Counseling for Pornography

“One thing you must realize is that: you either kill your addiction or your addiction will eventually kill you.”
Did you know that:

Every Second
  • 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet.
  • $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography on the internet.
  • 372 people are typing the word "adult" into a search engine.
Every Day
  • 37 pornographic videos are created in the United States.
  • 2.5 billion emails containing porn are sent or received.
  • 68 million search queries related to pornography- 25% of total searches- are generated. 
  • 116,000 queries related to child pornography are received.

The numbers are staggering as one popular porn sites reported over "39 billion searches and 42 billion visits during 2019, while suggesting 115 million visits and 18,073 terabytes of data transferred per day" [5]. 

You don't need to read these stats to understand the breadth of reach, pornography is having.  You may have tried repeatedly to overcome your addiction with porn and have repeatedly failed.  It may not be as simple as overcoming a bad habit as studies have shown that pornography physically rewires the brain.  Due to the neuroplasticity of our brain, every time we look at porn, our brain is essentially rewiring itself.  To break it down further, porn can be compared to an addictive substance in that "hyper-stimulating triggers, lead to unnaturally high levels of dopamine secretion" (neurosciencenews). As a result, the dopamine reward system becomes damaged, leaving it unresponsive to natural sources of pleasure.  

Gone are the days where pornography is just a struggle classified for males as 1/3 of viewers are women.  You may either be a male/female who has gotten into porn at a young age and ever since, been unable to kick the habit.  You may have come to a place where because of repeated attempts of failing to overcome, are convinced that it is impossible.  But I'm here to tell you that you can overcome your porn addiction.  Like anything, it will take work but it will be one of the most important undertakings you confront.

I have found that what makes overcoming porn use even more challenging, is the stigma of sharing about the struggle.  As a result, shame and guilt continue to grow--while the addiction becomes even stronger.  

Take back control of your life and commit to collaborating with a counselor to overcome this addiction.  I believe that if you decide to go on that journey, you will not only find out more about your addiction, but also about yourself.
© Counseling at Cornerstone, 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED