56 What is Essential for Catholics to Recover from Porn?

Intro: Welcome to the podcast Interior Integration for Catholics Interior Integration for Catholics brings to you in each episode the best psychological information essential for your human formation, knowledge that is fundamental in shoring up the natural foundation for your Catholic spiritual life.  In this podcast, we confront the tough questions we Catholics have in our day-to-day lives, we confront head on our struggles in the natural realm, the psychological difficulties that keep us from fully loving our Lord and our Lady in a deep, personal, intimate way. And we deal with these difficult, demanding issues for one primary reason: to free you to love God our Father, Jesus our Brother, the Holy Spirit and Our Mother Mary more and more over time.  This podcast helps you focus inward on your interior integration -- to help you bring together the different parts of yourself into unity and harmony with God.'Together, we are on a journey toward deep transformation in our mindsets, our heartsets and our bodysets, a radical transformation at the core of our being so that our souls can one day enter into contemplative union with God. I’m clinical psychologist Peter Malinoski and I am here with you, to be your host and guide.  This podcast is part of Souls and Hearts, our online outreach at soulsandhearts.com, which is all about shoring up our natural foundation for the Catholic spiritual life, all about overcoming psychological obstacles to being loved and to loving God and neighborThis is episode 56, released on February 22, 2021This is the eighth episode in our series on sexuality and the second one on Pornography.  And it is titled: What is Essential for Catholics to Recover from Porn?And I am really happy to have Dr. Gerry Crete, past president of the Catholic Psychological Association and the CEO and co-founder of Souls and Hearts with me for this episode

 

Recognize that the fantasy involved in the pornography choices represent a dynamic that seeks to meet the unmet need
 Safety Attachment injuries Being seen Seeing others Connection Sense of “power” or agency Traumatic re-enactment The fantasy may provide a temporary answer to those needs while avoiding the pain Allow him to experience having his needs met in a healthy way What new information can you share with him What new role or position can the protector have now Recognize the courage it takes for the protector to seek a new role and embrace change Allow time to grieve the losses that pornography use has brought
 Recognize negative effects of pornography or other sexual acting out behavior in one’s life 
Prepare to make reparations
 Wife/Family Self Others God 
Invite protector to grow and embrace freedom – recognize there will be a period of growth – it will need time and patience. Commit to being by his side What does it mean for the parts to be “in recovery”
 The self is present – better connections with others Completing tasks with a sense of completion rather than trying to escape pain (life) Ability to set goals and focus on them rather than obsession with momentary perceived needs Willingness to receive feedback Ability to recognize time rather than entering into a blackhole of time Finds meaning in activities and relationships