Francais | English | Espanõl

Pornography addiction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Image:Unbalanced scales.svg
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.
To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available.
This article has been tagged since March 2006.

Pornography addiction is defined as a condition resulting from the overuse or abuse of pornography. As measures of "overuse" and "abuse" of pornography as well as research on the topic are disputed scientifically, 'pornography addiction' is not classifed by medical doctors as a disease but rather as a form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

There is considerable dispute about whether "pornography addiction" actually exists, and if so, whether it has harmful effects. One popular argument against this form of addiction is that many people regularly watch pornography and still lead productive lives. Critics argue that people who regularly view pornography are able to have normal relationships and are not desensitized to less stimulating materials. However for some people it can become a self-isolated obsession where it interferes with an otherwise normal routine of their lives.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not presently provide a formal definition for pornography addiction.

Contents

[edit] General definition

The concept of pornography addiction is defined by its proponents as a psychological addiction to, or dependence upon, pornography, characterized by obsessive viewing, reading, and thinking about pornography and sexual themes to the general detriment of the rest of one's life. [citation needed]

It has been suggested by some proponents of the pornography addiction hypothesis that pornography addicts should experience similar patterns of symptoms to those involved in physiological addiction to substances such as drugs or alcohol; for example, euphoria while taking the drugs, and physical and/or psychological problems when they attempt to quit, desensitization to the addictive subtance, and the need to increase their dosage in order to maintain their euphoria.

[edit] Pornography addiction according to James Dobson

According to Dr. James Dobson, an Evangelical Christian psychologist, pornography addiction causes a person to:

  • Become desensitized to the material, no longer getting a thrill from what was once exciting
  • Fantasize about acting out various pornographic scenes
  • Become callous towards ordinary sexual relationships
  • Become reclusive and attempt to hide the habit from family and friends
  • View the opposite sex as sex objects
  • View sex as being solely for the pleasure of himself or herself<ref>Dobson, James. "Life on the Edge." 2000. ISBN 0-8499-0927-9</ref>

Dr. Dobson also believes that pornography leads to premarital sex, unprotected sex, prostitution, affairs and problems during marriage. Once married, Dobson believes that men who were or are addicted to pornography will be unable to be satisfied with their sexual partner, causing marital problems and even divorce. Dobson believes that pornography should be illegal because of its addictive effects. <ref>Dobson, James. "Love Must Be Tough: New Hope for Families in Crisis." 2004. ISBN 1-59052-355-5</ref>

Critics of Dr. Dobson's theory note that hiding or viewing pornography in secret is only natural in a culture where pornography is frowned upon. They also point out that several psychologists specializing in human sexuality argue that fantasy in relationships is healthy and that couples who view pornography together are no more or less likely to have marital problems than those who consider pornography harmful.<ref>Sari Locker, The Complete Idiots Guide to Amazing Sex, 3rd ed. (New York: Penguin Group, 2006).</ref>

[edit] Pornography addiction according to Irons and Schneider

Formal criteria have been suggested along lines strictly analogous to the [DSM] criteria for alcohol and other substance addictions. <ref>See http://www.jenniferschneider.com/articles/diagnos.html this article] (online copy of Richard Irons, M. D. and Jennifer P. Schneider, M.D., Ph.D "Differential Diagnosis of Addictive Sexual Disorders Using the DSM-IV." In Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 1996, Volume 3, pp 7-21, 1996)</ref>. This article cites Goodman (1990), who compared the DSM criteria lists for various addictive disorders and derived these general characteristics:

  • Recurrent failure to resist impulses to engage in a specified behavior
  • Increasing sense of tension immediately prior to initiating the behavior
  • Pleasure or relief at the time of engaging in the behavior
  • At least five of the following:
    • Frequent preoccupation with the behavior or with activity that is preparatory to the behavior
    • Frequent engaging in the behavior to a greater extent or over a longer period than intended
    • Repeated efforts to reduce, control, or stop the behavior
    • A great deal of time spent in activities necessary for the behavior, engaging in the behavior, or recovering from its effects
    • Frequent engaging in the behavior when expected to fulfill occupational, academic, domestic or social obligations
    • Important social, occupational, or recreational activities given up or reduced because of the behavior
    • Continuation of the behavior despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent social, financial, psychological, or physical problem that is caused or exacerbated by the behavior
    • Tolerance: need to increase the intensity or frequency of the behavior in order to achieve the desired effect, or diminished effect with continued behavior of the same intensity
    • Restlessness or irritability if unable to engage in the behavior
  • Some symptoms of the disturbance have persisted for at least one month, or have occurred repeatedly over a longer period of time

These criteria can be applied to almost any behavior, and would seem to characterize an excessive and uncontrollable involvement regardless of the particular behavior. They thus provide one possible definition of what a pornography addiction would be.

[edit] Opponents of pornography addiction

Some mental health professionals who specialize in the treatment of pornography problems such as author and researcher Rory C. Reid, LCSW, contend that such behavior reflects problems with affect regulation and that individuals turn to pornography as a way of disassociating from their inability to process uncomfortable or unpleasant emotions. Reid argues that brain regions implicated in sexual arousal can be suppressed when individuals cognitively reappraise erotic stimulus and attach different meanings and interpretations to such content. Reid states that if such patients were legitimately addicted to pornography their ability to cognitively suppress activation of cortical structures such as the nucleus accumbens in the corpus striatum would not be physiologically possible. As of yet, fMRI research has provided more evidence against than for the construct of pornography addiction.<Ref> Beauregard, M., Levesque, J., and Bourgouin, P. (2001). Neural Correlates of Conscious Self-Regulation of Emotion. The Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 21:1-6. Stark, R., Schienle, A., Girod, C., Walter, B., Kirsch, P. Blecker, C. Ott, U. Schafer, A., Sammer, G., Zimmermann, M. and Vaitl, D. et al., (2005) Erotic and disgust-inducing pictures—Differences in the hemodynamic responses of the brain. Biological Psychology, Vol. 70: 19-29 Harenski, C. L. and Hamann, S. (2005). Neural Correlates of regulating negative emotions related to moral violations. NeuroImage Vol. 30:313-324.</Ref>

[edit] Online pornography addiction

Online pornography addiction is another alleged type of pornography addiction in which the user obtains the pornography through the Internet.

Those who believe in the concept of online pornography addiction argue that it is stronger, and more addictive, than ordinary pornography addiction because of the wide availability, increasingly hardcore nature of the content available, and the privacy that viewing online offers. [citation needed]

In order to satisfy their addiction, addicts are said to regularly spend extended periods of time searching the internet for new or increasingly hardcore pornography.

Those opposing the rampant presence of online pornography frequently cite as a problem the ease at which children can access pornography accidentally, simply by typing in the wrong word at a search engine or viewing a random pop-up banner.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

<references/>

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Pornography_addiction"
Personal tools