Research finds that porn-related problems are predominantly caused by religious conflict. Clinically, this means people need help, but not necessarily with the porn.
in a medical context today, “addiction” implies substances, and it is only relatively recently that the field has been willing to consider whether behavioral addictions - sex, food, exercise, video games, or just the Internet in general - qualify as “true” addictions. Only in 2013 did the editors of the DSM… reclassify “pathological gambling” as a “gambling disorder” and place it alongside substance addictions. Critics worry that we are over-pathologizing everyday life; a former editor of the DSM has said that behavioral addictions should not be labeled as mental disorders “merely because we like doing them a lot and miss them when we stop.”
What’s missed in those debated is that these are not new addictions but rather a reemergence of an older way of looking at addiction, dating from the inebriety movement of the late 19th century. The movement cast a wide net, and a variety of behavioral problems were understood as inebriety, including habitual problems with many substances… The Journal of Inebriety, the flagship publication of the AACI used the word “addiction” for the first time in reference to chocolate.
Carl Erik Fisher, The Urge. His point in the book is that the strict medical definition of addiction is newer and has engendered a lot of debate among researchers and practitioners. Even though morphine is known to cause physical dependence, a lot of people who use it, even habitually, don’t end up becoming addicted, so it could be construed that there is a behavioral or psychological component as well, and that behavioral component could surface in other contexts. Addiction as a physical, substance-oriented phenomenon is just one perspective.
For sure. I’m reminded of the mice in isolation choosing drug water and mice who are otherwise fulfilled with stimulation, friends, etc. choosing the normal water instead. Physical dependency to a fulfilled mouse would probably be like dealing with a sprained ankle or a cold. They’re not going to keep hurting their ankle.
I suppose the argument is that, in the absence of physical harm and a lack of necessity for health, then one must question what the harm of the behavior is. This is to say that food isn’t an addiction because without it you can’t survive. With gambling, it’s clear that there’s a harm because you run out of money. With porn, you run out of cum. Do you or the people you care about give a shit? Is it getting in the way? Like are you missing appointments and classes to masturbate? Are you exposing others to adult material? If not and you don’t care, the psychologist doesn’t need to get involved. To my understanding a mental health professional is trying to alleviate the pain and symptoms of mental distress. If you’re not developing a physical dependency/physical harm, the compulsion isn’t distracting you, and you don’t feel incongruent for doing it, then the psychologist for whom this piece is written, needn’t concern themselves.
If you feel incongruent, it’s worth exploring with the “modern, adult, self-determining eyes” that the author mentions. Your solutions aren’t one size fits all. Maybe your path away from pain is saying that porn is… le good! or you believe there are more ethical sources of pornogrpahy so you only use that type you resonate with. But also, maybe, your relationship with pornography was a proxy for some other argument with a significant other or your #1 compulsion when you’re avoiding discomfort. Where if you make peace with the reason for the proxy the urge to use goes away as well. Maybe you lament doing it instead of being awesome, so you should escape your comfort zone before you jork peanits.
Did I do honor to what you quoted and elaborated on or did I walk away rambling?
Makes sense! I was just arguing that addiction, like many mental health issues, is socially situated and hasn’t always been associated simply with chemical dependency. Fisher meditates a bit on functional alcoholics who drink way more than is a good idea and yet continue to live functional lives and don’t seem to be bothered by their substance use, contrasting that with instances of akrasia, doing something you know (or feel) is against your better judgment anyway. With porn, it may not necessarily be a physical dependency but it might be an easy substitute to reach for in a way that results in going against one’s preferences or moral beliefs, and the current orientation of society around the issue is such that the ones with strong moral objections to porn tend to also be religious. Which I think aligns substantially with what you’re saying.
Fisher meditates a bit on functional alcoholics who drink way more than is a good idea and yet continue to live functional lives and don’t seem to be bothered by their substance use
Absolutely sending me for a loop. Can I get a citation? I want to unravel the thread in my mind and see where it takes me. This is a really engaging perspective.
