Sniewski, Luke, and Panteá Farvid.
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity (2019): 1-20.
Abstract
Self-perceived problematic pornography use (SPPPU) has recently become an important area for sexual addiction and compulsivity research. Heterosexual men with SPPPU report a lack of supportive or available treatment options. In this article, we report on six cases of men with SPPPU as they underwent a mindfulness-based intervention program. The aim of the article is to offer greater insights into the men’s individual, subjective, and reflective experiences during the intervention. The study applied a mixed research methodology that utilized interviews, daily logging spreadsheets, diaries, and prerecorded guided meditations. Results suggest that intervention design and setting can significantly impact the efficacy of interventions aimed at addressing SPPPU, independent of the specific intervention utilized. Results suggest that self-acceptance and acceptance of pornography use may represent intervention goals that are more realistic, practical, and attainable than abstinence. Additional findings are discussed. This article contributes to filling a research gap related to identifying and discussing the various contextual aspects of what represents successful intervention processes and outcomes for men with SPPPU, as well as the challenges that men face as they work through SPPPU.
Excerpts from full study
COMMENTS: Researchers employed meditation, daily logs and check-ins. All 6 subjects seemed to find meditation very helpful. However, reading the stories we discover that 2 had porn-induced ED (no mention of PIED resolving). A few cases appear to involve escalation. One describes withdrawal symptoms.
Preston (34, M_aori)—the power of accountability
Preston self-identified with SPPPU because he was concerned with the amount of time he spent watching and ruminating on pornography. To him, pornography had escalated beyond a passionate hobby and reached a level where pornography was the center of his life. He reported watching pornography for multiple hours a day, creating and implementing specific viewing rituals for his viewing sessions (e.g., setting up his room, lighting, and chair in a specific and orderly way before viewing, clearing his browser history after viewing, and cleaning up after his viewing in a similar way), and investing significant amounts of time in maintaining his online persona in a prominent online pornography community on PornHub, the world’s largest Internet pornography website
Patrick (40, P_akeh_a)—attempting abstinence
Patrick volunteered for the present research because he was concerned with the duration of his pornography viewing sessions, as well as the context in which he viewed. Patrick regularly watched pornography for several hours at a time while leaving his toddler son unattended in the living room to play and/or watch television.
Pedro (35, P_akeh_a)—a substitute for intimacy
Pedro self-reported as being a virgin. Pedro talked about the feelings of shame he experienced with his past attempts at sexual intimacy with women. His most recent potential sexual encounter ended when his fear and anxiety prevented him from getting an erection. He attributed his sexual dysfunction to pornography use………..
Pedro reported a significant decrease in pornography viewing by the end of the study and an overall improvement in mood and mental health symptoms. Despite increasing the dosage of one of his anti-anxiety medications during the study due work stress, he said he would continue meditating because of the self-reported benefits of calmness, focus, and relaxation he experienced after each session.
Peter (29, P_akeh_a)—the reflective power of meditation
Peter was concerned with the type of pornographic content he was consuming. He was attracted to pornography made to resemble acts of rape. The more real and realistically depicted the scene, the more stimulation he reported experiencing when viewing it. Peter felt his specific tastes in pornography were a violation of the moral and ethical standards he held for himself…..
After Peter started meditating, his pornography use ceased altogether. After a few weeks of meditating, he realized that the feelings of calmness, peace, and contentment he experienced after meditation were precisely the feelings he was seeking—and momentarily attaining—after he watched pornography.
Perry (22, P_akeh_a)—greater self-acceptance
Perry felt he had no control over his pornography use and that viewing pornography was the only way he could manage and regulate emotions, specifically anger. He reported outbursts at friends and family if he abstained from pornography for too long, which he described as a period of roughly 1 or 2 weeks. Additionally, Perry experienced feelings of shame and guilt when meeting women in social contexts because of the sexualized thoughts and sexual objectification he immediately experienced when approaching them……
By the end of the study Perry reported feeling more accepting of his use, despite the total frequency and duration figures only dropping slightly. He said the entire intervention experience made him feel more mindful and conscious of how, why, and when he used pornography. Though Perry continued to watch pornography, he no longer felt it was problematic and reported spending significantly less time ruminating on pornography and harshly judging himself over it.
Pablo (29, P_akeh_a)—the end of rumination
Pablo felt he had little to no control over his pornography use. Pablo spent several hours each day ruminating on pornography, either while actively engaged in watching pornographic content or by thinking about watching pornography at the next possible opportunity when he was busy doing something else. Pablo went to a doctor with concerns about sexual dysfunctions he was experiencing, and though he disclosed concerns about his pornography use to his doctor, Pablo was instead referred to a male fertility specialist where he was given shots of testosterone. Pablo reported the testosterone intervention as having no benefit or usefulness to his sexual dysfunction, and the negative experience prevented him from reaching out for any further help with regards to his pornography use. The pre-study interview was the first time Pablo was able to converse openly with anybody regarding his pornography use…
When the study began, pornography viewing had lost all of its enjoyment and pleasure, and he only watched out of habit and boredom. By the end of the study, Pablo was able to watch pornography without experiencing it in a problematic way. While Pablo’s frequency of pornography use had only lowered slightly, his overall duration dropped significantly as he no longer spent significant amounts of time ruminating on pornography or searching for pornographic content.
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