Internet And Porn Addictions: Dual Diagnosis

Ask Stephen L. Braveman what most of the patients he treats for pornography and sex addiction have in common and he’ll tell you that, in about 85 percent of the cases, they’re also addicted to the Internet.

“It’s very common for people who come in my door to say they’re addicted to their Blackberry or addicted to their computer,” says Braveman, a Monterey-based marriage and family therapist specializing in sex therapy. “It’s not a big deal for a computer programmer who’s making a million dollars a year working on their computer. But for someone like a commute train operator who’s checking email when they should be watching the tracks, it’s a big problem.”

Although Braveman’s practice is focused on patients’ sexual problems rather than their online habits, he says the Internet has brought a slew of new challenges for the modern sex therapist. Instant, and often free, access to online pornography makes avoiding temptation exponentially more difficult for sex addicts who are looking to tamp down their obsessions. Child pornography, also widely available online, is fueling an increase in pathology and criminality among those who produce and consume it.

Braveman says he recently treated a soldier who had been downloading child pornography onto his government-issued laptop. Instead of having him discharged or court martialed “and wasting the $100,000 they spent trying to make him a killer,” Braveman says the young man’s commander came to him looking to get the soldier treatment.

In many cases, Braveman says his patients have to find a replacement for the computer altogether, because even if a patient gives up online porn, he or she can quite easily switch to online games, shopping or gambling.
“With porn addicts we have to be very careful,” he says. “If we don’t find a proper outlet, they can switch to something else. If we get them away from adult content but they spend hours on computer games, we haven’t helped them much.”