New Indian Express Report on Porn Addiction Study

New Indian Express News:

More than 80 percent of high school students exposed to porn, says study

By Aneesh M Das | ENS - KOLLAM

30th July 2013 10:01 AM

When it comes to pornography addiction, most parents are under the false impression that their children keep a safe distance from the addictive visuals. Most often parents and teachers remain unaware of the pornographic content their children were exposed to or the sources through which they gain access to it.  

A recent study conducted jointly by city-based St Joseph’s Guidance and Counselling Centre and the counselling psychology students of Marin Luther Christian University (Meghalaya) among the high schools students in the district revealed that more than 80 per cent of the students were exposed to porn, among which 13.5 per cent were seriously addicted. The study covered 750 high school students from six schools in the district among which 143 were girls. Among the 750 students, only 146 were never exposed to porn.

While around 502 were ‘lightly’ affected with the craving for porn content, 88 students were ‘seriously’ affected, 11 ‘severely’ affected and three ‘chronically’ affected. The exploratory study, which covered four schools in the city and two schools in rural areas of the district, including government, aided and private schools, found that porn addiction rate does not relate to the location of the schools, gender, religion and syllabus or medium of instruction in the school. The study calls for intervention of parents, teachers and school authorities to save the children from addiction to porn, which can affect their behaviour and studies.

Director of St Joseph’s Guidance and Counselling Centre, Rev Jose Puthenveedu, who guided the study, said that students in the seriously-affected, severely-affected and chronically-affected categories require urgent professional awareness and psychotherapeutic intervention.

“Awareness should also be generated among lightly-affected students as they might fall for more porn content in future,” he said. According to Jose Puthenveedu, there is an urgent need for the parents and teachers to turn tech savvy.

 “Parents should be able to monitor the use of computers and gadgets that can be used for viewing porn. Overnight use of  mobile phones should also be restricted. Most often students get exposed to the porn website from internet cafes they visit under the pretext of preparing academic projects,” he said.

Computerized Psycho Therapuetic intervention

On August 8th 2013 Computerized PsychoTherapuetic intervention program was inaugurated by Rev.Dr.Jose Puthenveed, Director,  SJGCC, Kollam

Porn Addiction Seminar

Awareness Seminar on Porn Addiction among students

27^th July, 2013

Venue : St. Joseph’s Guidance and Counseling Centre (SJGCC), Quilon

Students in their developmental stage experience not only many academic challenges but psycho-social problems.  St. Joseph’s Guidance and Counseling Centre through a professionally qualified team of counseling psychologists have been addressing the needs of the students who have been psycho-socially marginalized.

With the therapeutic success in the treatment of social phobia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, exam phobia, learning disability, academic backwardness,   the study of pornographic addiction was undertaken by SJGCC as it became a problem to be reckoned with in counseling.

Pornography can create a powerful biochemical “rush” in the user. Body chemicals, such as serotonin, adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine are at play creating a euphoric state in the user. Teens who experience this biochemical thrill will, not surprisingly, want to experience it again. From this standpoint, it is helpful to see pornography not as just a social issue, but as a drug because the addictive mechanism is clearly part of the danger when teenagers habitually use pornography.

Some of the negative consequences of porn addiction include modeling and imitation of inappropriate behaviors; unhealthy interference with normal sexual development; emotional side effects (including nightmares, and residual feelings of shame, guilt, anxiety and confusion); stimulation of premature sexual activity; and the development of misleading and potentially harmful attitudes towards sex.

Porn has also been associated with sexual addiction, trouble with respecting boundaries, relationship and attachment problems, aggressive patterns of acting out sexually, the depersonalization of woman (and now men and children), irritability, depression, and loss of integrity, social isolation, neglecting important areas of life, personality disorders, out of control emotions, out of control behaviors, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, and high-risk sex . Viewing explicit materials increases your acceptance of self-focused sexual behaviors that are casual and not relationship-focused and not affectionate.

It is important to be aware of the prevalence, dangers of porn addiction and its adverse effects on the brain and important areas of the addict’s life. The impact on marriages and families is immense, and it starts when people are teens.