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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2007 21:36:34 GMT -7
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2007 7:46:33 GMT -7
Arvin,
In contrast to the author(s) of the articles you cite, I'm hesitant to put sexual addiction in exactly the same category with substance abuse. Sexual activity correlates with electro-chemical activity in the brain, but so does any other activity of human beings since, in the language of theology, soul and body form an indissoluble union. In substance abuse a person becomes dependent on chemicals introduced unnaturally or artificially through human choice, but sex is a natural function. If a boy has an involuntary nocturnal emission, does he then have to go through "withdrawal" in following weeks? If a married couple abstain from sexual relations for a few weeks or months due to a pregnancy or an illness, do they face a period of "withdrawal"?
The issue strikes me quite personally, as I'm married to a dear woman whose low appetite and temperament are such that marital intimacy has been possible only once every two or three weeks on average, sometimes with many weeks between encounters. Am I then consigned to a life of almost unrelieved "withdrawal"? If I thought that to be the case, I'd probably lose heart altogether in the ongoing quest for serenity. It's one thing for a single person to face "withdrawal" for two to eight weeks or so and then be through it. It's another for a married person to look back on twenty years, and forward to an indefinite number, of restlessness and sometimes physical discomfort.
I don't mean to deny the very real parallels that can be drawn between different kinds of habits and addictions, or the lessons that can be extended from one to another. I'm just chary of importing language lock, stock and barrel from one sphere where it fits into another where it might be pretty discouraging.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2007 8:51:35 GMT -7
I'm certainly not an expert on this stuff, but what I think I understand is that the connection with substance abuse may be closer than just a metaphor. I've read people who seem to know talking about very close similarities between the neurochemistry of sex addiction and the neurochemistry of cocaine addiction. If that's true, then it seems certainly possible to me that repeated and excessive and unnatural sexual stimulation and repeated and excessive and unnatural use of drugs might produce dependency through identical neurochemical pathways.
Would this mean that everyone ever engaging in sex would suffer withdrawal? No. Not any more than anyone who uses pain-killers occasionally gets addicted and goes through withdrawal.
For me, the notion that there may be some sort of physical component to sex addiction helps me understand why just quitting seems so very difficult. It also helps me understand why I feel like I instantly relate to the experiences of alcoholics and other addicts. I don't even drink, but I can read the AA Big Book and think, "Yes! These are my people!"
All that said, I'm really not attached at all to the physical details. Perhaps I relate to other addicts only because the psychology of their experiences and mine are so similar. I'm disinclined to write off the comparison because sex is natural and drugs are not, though. Finding plants that make you feel better seems pretty natural and is done by a wide range of species; and there's absolutely nothing natural about my use of porn.
Just my take, of course.
Tim M.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2007 22:39:57 GMT -7
Yes, I also believe that it is not merely a physical problem. Im in the idea that whatever helps us to stop masturbation is helpful as long as it is not sin and that you still rely on God's grace instead of your own. In line with what Tim said, I only mean to inform.  |
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