Summary: <p>Introduction to Addressing Sex and Pornography Addiction<br> Instructor: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes<br> Objectives<br> ~ Define Sex Addiction<br> ~ Identifying the Negative Messages<br> ~ Understanding Addictive Triggers (Original and conditioned)<br> ~ Mindfulness and Purposeful Action (Silencing the inner critic)<br> ~ Getting to Know Yourself<br> ~ Regaining Control: Essential DBT</p> <p>Scenarios<br> ~ John is a 53 year old man whose pornography use has gotten him fired, caused problems in his marriage, but he feels unable to stop<br> ~ Sally is a 34 year old woman who reports an insatiable desire for sex which has caused problems in her marriage and led her to seek “other outlets” including during lunch breaks.<br> ~ Sam is a 23 year old college student who reports masturbating 6 or more times a day every day. He sometimes leaves class to do it and it causes him distress that he thinks about it so much.<br> ~ Questions<br> ~ What is the function of sexual release for these people?<br> ~ What is maintaining the compulsion?<br> Addiction is…<br> ~ Any person, substance or activity<br> ~ Used to escape from negative feelings (Emotional and Physical)<br> ~ Continues to be used despite negative consequences<br> ~ Emotional<br> ~ Mental (self esteem/thought processes)<br> ~ Physical (health and neurochemical balance)<br> ~ Social Relationships<br> Obsessions and Compulsions<br> ~ Obsessions are repetitive thoughts<br> ~ Compulsions are activities done in order to escape negative feeling states<br> ~ It is the only way the person currently has to stop or escape the negative feeling state<br> ~ All addictions are compulsions, but all compulsions are not addictions<br> Sex and Pornography<br> ~ Pornography addiction affords people never ending novelty which can lead to escalation<br> ~ Sex addiction is the use of actual sex to get a rush<br> ~ Love addiction may or may not involve sex, but the person may use sex as a means for ensuring he or she is not abandoned. If the person is out of a relationship he feels worthless, hopeless.<br> Riding the Addiction Train<br> ~ Dopamine rush (Like Black Friday)<br> ~ Brain shuts off receptors to prevent overload<br> ~ Normal amounts of dopamine don’t produce the same feeling<br> ~ Chasing the High/Tolerance<br> ~ Requires artificially increasing dopamine through increased amount/intensity</p> <p>Take Away Message<br> ~ Addictive behaviors have:<br> ~ Been the most reliable tool to help the person escape<br> ~ Served a survival function<br> ~ Become the one thing that won’t let him down or abandon him<br> ~ Addictive behaviors and negative messages can be altered<br> First Things First: ReBalance<br> ~ The brain has adjusted to frequent dopamine “rushes” so to feel “normal” the person may need to engage in stimulating behavior<br> ~ The brain has adjusted to a level of stimulation such that traditional sex may fail to cause arousal<br> ~ The person’s life has become imbalanced as the need for sexual stimulation increased it caused problems in on or more areas of their life<br> ~ Interventions<br> ~ Reduce sexual activity to only consensual sex between partners in a committed relationship</p> <p>What Caused It?<br> ~ Some triggers<br> ~ Early sexual exploration, especially with pornography<br> ~ Excessively using sex at any age to escape from negative feeling states<br> ~ Using sex as a way to feel loved and quell fears of abandonment because of low self-esteem<br> ~ Parental or societal emphasis on sex and sexuality<br> Identify the Roots of the Problem<br> ~ Children are born with a blank slate<br> ~ As they grow, the zone of proximal development and the more knowledgeable other influences what the child attends to/learns<br> ~ What makes him lovable, good<br> ~ How to cope with stress (or not)<br> ~ Early learning is egocentric and dichotomous<br> ~ Inconsistent or negative</p>
