Last Monday, I received screenshots of a game my client was playing, but it wasn’t a traditional game. He indulged in the ever-expanding genre of pornographic video games.

Some of you who read my blog regularly may know, a person on federal supervised release for an internet crime of a sexual nature must have monitoring software on their devices.

The software blocks you from sites based on probation regulations and takes screenshots of what they’re doing. When one of my clients looks at questionable things, their probation officer will contact me and send me screenshots of the content.

I’m Not Going to Moralize About Pornographic Video Games

Nor will I discuss whether or not this is an appropriate expression of sexuality for people whom partnered sex is not an option. This is just a, “Hey it’s out there if you didn’t know about it,” post.

Adult video gaming is legal and the people playing them are making a conscious choice to do so.

So why does it matter? In my work, it matters for a few reasons.

Do you believe you have an online pornography addiction? Take the free Cyber Pornography Addiction Test (CYPAT) and have the results to speak with your therapist.

Pornographic Video Games and

Adolescents

We all know that most kids today game. It is super common and can be as much of a lifestyle as a hobby to kill some time. Games have come a long way from the Frogger of my youth.

Adult video games can be problematic for youth the same as pornography.

Physical and emotional development of teens does not happen along the same trajectory. Bodies might find these games exciting, but minds don’t always know how to process what goes on.

In most pornographic video games, as in pornography, there is not a discussion of consent, boundaries, or anything else. And the themes or topics are similar to pornography.

I braved a google search and adult video games are promoting themes like anal sex with your stepsister and sex with your stepmom the same as live pornography is.

Not the best themes for a growing mind to be masturbating to.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Individuals with Problematic Sexual Behavior (PSB)

Pornographic video games can fall into a grey area for those with pornography addictions or PSB.

They are not pornography, as many will define it in terms of live humans, but it still falls into the category of sex acts or simulated sex acts.

Using adult video games may be a gray area that a person struggling with pornography addiction can use as a means to act out while thinking they are not violating their bottom-line behaviors.

Individuals on Supervised Release

Playing these games could be a violation of the stipulations of supervision for individuals on probation, parole, or federal supervised release for crimes of a sexual nature.

Many of these probation stipulations prohibit viewing pornography. I’ve found most probation/parole officers consider adult video games to be pornography.

Playing pornographic video games and not disclosing it could cause problems with supervision and result in a freedom-losing violation.

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See the latest research on criminality related to social media:

• Social Anxiety and Loneliness in Online Solicitation Offenders

See more articles related to social media

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What’s the Lesson About Pornographic Video Games?

For me, it was to be more specific. My client had permission to play video games. We had worked on that, and it was approved by treatment and probation. Clearly, I needed to be more specific about what types of video games were okay to play.

I needed to have more conversations about exactly what was okay to do and what was not.

Again, not here to have a philosophical discussion about adult sex games. I want to help our guys stay compliant with their conditions.

What’s the Lesson for Non-Supervised Folks?

Particularly if you are a parent of a gaming adolescent, you need to know what games your child is playing.

Be involved in their lives. Ask about their gaming. Ask if they have seen or played these games. Talk about it.

If your child is a gamer and young, learn how to block those sites or games from their gaming device.

Ultimately, the lesson is to be aware.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Are you looking for more reputable data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The post Pornographic Video Games and Sexuality first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

We all have known a villain or two. Even the sex addiction treatment community has villains. Why are these people villains?

Because they question the validity of sex addiction.

Two, in particular, come to mind, though upon reflection they are not the same.

Villain Introduction

The first villain, Dr. David Ley, is a rather publicly outspoken opponent of the idea of sex addiction. He is a clinician, writer, and sometimes public debater of Dr. Rob Weiss.

The second villain is Dr. Prause. She is an academic and researcher from the University of California with a prolific CV. Her publications appear in peer reviewed scientific journals. Her argument against sex addiction as a concept is more theoretical and based on the scientific concept of validity.

Listening, Not Just Hearing

Imagine my surprise, after spending three hours in an Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (ATSA) training on Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD), that the first plenary speaker of the ATSA conference was Dr. Prause making her case against sexual addiction.

To be completely honest, I have not read much of her scientific work.

My knowledge of her is second hand from a community that does not consider her a friend.

