I know that probably sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
Positive aspects of porn addiction? How could something so detrimental to your life and the lives of your loved ones have anything positive to it? What could possibly be a benefit of porn addiction?
It’s not difficult to understand why porn addiction is a bad thing. I’m guessing you didn’t arrive at this channel because your life was going great. It doesn’t matter whether you’re addicted to alcohol, cigarettes, or pornography; addiction in any form is detrimental to your wellbeing.
Porn addiction and compulsive sexual behavior have the power to destroy your life. They deteriorate your mind, shatter your relationships, break down your career, and more. You don’t have to look very far to see the negative effects of pornography. The same goes for any other addiction you may struggle with.
However, you can’t overcome porn addiction by only looking at the negative aspects. You must also recognize the positive aspects of porn addiction. I know this might sound a little nuts, especially coming from a guy who dedicated his life to helping men end their compulsive behavior with pornography. But stick with me for a bit.
Most men who struggle with porn usually started watching it when they were younger. By the time they reach their teenage years it’s a fully-established problem. That was my personal experience, too. I was first exposed to pornography when I was eight, and I was a full-blown porn addict by the time I was 13.
Although I don’t recommend that young men begin watching porn, I now see the positive aspects that porn had when I was young. There were some beneficial parts of my porn use, despite the long-term destruction it caused.
Porn became my go-to coping strategy for dealing with the difficult emotions of being a teenager. It helped me handle stress and provided me with comfort when things felt out of control. Porn also taught me about sex and helped me understand what it was. It allowed me to learn about myself sexually during those formative adolescent years.
After I crossed a certain point, though, I wore out the positives of my porn use. While it was useful to a certain extent, it wasn’t helpful in the long run. From then on my porn use became more and more habitual, harmful, and destructive.
When you only view porn as a horrible, awful, negative thing, it further instills feelings of guilt and shame that keep you trapped in the porn addiction effect cycle. You can’t force yourself to overcome your behavior by fighting it with willpower. Your brain doesn’t work that way.
Instead, recognizing the positive parts of your porn use and realizing why you started using it in the first place will help you. You’ll see that while it started innocently enough, it grew to become something much more detrimental than you ever intended it to be.
You’re not a bad person because of your out-of-control behavior, but you do need to take responsibility for it and make a change. Take this reframed understanding and use it to your advantage. This small perspective shift may be the key to helping you move forward in your porn addiction recovery.
