Pornography Addiction

Odysseus

We can't recommend individual therapists here, but your GP may help with the medical side. Another starting point would be contacting the IAAAC, Irish Association of Addiction and Alcohol Counsellors I don't have the number handy but it's in the phone book.

But sexual addiction is treatable and if you cannot afford private treatment some local community addiction facilities may be of help. The is also SA a 12 stept self help group for sexual addictions here is a link for them http://www.sa.org/top/Ireland/

Hope that help a bit and best of luck with it

psycjay

Although the research in this area is still lacking, a few studies do suggest that CBT can be beneficial, as it is effective at dealing with many of the problems that often co-exist with sex problems, such as mood and anxiety problems (obsessive-compulsions, panic disorder etc). CBT is a kind of, help-you-help-yourself, therapy which is short term so wont cost a fortune either. In addition, there are good online CBT resources out there, although I don't know any off hand.

One study (Orzack et al., 2006) which looked at treatment for Internet Enabled Sexual Behaviour (IESB) found that therapy reduced depressive symptoms, and improved quality of life for the 35 men studied. They used a combination of Readiness to Change (RtC), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI) interventions.

Speak to your GP who can refer you to a good specialist, if they think medication will benefit you then they will prescribe it, however if you do go down that road you should also seek therapy as it's been well proven that a combination of therapy and medication is far better than medication alone. Also in many cases therapy outperforms medication, and does not have the associated side effects. That's a decision you should made with your doctor/therapist.

Oh and I had a quick look at the SA website with the 12 steps and it totally lost credibility when it started on about giving yourself up to god..., everyone knows that the internet is way more powerful!

Best of luck and fair play for your post, I'm sure many people will appreciate it.

Jay

Odysseus

psycjay wrote: »

Although the research in this area is still lacking, a few studies do suggest that CBT can be beneficial, as it is effective at dealing with many of the problems that often co-exist with sex problems, such as mood and anxiety problems (obsessive-compulsions, panic disorder etc). CBT is a kind of, help-you-help-yourself, therapy which is short term so wont cost a fortune either. In addition, there are good online CBT resources out there, although I don't know any off hand.

One study (Orzack et al., 2006) which looked at treatment for Internet Enabled Sexual Behaviour (IESB) found that therapy reduced depressive symptoms, and improved quality of life for the 35 men studied. They used a combination of Readiness to Change (RtC), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI) interventions.

Speak to your GP who can refer you to a good specialist, if they think medication will benefit you then they will prescribe it, however if you do go down that road you should also seek therapy as it's been well proven that a combination of therapy and medication is far better than medication alone. Also in many cases therapy outperforms medication, and does not have the associated side effects. That's a decision you should made with your doctor/therapist.

Oh and I had a quick look at the SA website with the 12 steps and it totally lost credibility when it started on about giving yourself up to god..., everyone knows that the internet is way more powerful!

Best of luck and fair play for your post, I'm sure many people will appreciate it.

Jay

Whilst I have little time for 12 step fellowships, and they certainly do not suit everybody, 12 step treatment in Ireland would be the most popular with place like the Rutland etc. I find that it can limit therapy, I started my analytic training whilst working in a 12 step facility a long time ago, and believe me that was difficult. I'm also very careful not to write it off, as a significant amount of those I have worked with have used such fellowships to maintain long term "recovery". Don't get me wrong, I have big issues with it, but I would not deny that it has been very effective for a lot of people.

Thankfully people also use profession help as well, personally, I as the main stay of my work is with the addiction services I could never work in a 12 step facility again, however, I may still refer people to such facilities. Not a fan but for some people they work very effectively, I also know the downsides and there are a lot of them. However, attending a fellowship even only initially shows the person that other people are over-coming the issue, and can introduce them to other froms of more professional help.

People who know me, know I'm not a big supporter of NA, AA, etc, however, it would be wrong not to acknowledge the impact such programmes have had.

psycjay

Yes I should have said "lost credibility with me" because of my world view. I can totally understand how it may benefit some people and not others. I must admit though, i never knew the likes of AA had a religious element, but maybe that's for another thread.

Odysseus

psycjay wrote: »

Yes I should have said "lost credibility with me" because of my world view. I can totally understand how it may benefit some people and not others. I must admit though, i never knew the likes of AA had a religious element, but maybe that's for another thread.

It is not necessary a religious element, it can be seen like that; however, most members would not see it as religious. The 12 steps can be interpretated in many ways, it's only through working with clients who attend over the years that I got a good understanding but the disease model is not on my list. I'm going to stop now because I don't won't too be seen as defending it;)

We had a few discussions on it in the last year or two here, if your interested you can do a search.

JuliusCaesar

I have moved the original post to Personal Issues as the poster was looking for help for a personal problem of addiction to pornography.

I've no objection to the issue being addressed here academically, but I don't think that's what the poster wanted!