I had two choices:

1. Sit and listen to the talk from a position of defensiveness based on my belief in CSBD.
2. Sit and listen from a place of openness and process her information with an open and clear mind.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Giving the Villain a Chance

I put on my open-minded researcher hat and listened to her talk entitled Psychophysiology and the Failure to Discriminate Sexual Compulsion as a New Disorder. Her talk focused on two key components of proving the construct validity of a theory.

Particularly, she focused on convergent and discriminant validity.

Research Methods

As a recap for those who did not endure lots of research methods in school:

• Convergent validity is a type of construct validity that tests whether things that should be related are related.
• Discriminant validity, on the other hand, tests whether constructs that should not have a relationship do not have a relationship.

In looking at these two types of construct validity, Dr. Prause is addressing whether our measures of assessing sexual addiction are related and whether sexual addiction is different than other things such as depression.

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As professionals, our time is valuable. Dr. Weeks created the Mitigation Aide Research Archive because there isn’t enough focused, data-backed research available in easily digestible formats.

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Determination of a New Disorder

We often point to Voon et. al (2014) as a neuroscientific study that lends support to sexual addiction because the results of the self-determined sex addicts in the study had similar results to those of substance abusers.

Prause argues that when you look at the brain imaging studies of sexual desire you see the same reactivity, suggesting that Voon et. al very possibly just studied sexual desire as opposed to sexual addiction.

In terms of discriminant validity, Dr. Prause looks to the many studies that look at sexual addiction and its comorbidity with other mental health issues like major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, alcohol use disorder, etc. The point she made is that if a diagnosis has so much overlap with other diagnoses, it is likely not its own separate diagnosis but symptoms of some other construct.

The Villain May Not Be a Villain After all

What I found most interesting: despite not believing that sexual addiction is its own separate diagnosis, she treats people who come in with problematic sexual behavior similarly to a clinician who does believes sexual addiction is valid. For example:

• Assess for other mental health conditions
• Engage in behavioral analysis of the sexual behavior they are concerned about
• Then treat them with shame reduction work and ACT

Final Thoughts

She agrees that people struggle with sexual behavior sometimes.

Dr. Prause thinks we should help them get a handle on the things they find to be a problem.

She does not believe in using a 12-step model or forced abstinence.

My personal take is that she believes that what some of us would call compulsive sexual behavior disorder is not its own thing but that the same behaviors are likely a symptom of some other mental health issue.

My other take away… I don’t think she is a villain at all. She is just someone who wants us to really think critically about our work.

Are you a professional looking to stay up-to-date with the latest information on, sex addiction, trauma, and mental health news and research? Or maybe you’re looking for continuing education courses? Then you should stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

The post How to Un Villain: Listening with an Open Mind first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

For many people in early recovery from pornography addiction, a behavioral intervention they entertain is getting rid of their smart phone and going back to the dumb phone. This has caused some consternation when shopping for an old school flip phone. 

Do they even make them? If they do are they in stock or does it have to be ordered. Then, some of them still have some access to the internet. 

Update: To learn more about ways to restrict access to pornography, see the series on Blocking Porn.

The Dumb Phone in the News

In the past month, there have been a few articles in the Wall Street Journal about simple phones. 

The first article targeted parents who were not sure about getting their tween a smartphone. It is now the norm for a tween to have a smartphone and those that don’t may face some social pushback from their peers. 

Several newer phone companies have stepped up to address this gap. 

The first is the Light Phone II. This phone runs on the AT&T network. It looks like a smartphone but only allows calling and texting as well as some basic apps such as music and an alarm. 

The second option is the Gabb. This phone mimics the look of an iPhone but does not have any access to the internet, games, or social media. 

A third option is Pinwheel this phone also looks like a traditional smart phone but does not allow access to the internet or social media. In contrast, this company does allow age appropriate, nonaddictive apps. 

Do you believe you have an online pornography addiction? Then take this free Cyber Pornography Addiction Test (CYPAT) and have the results to speak with your therapist.

The second article targeted adults who wanted a minimalist phone.

The MuditaPure is a cellphone that can call and text but cannot access the internet, email, or take picture. The phone does not even have a color palate and is monochrome. This device will be available in November. Another option is the Light Phone that uses black and white to avoid blue light. 

Conclusion

With these new developments, there are now many more phone options for those in recovery. If you want, you can have a phone that looks like your peers’ so you can avoid the inevitable questions that come when you pull out a flip phone. 

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

The post Who Uses a Dumb Phone? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.