How to Help Your Husband Overcome Addiction to Pornography

Is your husband addicted to pornography? Are you unsure on what you can do to help him overcome his addiction to pornography? To help understand what type of impact addiction to pornography can have on a marriage and for tips on what you can do to help your husband overcome his addiction to pornography, I have interviewed psychologist Dr. Stan Gassaway.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.
"I am a clinical psychologist in private practice in Oklahoma City. My training was in the classical mode brought to the United States and Britain by the generation of psychoanalysts who fled the Continent just ahead of the Nazis. To this I add a bit of an understanding of brain and behavior gleaned from neuroimaging research. Further information on my training and way of working is available at www.Doctorgassaway.com ."

What type of impact can a husband's addiction to pornography have on the marriage?
"It's important, for the purposes of our understanding, to distinguish between occasional viewing of pornography and pornography addiction or compulsion - terms used rather interchangeably. Often co-occurring with compulsive sexuality (or sex 'addiction'), these problems involve a psychologically painful and escalating cycle of pornography viewing coupled with anonymous, often very risky, sexual contacts. Sometimes the cycle can be so intense that there is little room left in life for meaningful sexual relatedness, and the intimate life of a marriage can certainly suffer due to this. For the sexual compulsive, the euphoria from the behavior creates a momentary sense of relief and freedom, but as with all addictions, the self-contempt and alienation that follow practically guarantee a trip back into the compulsive cycle.

How can someone help their husband overcome addiction to pornography? What type of professional help is available for a husband that is having a difficulties overcoming pornography addiction?
"I have found, nearly without exception, that the emotional life story of people suffering from sexual or pornography addictions includes times of terribly stressful, distorted, or emotionally impoverished relatedness with one or both parents. Therapy for sexual addiction proceeds as we together unlock, hold, and work through these painful features of one's emotional life. While twelve-step referrals can be made for symptom control, it is this process of working-through that ultimately serves to weaken the compulsion and to generate a capacity for meaningful partnership with another."

Thank you Dr. Gassaway for doing the interview on how someone can help their husband overcome addiction to pornography.

Recommended Readings:
How to Overcome Cyberporn Addiction

Tips for Recovering from Pornography Addiction

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