When struggling with a behavioral addiction like porn, masturbation or sex addiction, it’s important to take a holistic approach for treatment. While taking into consideration all aspects of pornography use and human behavior, this is the focus here at CSPMA. The Success Method was created for people who struggle with addictive behaviors such as compulsive pornography as a way to recover permanently. Sex and porn addiction not only comes with negative feelings and negative consequences but it also ruins intimate relationships and sex lives. These risky behaviors  can cause an array of mental disorders and mental health consequences such as increased anxiety sensitivity, or deep levels of depression, impaired control and can lead to risky behaviors such as viewing problematic pornography or erotic material and loss of control. The actor Terry Crews, show also struggles with addictive pornography stated, “I was addicted to pornography since I was 12 years old. Let me tell you. My father was addicted to alcohol and my mother was addicted to religion. So what happens is you had an addictive household.“

Treatment for Porn Addiction

There are many factors to consider when getting treatment for sexual behaviors like addictive pornography but the scientific literature is clear that using a holistic approach has the best long term outcomes and saves lives. There are many aspects of pornography use and human behaviors and we can help. 

Can The Success Method Work for Porn Addiction?

The success method that we use here comprises of four areas: your physical health, your psychological health, your social health, and specific addiction focus topics. Each area is broken into three proportions. It’s not just about kicking sex and porn addiction or compulsive pornography, it’s a complete lifestyle change. There are many factors and human behaviors to understand when tackling addictive pornography but you will  notice less levels of depression, less anxiety sensitivity, negative feelings and your body and mind will get back to where it was before your behavioral addiction started. Less porn viewing of erotic material will get you back to baseline and you will notice that your preoccupation with pornography use will start to subside. 

A Complete Lifestyle Change

So what exactly is the Success Method and what does it entail? Scientific literature has shown that to kick an addiction to pornography, a complete lifestyle change is how to achieve long term success as well understanding all the different aspects of pornography use. I want you to think of it this way, each area needs to be whole and worked on in order for the other areas to succeed. For example, you can’t have great physical health but poor psychological health. You’ll never be able to fully recover from your addictive disorder or use of compulsive pornography if you struggle with mental health consequences such as negative feelings or increased anxiety sensitivity so you’ll need to focus on all areas at the same time. You will constantly have a preoccupation with pornography use. Long term treatment focuses on all these areas but also provides resources for more in depth care. There are many different factors to consider when dealing with addictive pornography so let’s dive right into this. 

Your Physical Health

Let’s first start with your physical health while consider aspects of pornography use. In your daily life, you should be focusing on good nutrition, good fitness and good sleep. Making sure you are sleeping well, eating healthy and incorporating physical activity into your daily routine will help with things like deep levels of depression, increased anxiety sensitivity and will reduce triggers and preoccupation with pornography use. Nutrition, fitness and sleep each have many factors to consider so it’s important to analyze each area so that you know how to improve. For example, some people have bad anxiety levels which prevents them from sleeping so taking care of their anxiety would then help with their sleep. If you aren’t sleeping properly you may be more enticed to view pornographic material and the bad sleep cycle goes round and round. Overcoming an addiction to pornography or sex means making sure you are caring for your physical needs. 

Your Psychological Health 

Next, you’ll want to make sure you are taking good care of your psychological health. This includes understanding your own worldview including religious beliefs, making sure you know how to live with intention and taking good care of your mental health. When thinking about mental health consequences, if you struggle with deep levels of depression, anxiety or other mental disorders it’s important that you seek treatment while you are also working on your sex or porn addiction. This might mean talking to a mental health professional.  Excessive pornography or pornography addiction does impact brain activity. A lot of people turn to a compulsive behavior, sexual activity or sexual behaviors such as viewing pornographic material to try and mask the negative consequences from mental health disorders so just make sure you’re talking to a professional that is not only knowledgeable about what you’re struggling with, ie: depression, anxiety, etc, but also knowledgeable about sexual behaviour disorders. There are many factors to consider when looking for someone to help and this should top of the list. With time and treatment your preoccupation with pornography use should start to subside as your mental health outcomes improve. 

