Pornography Addiction

Pornography addiction is a behavioral addiction characterized by compulsive, repeated use of pornographic material until it causes serious negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, and/or financial well-being.

Ten Criteria of Problematic Online Sexual Behavior: (IITAP, 2010)

  1. Preoccupation with sex on the Internet.
  2. Frequently engaging in sex on the Internet more often or for longer periods of time than intended.
  3. Repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back on, or stop engaging in sex on the Internet
  4. Restlessness or irritability when attempting to limit or stop engaging in sex on the Internet.
  5. Using sex on the Internet as a way of escaping from problems or relieving feelings such as helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression.
  6. Returning to sex on the Internet day after day in search of a more intense or higher-risk sexual experience.
  7. Lying to family members, therapists, or others to conceal involvement with sex on the Internet.
  8. Committing illegal sexual acts online (ex: sending or downloading child pornography).
  9. Jeopardizing or losing a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of online sexual behavior.
  10. Incurring significant financial consequences as a result of engaging in online sexual behavior.

Take the Internet Sex Screening Test for free at www.sexhelp.com. 

Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography

Every second - 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography

Every second - 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines

Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States 

Additional Resources

https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/porn-addiction/

The Science of Porn Addiction

Please take 3 minutes to learn more about what we are talking about here. I couldn't have summarized it better myself.
Think about what has changed in our experience of sexual content & sexual contact over the past 20 years:
  1. Access: Porn is accessible easily from any Internet connection
  2. Affordability: Millions of free or cheap images are available online
  3. Anonymity: Easy to be secretive on home computers and Smartphones
*Cooper, Del Monico et al 1998 - 1999. Dr. Al Cooper, the late psychologist, dubbed this the “Triple-A Engine” of Internet porn.
Learn more about addiction...
Jenna Riemersma is the Clinical Director of The Atlanta Center for Relational Healing. She is a teaching faculty member for the International Institute for Trauma And Addiction Professionals (IITAP). 

Take a few moments to experience one of her guided meditations. 
"The God-image within us is omnipresent. It is always there waiting like the father of the prodigal son to welcome us home with deep compassion and mercy.

Not only our parts that feel shame, vulnerability, rejection, and loneliness but also those precious parts that have been trying so hard to give us attachment through pornography and even the precious part that's trying to make us good enough, to be good enough for God by spiritualizing in shaming and soothing.

​They all get to come home to our deep attachment figure, the God-image within us."
 
- Jenna Riemersma

Take the next step.  

RESOURCES TO HELP KEEP KIDS SAFE ONLINE

​Young people are especially vulnerable to porn, which is available for free 24/7 via smartphones and on teen platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. We want to make sure you have the tools and tips for keeping your kids safe.
One of the simplest ways to take stock of which conversations we need to have with our kids about online safety is to ask when, where, what, why, and how?

​Parent Up! Talk to Your Son About Porn   

​Our Kids Online: What Every Parent Needs to Know
From Culture Reframed

As parents living in a world where it is the norm for young kids to have their own devices, it was really troubling. We didn’t want our kids exposed to this. We wanted our kids to experience authentic intimacy and mutual respect with sexual partners. We wanted them to experience the fun and excitement that come with healthy sexual relationships, and to learn from the awkward, fumbling around that was a part of our own youth. Instead, the online content that kids could be exposed to would introduce them to confusion about boundaries and consent, and depict violent, degrading acts as “normal” sex. Access to this content well before they had any experience in a real relationship could be so damaging...READ MORE

​​“Our Kids Online: Porn, Predators and How to Keep Them Safe” (FILM)​

This film is a comprehensive look at how children’s natural curiosity, combined with unfiltered, unsupervised access to the internet and accidental exposure to degrading, violent porn and online predators is leading to substantial harm to our children. The film breaks down the potential threats to children and young people, and how this affects them not only individually, but also how it is shaping our entire culture. The last 30 minutes is solution-focused, guiding parents to the resources we have found during our journey, and spending time with some of the world’s leading experts.

Watch the Film Preview. 
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