Description
When I entered my profession in Pediatric Psychology some 35 years ago, I would never have guessed that I would be writing a paper on pornography addiction after seeing so many of my patients' lives being derailed and even destroyed by the unsavory and soulless pornography industry. I have seen boys as young as 11 attempt to rape children as young as 3 after getting steamed up on porn, I have seen normal adolescent sexuality be hijacked and rewritten from something wonderful to something perverse, I have seen men go to jail and lose their careers, I have seen marriages fail – the toll is enormous and is mounting every day. The Utah state legislature has wisely declared pornography a national epidemic that is ripping the fabric of our society (Barta, 2018). As a result of these observations, I am writing this paper as a conversation to you, regardless of your age, gender, station in life, or career. You may or may not be struggling with pornography, but even if you aren't, you undoubtedly know someone who is and your knowledge of fact from fiction and how to become free can possibly save the mind, body, and soul of that person. This paper will summarize my thoughts as well as the work of some of the best seminal writers on this topic who rightly deserve credit as noted below: