Do Therapists Take Sex Addiction Seriously?

Look for a csat. They specialize in sex addiction including porn addiction. I love both mine and my husbands. Certified sexual addiction therapist

 

I got the same impression from my therapist. I’d been seeing him for four years, and had stopped trying to quit porn on his recommendation. I finally decided I was in a good enough place to try on my own, and did try and was absolutely wretched for months. Then, I started doing better, so much that he was talking about letting me go, and he asked what happened? Started around the 60 mark.

Of course loads of other stuff happened and I’m still in therapy and still here, so that’s a problem but the point is, I am capable of feeling halfway decent only when I’ve been clean a few months running.

I hate to push you toward religion, but the only therapists I’ve heard of taking porn addiction seriously right away are Christians and Jews.

Meantime, some basic stuff to chew on. Porn is obviously filling a need that you aren’t getting from another source. Find that need and look for a better way to meet it. Could be simple dopamine, and you can just exercise regularly, sometimes it’s on a deeper psychological level. Usually both, really. For the latter, pay attention to the kind of porn you are most attracted to. It might have a clue about what you need.

If you haven’t already, the ethical thing to do is tell your spouse.

 

That psychologist is extremely ignorant, since sex addiction or porn addiction, is extremely harmful to ones self and others around them. I am living proof of that.
Long term PMO causes so many problems. Firstly theres - brain damage. It will rot your dopamine (natural reward center) to the core and turn you upside down and in and out and all the fuucckk around. You will have mood swings since your serotonin is being affected too, and serotonin is needed for so many things including mood regulation and sleep. Your anger will be out of control. You won't be able to keep your cool in stressful situations. You will lack desire and drive and motivation and the will to want to get up off your ass and succeed. Low dopamine makes you want to stay still and not move and be a zombie. You might cry sometimes because you're sick of what you're doing to yourself. Others around you will notice your behaviour and zest for life changing. You will avoid them to just lust over digital pixels. You will start to get weird pains in your body ALL OVER. Headaches are common. Fatigue and feeling like everything is a drag ass through the mud is common. Social anxiety will appear. You will need anxiety meds to get through life. Your sleep will probably suffer big time. Hey insomnia, how are ya? Not, screw you man. Blood pressure goes up from garbage sleep and your heart will be ever so closer to heart disease. Your back will hurt a hell of a lot. Your skin will look dulled and your face pale. Your testosterone will plummet to the ground. Forget about having any strength to lift a damn thing. You will go bald. You might get a itchy, flaky scalp too. Your eyesight diminishes faster. I'm sure you enjoy the ear ringing. The nose seems congested more. Maybe you'll grind your teeth at night too. You pee a lot. Want indigestion and stomach pains? Inconsistent bowel? Yes, stress from PMO will upset the tummy. You'll enjoy acid reflux too, not. You forget things. And you can have all this for just the lowered price... Wait a minute bud.. take it for free
Here ya go! All this leads to the lonely road of LOW SELF ESTEEM FOR LIFE. Hope I've scared many of ya. It's all true. I'd love for anyone to tell me that long term, in my case 28 years of extreme daily use PMO, visiting all the adult places that need not be mentioned, and overall being a stupid horrible pervert, (that now has a little more sobriety than usual.. thankfully. I hope it'll continue more than anything)

 

I’ve seen messages like this a lot on here. A lot of therapists are shit and don’t recognise this addiction. You may find one who does but I personally think the best way out is support groups like the AA-based Sexaholics anonymous

 

If your insurance is paying some of the cost that might also be a factor. The therapist needs to be treating you for something the insurance company recognizes as a problem, and porn addiction probably isn't on the list.

Given the prevalence of porn addiction, there are probably a lot of male therapists (and some female too) who have personal experience with porn addiction. Those therapists might be more helpful. Most therapists I have used do not consider porn a problem.

 

If that was what they were doing, they'd get you in and walk you through that journey. What this therapist is doing is saying "I can't help you," presumably because neither he personally or the resources he listens to can comprehend compulsive behavior the client considers intrusive but he does not.

You're absolutely right, it is about addressing the root needs. Any behavior, though, could be altered if you do that work. If you go in and say "I have a problem because I do this," the therapist should probably not pay attention to the reasoning so much as the guy saying they have a problem in the first place. Whatever is going on, it's causing them distress.
Then again, if the therapist doesn't think it will be a good fit, in part because they think the complaint is out of line, they can deny service. It's just, I think porn is a legit complaint.

Porn, if you haven't noticed, is sort of controversial. It used to be most people considered it less than ideal but tolerable, for other people. Now it's the Precious.

 

You could try Better Help or talkspace because they seem to take porn addiction seriously. I think therapy is overrated but if I were to have it I would use online therapy.

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/pornography/
https://www.talkspace.com/blog/porn-addiction-therapy-need-know/

 

I signed up for online counseling in betterhelp.com and my therapist is taking me seriously

 

As an amateur psychologist working his way towards licensure, unfortunately society hasn't caught up with the science behind sexual addiction. And since popular psychology is heavily influenced by society, it too hasn't caught up. But I agree with others in this thread, seek out a CSAT even though they are still rare and spaced across the world.

 

I agree that some therapists do not take porn addiction or sexual compulsion seriously, perhaps because it’s not listed as such in their DSM bible. But there are good therapists, CSAT or other, who are good and have experience with sexual issues. In the meantime until you find that right person for you, I would suggest getting involved in a support group, I joined a weekly NoFap support group and an SAA group. If you Christian, I would recommend reading Jay Stringer’s Unwanted, and listening to the puredesire.org podcasts.

 

Considering western society in general views masturbation as "healthy" I'm not really surprised by that experience, most "professionals" are just regular people with a different degree at the end of the day.

 

That's messed up. Never heard of that, sounds like the 1950s or something.
I just started online therapy. It's expensive but where I live I don't really have options. I had a couple therapists that I didn't click with (yet took my problems with porn seriously) but now found the right one and am making progress.