Unlike the splashy news headlines, when Ashley Madison was hacked and user data was released, rather quietly this week, Grindr made the news. I saw the article in the Wall Street Journal and similar articles were published by other news sources, but mostly by those who specialize in tech or data. The Background As someone who […]
After years in this field, those of us who treat problematic sexual behavior still hear from colleagues that they do not believe that sex addiction is real. Worse yet, those of us who treat it have been accused of simply being in it for the money. I have a good laugh at that one. However, […]
Therapists who work with problematic sexual behavior often say, me included, that we are worried about kids being exposed to pornography at an early age or are using pornography as a means of sexual education. Anecdotally, we know that young children have access to pornography of any theme, including violent pornography, child pornography, etc., and […]
As someone who works with individuals who struggle with problematic pornography use, I see firsthand how this can cause disruption in relationships. Therapists have much anecdotal evidence but there is not a lot of scientific research that backs up the exact influence of pornography use on relationships.
While there are many articles in the news and troves of internet articles relating to the pornography epidemic or pornography as a public health crisis, there are relatively few scientific studies to back up those assertions
Guest Post by Elijah Irving I remember, vaguely, the first time I saw this movie. I may have been twelve or fourteen years old at the time. The only memory I had was of the last scene where Michael cuddles next to Jasmine around a fire pit with pornography films engulfed in flames. Obviously, at […]
Recently, researchers from the Franciscan University of Steubenville published the results of their study looking at pornography use and mental health in college students. Their aim was to explore any relationship they might find between pornography use and mental health concerns such as loneliness, depression, and stress in students. The Results The study found that […]
I saw ACE: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen mentioned on the list serve for the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA). As a clinician who works nearly entirely with clients with some type of problematic sexual behavior, I was keen to read this book. […]
As a clinician, I live at an intersection between three worlds. Sex Addiction Therapy, Sexual Offender Therapy and Sex Therapy. These are often conflicting worlds. The sex addiction world can (used to) tend to think all non-normative sexual practices are an addiction. The sex offender treatment world can tend to label out of the box […]
When I started in this field, sex addiction was not a common term. Therapists who treated sex addiction were not that prevalent and you never heard about sex addiction on the news. Today, it is a different story. You hear the term sex addiction all the time, bandied about every time there’s a celebrity sex scandal. Therapists who […]
