How Can Porn be Addictive if Withdrawal From it Can’t Kill You? | IntegrityRestored.com

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How Can Porn be Addictive if Withdrawal From it Can’t Kill You?

10Apr

About the Author

Matt Fradd

His most recent book, The Porn Myth, is a No. 1 best-seller on Amazon. He is the co-creator of Victory, an app that provides a strategic battle plan for winning the struggle against pornography. Matt lives in Georgia with his wife, Cameron, and their children.

Comments (2)

George - May 17, 2017 11:31 am

Why the resistance to calling it an addiction? To me, if we use Dr. Patrick Carnes’ now classic criteria, it all fits. For me, porn viewing was out of control and led to severe consequences, Yet I continued. Although my behavior did not escalate in the sense of more dangerous or high-risk behavior, I did find myself turning to sexual fantasy fueled by porn as my go-to way of dealing with life. Not being satisfied with the level of activity around porn, I sought more and moved from pictures to videos and scanned chatrooms looking for these things (where the police are constantly monitoring, looking for offenders that are viewing illegal material). I could go on. Of the ten criteria Dr. Carnes listed in _Don’t Call it Love_ I fit about eight of them. My point? That’s the man who would have denied this was an addiction. The man who has broken the chains, one day at a time, would wonder why anyone would deny it’s an addiction if the diagnosis along those lines lead to a treatment that works. It worked for me and for many others I know.

Meanwhile, I recognize there are well meaning people who would ask the question in the spirit of, “okay, you’re making inroads, but is addiction the best perspective?” That’s a fair question and worth asking. The above article may perhaps put that question on the back burner until someone stumbles upon an acceptable non-addiction solution that works better than what we now have.

That’s my two cents worth.

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Anonymous - September 19, 2018 8:17 am

Hi, I used to watch porn when I was a teen, in the 80s. They just started putting x rated movies on vhs and everyone had vcrs. Also, soft core porn on cable when it came out. I used to go to church, before that. Anyway, I stopped using it, going back to church, for like 7 years, til the internet came out, then it was available at the touch of a key, and I got addicted. So, I thought maybe it’s true what you say if you quit using porn it can kill you, because after I became addicted I was less suicidal then before I had the internet. But I started going back to religion cuz I was suicidal as a teen. But I don’t think the solution is to keep warching it. I think I became addicted cuz I was putting myself up to a real high moral standard, when I re converted and lying to myself, thinking I was a good person. I was also raised in a violent family, and porn is like the opposite of that nature. I didn’t know porn was that bad cuz it was considered ok in the culture in the late 60s and 70s. They never really taught that sex etc was that bad at church or Catholic school, I guess cuz it’s an uncomfortable subject. So, I was in the dark a little. Anyway, the porn on the web is a lot worse than anything from the 70s and 80s. And it’s all free for any kid with a phone to watch. TV too. I think it’s all motivated by greed. So, I think an addiction happens when you try to quit a behavior that you lie about, and then feel you’re a good person, but it’s tempting to do it again cuz you’re not being honest. I think the whole society is lying about how bad it is. Now we’re more like Ancient Greece or Rome maybe. Standard get worse. Maybe a person could die if they quit cuz of guilt building up, but maybe the guilt is good, but people might not agree with that nowadays cuz they’re not as strict. I think you could get really sick if you’re addicted to porn, or watch it and think you are like a good or real good person, and better than like an honest stripper or someone like that.

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