Your Social Circles

Your social health or the people you interact with are also very important factors to consider when recovering from a sexual addiction. Your social circles consists of your family, friends and professional relationships. It’s important to cut toxic people out of your life and hold your support networks close. If you have a friend is giving you constant high anxiety levels you have to ask yourself if they are worth keeping around as they may jeopordize your recovery and increase the likelihood of mental health consequences. It’s important to tackle any relationship issues as well.  If you struggle with sex or porn but also struggle with illicit substance use disorder then you’ll want to make sure the people around you are supporting your new lifestyle approach. A lot of people who struggle with sex and porn also struggle with illicit substance use disorders. Scientific literature shows how important your environment and the people you associate with are and how they can help or hinder your success. 

Sex and Porn Addiction Topics

And last, there are very specific addiction focus topics you need to consider such as being able to take inventory, setting a quit day and how to manage triggers. When you struggle with sex and porn, taking inventory means taking stock of what sex and porn has been costing you in regards to time, money and emotional well-being. There are many factors to consider here too. Has sex and porn been giving you anxiety which has been costing you time at work? Are you feeling a complete loss of control? Are your repetitive behaviors impacting your ability to think clearly or are you wasting excessive time? Porn addicts often struggle with shame and embarrassment so if that’s you just know you are not alone.  Actor Terry Crews said it best: “You can’t survive with guilt and shame,” he says. “Guilt says you did a bad thing. Shame says you are bad, and that’s bad because you act accordingly.”

Individualized Treatment for Porn Addiction

When getting treatment for sex or porn it’s important that you find a program that can cater to your specific needs based on scientific literature. If you struggle with hypersexual disorder, sexual behavior disorder, impulse control disorder and a mental health issue or mental health conditions then you’ll want to make sure you are treating both at the same time. Hypersexual disorder isn’t something that needs to be diagnosed to get help. You can start today here by taking a course at CSPMA. We provide you all the resources and material you need to kick your porn or  sex addiction for good. Some people also supplement with other programs like sex addicts anonymous but it’s not mandatory for you to do so in order to fully recover. You will be able to get back to your real life in no time. Sex and porn addicts need very specific approaches that include tackling the sexual behaviour disorder but also things like improving physical health and relationship issues.  An addiction to pornography or sex can be just as harmful as addictive substances so the treatment you need should take into consideration your needs and desires such as being open to your views and religious beliefs and making accommodations for mental illness if necessary. Actor Terry Crews said, “With porn and alcohol and different things like that, people think it’s a willpower issue, but it’s not. It’s literally a lack of information issue. Because the trick is you think it’s great. Everything works for you until it doesn’t, and that was one of the things I really wanted to get out.”

Considerations

Other things a treatment plan should consider is past trauma such as sexual abuse and any substance abuse struggle. Substance abuse treatment should also take place if you are struggling with an addictive disorder. According to the Kinsey Institute,  a survey of adolescent (10-17 y/o) internet users found 42% had been exposed to internet pornography in the past year, with 66% of those exposures reported as unwanted. The Kinsey Institute also states that the World Health Organisation claims, Child sexual abuse is believed to affect 10-25% of girls worldwide. 

Start Treating Your Porn Addiction Today

Some people need in-patient care for pornography addiction while others are fine with non traditional methods such as phone counseling or online courses. It’s important that you receive resources for the most comprehensive, in-depth care that you can access. Sex and porn addiction are real and you deserve the same amount of respect and care that anyone would who is struggling with any addiction. Your care should have the right proportions for each area of your life. Treatment often comprises of numerous approaches at once such as counseling, therapy, 12-step groups like Sex Addicts Anonymous and online courses. Sex and porn addiction can be treated and you can move past this.