Okay, I can’t find the exact passage I was thinking of (maybe I invented it), but there are a couple good spots to check out. I recommend reading chapter 11; see also this passage on page 15 (kindle edition):
…but today there is a rising recognition that all mental disorders exist on a spectrum, with no clear transition in the data that tells us where to draw the line between mild and severe issues. This is why the… DSM… has done away with the division between “substance abuse” and “substance dependence,” the latter of which was a stand in for addiction. “Spectrum” concepts have been gaining momentum… and the neurodiversity movement seems to challenge the notion that mental disorders are inherently pathological…
People use drugs for reasons; the banality of that statement is matched only by our constant lack of mindfulness to it. The message screams from the pages of addiction memoirs. Caroline Knapp describes how “liquor occupied the role of lovet or constant companion,” crating an illusion of emotional authenticity that seemed like it granted access to more meaningful feelings…
…
p 18:
…for example, there is a strand in addiction advocacy today that seems to replace “person with addiction” with “person with substance use disorder,” seeking a more compassionate and less stigmatized term. However, the terms are not really equivalent: “substance use disorder” included a huge swath of people who have substance problems but do not necessarily feel like they are struggling with internal conflict or self identify as addicted… (p.19) Harry Frankfurt distinguished between “willing” and “unwilling” addicts–both have an immediate desire to take a drug, but the willing is not conflicted about it, and the unwilling doesn’t want to have that desire…
Carl Erik Fisher, The Urge. His point in the book is that the strict medical definition of addiction is newer and has engendered a lot of debate among researchers and practitioners. Even though morphine is known to cause physical dependence, a lot of people who use it, even habitually, don’t end up becoming addicted, so it could be construed that there is a behavioral or psychological component as well, and that behavioral component could surface in other contexts. Addiction as a physical, substance-oriented phenomenon is just one perspective.
For sure. I’m reminded of the mice in isolation choosing drug water and mice who are otherwise fulfilled with stimulation, friends, etc. choosing the normal water instead. Physical dependency to a fulfilled mouse would probably be like dealing with a sprained ankle or a cold. They’re not going to keep hurting their ankle.
I suppose the argument is that, in the absence of physical harm and a lack of necessity for health, then one must question what the harm of the behavior is. This is to say that food isn’t an addiction because without it you can’t survive. With gambling, it’s clear that there’s a harm because you run out of money. With porn, you run out of cum. Do you or the people you care about give a shit? Is it getting in the way? Like are you missing appointments and classes to masturbate? Are you exposing others to adult material? If not and you don’t care, the psychologist doesn’t need to get involved. To my understanding a mental health professional is trying to alleviate the pain and symptoms of mental distress. If you’re not developing a physical dependency/physical harm, the compulsion isn’t distracting you, and you don’t feel incongruent for doing it, then the psychologist for whom this piece is written, needn’t concern themselves.
If you feel incongruent, it’s worth exploring with the “modern, adult, self-determining eyes” that the author mentions. Your solutions aren’t one size fits all. Maybe your path away from pain is saying that porn is… le good! or you believe there are more ethical sources of pornogrpahy so you only use that type you resonate with. But also, maybe, your relationship with pornography was a proxy for some other argument with a significant other or your #1 compulsion when you’re avoiding discomfort. Where if you make peace with the reason for the proxy the urge to use goes away as well. Maybe you lament doing it instead of being awesome, so you should escape your comfort zone before you jork peanits.
Did I do honor to what you quoted and elaborated on or did I walk away rambling?
Makes sense! I was just arguing that addiction, like many mental health issues, is socially situated and hasn’t always been associated simply with chemical dependency. Fisher meditates a bit on functional alcoholics who drink way more than is a good idea and yet continue to live functional lives and don’t seem to be bothered by their substance use, contrasting that with instances of akrasia, doing something you know (or feel) is against your better judgment anyway. With porn, it may not necessarily be a physical dependency but it might be an easy substitute to reach for in a way that results in going against one’s preferences or moral beliefs, and the current orientation of society around the issue is such that the ones with strong moral objections to porn tend to also be religious. Which I think aligns substantially with what you’re saying.
Absolutely sending me for a loop. Can I get a citation? I want to unravel the thread in my mind and see where it takes me. This is a really engaging perspective.
Okay, I can’t find the exact passage I was thinking of (maybe I invented it), but there are a couple good spots to check out. I recommend reading chapter 11; see also this passage on page 15 (kindle edition):
The book is The Urge - I’ll have to dig around later and see if I can find the passage I’m referencing; it’s been a minute since I read it.