Is Your Pornography Habit Actually an Addiction? Help from a Christian Counselor

“Boys will be boys.” That’s the common response when someone – usually a male – has been caught looking at pornography. Every man does it, right? There’s no harm in it, right? Boys will be boys! But is it just “innocent fun?” What happens when your pornography habit begins to spiral out of control? What happens when the boy grows into a man and his pornography use begins to impact his wife and his marriage? How do you know whether you should be concerned about your own use of pornography? When should you step back and seek the help of an experienced professional in order to get over the habitual use of pornography? How can you know if you are addicted?

Patrick Carnes is perhaps the leading researcher of our generation on the topic of sexual addiction. One of the most practical and helpful results of his research is the framework that he has developed to help us understand sexual addiction. The questions below can help you to determine how concerned you should be about your own sexual behavior, especially where it involves the use of pornography.

Ten Questions to Discover Whether You’re Addicted to Pornography

In reading through these questions, it is important to read carefully and to be brutally honest with yourself. If you find yourself answering “yes” to three or more of these questions, there may be cause for you to be concerned. It would be a good idea to speak with a trained, professional counselor about your use of pornography. By doing this, you may be able to avoid some very unfortunate consequences of pornography addiction that could impact your life in a serious way.

• Have you tried to resist the urge to view pornography and yet found yourself doing it anyway?
• Have you noticed that you use pornography more frequently, or for a longer period of time, than you had intended?
• Do you have a persistent desire to view pornography? Have you made unsuccessful efforts to stop, reduce, or control the use of pornography?
• Have you spent excessive amounts of time obtaining sex, being sexual or recovering from sexual experiences?
• Do you find yourself preoccupied with pornography or with preparing to access pornography?
• Do you find yourself engaging with pornography when you  should be fulfilling other occupational, academic, domestic or social obligations?
• Do you find yourself continuing to use pornography despite the fact that this causes or exacerbates social, financial, psychological or physical problems in a persistent or recurrent way?
• Have you noticed a need to increase the intensity, frequency or risk level of your pornography use in order to achieve the desired effect? Or, have you noticed that your use of pornography has less effect than it had previously?
• Do you find yourself abandoning or limiting your social, occupational or recreational activities because of your pornography use?
• Do you experience distress, anxiety, restlessness or irritability when you are unable to engage in pornography use?

Confronting Your Pornography Addiction is a Hopeful Step

If you are one of those people who answer yes to three or more of these questions, it is very important for you to know that you are not alone. Rather, you are just one of the rare individuals who has the courage to be honest about it and to look for help! There is hope for you and change is possible.

Christian Counseling Can Help You to Recover from Pornography Addiction

Christian counseling is an excellent place to start the process of recovering from an addiction to pornography. With the help of a good Christian counselor, you (and your spouse) can begin to find the solutions that you are seeking. I would be delighted to partner with you as you enter this challenging and important healing process.

 

Photos
Photos are from office.microsoft.com; “Sad man” and “Answer”