Are You Addicted?

As with pornography, a usable definition of "addiction" is based on what addiction does rather than what it is. An addiction causes us to repeatedly seek out and consume the substance to which we are addicted, despite our own best intentions and despite the obvious negative consequences of such consumption. An addiction to pornography may cause a man to do things that he later regrets, costing him his marriage, job, children, self-respect, or freedom. An addiction is a need that forms only after you have used or been exposed to the addictive substance. The need generally decreases gradually and eventually subsides if exposure to the addictive substance stops. Within limits, the more your are exposed to an addictive substance, the more need you feel for it, and the less you are exposed to it, the less need you eventually feel for it. Consequently, one of the keys to overcoming an addiction is to distance yourself from the addictive substance in whatever ways you are able. With time, your need for the substance subsides.

Because we differ in our sensitivities and responses to various types of stimuli, what is addictive to one person may not be to another.

Whether you are struggling with a porn addiction or not, I hope that the ideas on this blog help you to understand how pornography affects a man's brain, and to avoid much of the harmful influence that pornography can have on a marriage.