Is Porn And Sex Addiction A Reality Or Just An Excuse?

The debate over whether pornography can become addictive has continued for decades.

But did you know that the World Health Organization (WHO) created a diagnosis code for Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD). A world-renowned organization has accepted that CSBD is more than a bad habit or moral shortcoming – it is a process addiction.

The official definition reads,

“The pattern of failure to control intense, sexual impulses or urges and resulting in repetitive sexual behavior is manifested over an extended period of time (e.g., 6 months or more), and causes marked distress or significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”

The Recovery Village puts it into simpler terms. “Also called behavioral addictions, process addictions are compulsive behavior patterns in which a person repeatedly engages in an activity despite the negative consequences that follow from it.”

Is Porn Addiction Just An Excuse

If the WHO says pornography usage can turn into an addiction, does that mean men have an easy excuse to continue viewing porn because they can claim to have no control over the problem?

Not according to Brad Hambrick, the Pastor of Counseling at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina. “When a pattern of behavior receives a diagnostic label, it often creates an external locus of control. Diagnostic labels lead us to think something is happening to us rather than being done by us. There is some concern that this label could reinforce a sense of passivity towards change and a lack of ownership for one’s choices.”

He added that a new label does not minimize the power of porn:

“If someone fights a bear and loses, we don’t call them weak. It’s the nature of the bear to be stronger. When someone engages sexual sin and becomes enslaved, it doesn’t mean they’re uniquely weak. It means it’s the nature of this activity to be enslaving.”

Those struggling must be accountable for their porn usage. Blaming it on someone or something else will only keep them in porn’s evil grip. As a result, they will continue to deal with the guilt and shame.

Related Article: How Toxic Shame Keeps You Trapped In The Destructive Cycle of Porn

Addiction In The Brain

Dr. Ted Roberts is the founder of Pure Desire Ministries and the host of a powerful, Bible-based course bringing freedom from porn to men, the Conquer Series. According to Dr. Roberts,

“The problem is not primarily moral…The primary problem with sexual bondage is a brain problem. It’s the way your brain works.”

Each time you repeat a thought or an action, you create neurological pathways in the brain, causing these patterns of thought to become subconscious and programmed in your mind.

Related Article: This Is Your Brain On Porn

This doesn’t mean that it isn’t a sin and it’s not excusing their behavior but it helps build a framework for discipling someone towards freedom.

Dr. Jes Montgomery, a psychiatrist/addictionologist, explained, “When we’re dealing with something as intense as porn, the message to the brain is essentially magically overwhelming, because to become engaged in the pornography, I have selected the content, the behavior, the actors, all of the information is perfect for me, and I’m in absolute control. Which is a happy place for the brain. That involves dopamine and the pleasure center of the brain.”

“When dopamine is involved, it changes how we remember. Things that are intensely pleasurable, frightening, any of the things that come from that area of the brain, go into our long-term memory without much further processing. So they become basically written in stone as a memory.”

Nick Stumbo, the Executive Director of Pure Desire Ministries, said,

“The brain can be fooled into wanting more of a bad thing. And the unhealthy desire delivers … but only for a minute. Pornography is synthetic and leads to greater levels of mental, sexual, and relational disintegration.”

Related Article: How Viewing Porn Is Wounding Your Wife & Hurting Your Family

Battlefield Of The Mind

It’s important to realize the intensity of your battle. Not only are you struggling with the spiritual aspects of willfully committing sexual sin, but your own mind is also fighting against you.

However, there is hope for recovery for you. It is possible to replace the old trails created by the viewing of pornography with positive, healthy pathways.

Knowing the forces fighting against you, you can see the importance of having godly men in your life who can keep you focused on recovery. You will probably never be free of porn if you try to overcome it alone.

Consider getting connected with a Conquer Group, made up of men who have personally battled porn just like you. They will give you the spiritual guidance and ongoing support and encouragement you will need to be victorious.

Related Article: How These Men Are Getting Over Porn

Accepting

Luke Gibbons, Director of Marketing for KingdomWorks Studios, went to rehab and spent several years in support groups due to porn addiction. He explains, “I saw guys struggle with admitting they had an addiction when they started out on their journey to recovery. But the guys who admitted they had an addiction were the ones who really made progress in their recovery.”

Accepting you have a struggle with porn starts the healing journey.

Chris Ogden is a Pastor from Orlando who has walked with men struggling with porn. He shares,

“For a lot of guys who have struggled in the area of sexuality, the lie becomes, ‘This is just who I am. This cannot change; this will never go away. I might enjoy a week or a month [of sobriety] here or there but ultimately this is embedded in my soul, I can’t get free of it.”

Ogden leads these men through a powerful cinematic course called the Conquer Series, which helps men understand porn addiction and teaches them how to find freedom. “As the guys in our church walk through that, you can just see the flame of hope kind of rekindle,” Ogden shared. “[They say] ‘I not only believe what they are saying is true, but I think it could be true for me.’ And I think when that switch happens, that’s when God unleashes the power in the guy’s life.”

The Root Of Addiction

Porn addicts become experts at isolating themselves from other people, including their families. You probably have emotional -and maybe physical – scars from an abused childhood. You have silently kept the shame and pain of those memories buried inside.

Related Article: How The Loneliness Epidemic Is Linked To Porn

The Ranch is an organization that runs mental health centers in Pennsylvania and Tennessee. They explain,

“People become addicts for a reason. Often they are looking to fill a void — perhaps the result of a childhood trauma, mental illness, a spiritual issue or dysfunctional relationships. Perhaps they struggle with fear of intimacy, same-sex attraction or overwhelming loneliness. Removing the porn doesn’t deal with the root causes of porn addiction, and so the problem returns.”

Viewing porn is not a harmless, private activity. It has taken a large toll on you and those you love. Accepting that you are in an intense struggle will allow you to begin the healing process.

You could have looked at porn every day for the last 500 days and Jesus has not run out of grace. That same cross that you heard about the first time is the same cross that can forgive you now.

Luke Gilkerson, the author of Coming Clean, noted, “This is where proper understanding of the cross is critical. Yes, my sin says I deserve the lowest hell. But (in love) Christ experienced my hell on the cross. He experienced the agony of God-forsakenness, the curse of my sin. The Father channeled His just wrath for my sin into His Son. The cross is God’s altar to fully extinguish His anger, and, as a result, I am pardoned.”

If you think you might be struggling with porn or sex addiction, take the free Sexual Addiction Screening Test now.

The Conquer Series Offers Hope

The Conquer Series is a powerful, cinematic resource that has helped millions of men around the world find freedom from pornography. The videos contain powerful testimonies, solid Biblical teaching, military reenactments, and insightful scientific information.

Eric Wagner wrote, “During my work with single dads, I spoke with hundreds of men and many women. Pornography was a part of many of their lives. Whether it was before or after their divorce, it was having a devastating effect on their thinking and was tearing them apart inside. It affects everything and everyone about and around them whether they realized it or not. It steals from everyone, personal value and worth, confidence, time and that doesn’t even scratch the surface.”

Related Article: How This Dad Is Preparing His Kids For A Pornified World (VIDEO)

He added,

“The desire to change is a constant, but they feel helpless and hopeless. This program is the first and only program I’ve heard of that actually speaks to the problem and does not berate, belittle or work out of false assumptions about the addiction and gives true practical methods to come to an actual solution.”

An interactive study guide and journal are also available to keep you focused on the Series’ principles and give practical steps to use daily.

You can win your battle over pornography. Get started today at SoulRefiner.com.