MHM Magazine

Issue 5 | 2021 | MENTALHEALTHMATTERS | 23 MHM Process addiction and behavioural addiction are interchangeable terms that describe the same thing. A process addiction is a seemingly overwhelming impulse to participate in a certain behaviour that can have profound negative consequences to you and your loved ones. Just as with substances such as drugs and alcohol, the specific behaviour provides a high that can be intoxicating to the individual and leads to them repeating the behaviour in chase of that particular high. When the average person thinks of addiction they primarily think of physical addiction to a substance, and the risks associated with that. What they may not consider is the potential life changing damages associated with dependence to a behaviour. For instance, consider the gambler who loses possession of the family home, or the sex addict who contracts an STD and gets arrested in the same night. The impact of a process addiction can be devastating to both the individual and their loved ones. PORN ADDICTION Online porn is free, instantly accessible to anyone with a phone, and never runs out and can be accessed by most of the population. The addict has a potentially inexhaustible supply. There is no bottom of the bottle for someone suffering from porn addiction. What there is instead is the process of chasing a high with ever diminishing returns for the addict. The addict is compelled to keep searching for images and movies that will provide that high. Search terms are expanded, and boundaries are pushed, and the addict’s dependence on this behaviour is strengthened. Due to a lack of existing scientific literature, porn addiction has not yet been classified in diagnostic manuals such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). This has led to clinicians developing various explanations for the development of porn addiction creating a blurred line as to what is porn addiction. So what are the indicators someone has developed an addiction to porn? There is a high degree of similarity between the signs and symptoms of chemical dependency and porn addiction, such as similar neurobiological mechanisms and processions through motivation. THESE INCLUDE USING PORN IN LARGER QUANTITIES OR OVER LONG PERIODS OF TIME This can take the form of hours of pushing boundaries while searching for porn that provides an ever increasingly diminishing return. This time-consuming process takes By Declan O’Riordan DipHE in Substance use studies Clinical mngr at Cherrywood House Rehab Centre Rachael Rumbelow BSocSci Psyc Hons PORN ADDICTION AND TREATMENT