holds any appeal. For some the escalation has gone into cybersex, hook ups and visiting sex workers which may be crossing personal boundaries and breaching fidelity contracts with a partner.

Recovery has nothing to do with lack of willpower, but everything to do with science.

Treatment for Porn Addiction : Recovery Is Possible

Treatment for porn addiction is available.

As with any addiction there are four elements to recovery:

• Detox
• Therapy
• Relapse Prevention
• Aftercare

Detox

Until you stop looking at porn, your brain is not going to respond to therapy.

The problem is, that unlike an alcohol or heroin detox, it is a matter of sudden cessation and managing the brains response.

Your mood will crash and you will experience very significant anxiety.

There is no medication, as such, as there is for other addictions but a short course of adjunctive medication can, sometimes, be crucial to allow a safe transition from addiction to recovery.

Your brains reaction, when you go into rehab and are no longer exposing yourself to porn, is nothing to do with lack of willpower but everything to do with science.

It matters not how physically fit you are or how much water you drink.

In rehab, an experienced addictions clinician will assess you, on admission, and draw treatment plan of medication that can be provided to you, if you find yourself struggling.

Therapy

Detox without therapy is like filling a bucket with a hole in it: Pointless waste of time.

No one chooses to be an addict. It is not a choice.

Addiction is an escape. All is not well and addiction is a go to for peace and salvation only it becomes destructive.

Therapy will help you to resolve the issues you were trying to run from.

The sessions will be full of laughter, love, tears and hope.

Every centre, the world over, uses a group therapy model. It really doesn’t matter if it is a 12 STEP, SMART of eclectic model. Worrying about which one a centre uses is like arranging deckchairs on the titanic.

Adjunctive therapies

Most centres, in addition tot he group therapy process, offer adjunctive treatments such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, family therapy and motivational therapy.

Relapse Prevention

Relapse happens in addiction recovery.

It doesn’t happen to everyone but if you think of addiction as a serious illness you will appreciate that relapse happens in chronic illness. Diabetes, asthma, cystic fibrosis: There are times of remission and times of crisis.

If you know how to handle relapse you are in a much stronger position to ride the storm.

A relapse can be a bump in the road to negotiate or a total road block: The choice is yours.

With the right tools you can get through.

Aftercare

When you leave rehab you will have a new found sense of self.

You will have goals. Things you want to accomplish. You will want to make up for lost time.

Life isn’t all rose petals and scented candles, though.

The rehab centre you were in provides a weekly support group , either in person or remotely (depending on your location) where you can get support and check in.

There will be regular telephone check in: too.

If you find yourself struggling, there will be a dedicated number to call.

Speak with an Experienced Addictions Clinician For Free Advice

You can call (or emal) and get free advice from an experienced addictions clinician.

We can tell you what you need, and what you don’t.

Yoga with a miniature goat while drinking herbal green tea from the Himalaya’s before realigning your shakra is all very nice but wholly unnecessary: both for you and your bank balance!

Our service is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

We only signpost to legally registered centres.

Treatment for porn addiction is a phone call away.