Although pornography addiction is not yet recognized as a medical illness, persons who view pornographic material in unhealthy quantities may experience intense cravings, avoidance of obligations, and destructive actions to satisfy their need to consider more porn.
The “triple A” effect of online pornography’s availability, affordability, and anonymity has been cited by several studies as a contributing factor to the phenomenon’s addictive potential. These factors might facilitate the development of an unhealthy dependence on pornographic media and make it challenging to cut back on viewing. Therapeutic options that address the adverse effects of excessive porn consumption are readily available, despite the lack of a precise definition or formal recognition of pornography addiction as a mental disorder.
Read on to find out about five therapy approaches that can help with the effects of problematic porn consumption.
- Altering One’s Manners
According to Dr. Daniel Sher, a clinical psychologist and sex therapy consultant with Invigor Medical in Washington, CBT can help patients become more self-aware and better manage their sexual health. CBT works by helping a person identify, examine, and modify habits of thinking and behaving that drive porn usage. She also uses “strategic questions” from motivational interviewing (MI) to push clients in the right direction. MI helps people weigh the benefits and drawbacks of their addiction and encourages them to make positive changes. As an additional aid, mindfulness can be of use. Science has proven that mindfulness may enable a person to take control of their urges when combined with therapy.
- Group Psychotherapy
Therapist Julia Alperovich of Sherman Oaks, California, discusses sexual addiction on her podcast “Undressing the Issue,” She suggests group therapy and personal healing traumas as treatment options. “Connecting with others and experiencing emotional intimacy is an excellent tool in helping a person with this form of addiction. To discover how a traumatic experience may have altered a person’s ability to feel safe opening up to others, “trauma-focused techniques are also effective. Check out porn addiction counseling near me.
- Hypnosis
London-based psychotherapist and hypnotherapist Venka de Rooij has successfully treated individuals with problematic porn consumption using several novel approaches. Hypnotherapy, for instance, employs techniques like guided meditation to induce a trance state in which the patient is more open to discussing more in-depth topics. Clinical hypnotherapy functions to identify the underlying reason for the addiction by tapping into the subconscious.
- Developing Substitute Plans
If you take away someone’s addiction or coping strategy, you have to offer something back to assist that person in managing when life throws them a curve ball in the future so they do not relapse. Discovering something more meaningful to devote time to is one of the most successful treatments for overcoming a pornographic addiction.
Acquiring new habits can lead to development. Intrinsic motivation and potential upward mobility in life can be fostered by engaging in activities other than pornographic ones.
- Medication
Abnormally high levels of pornographic media consumption may respond to medication. Pharmaceutical therapies have centered on treating co-existing psychiatric problems and targeting hypersexual or compulsive sexual behaviors with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.
Antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) work by elevating serotonin levels, a neurotransmitter that mediates the transmission of impulses between brain cells that control our emotions. Animal studies support the use of SSRIs since they demonstrate a reduction in sexual activities in response to increases in serotonin.
However, counseling may still be the best option. While there isn’t yet a scientifically established treatment for pornography addiction, “most clinicians working with pornography addiction attempt to identify the maladaptive behavior and present prosocial, healthy alternatives.”