55 Why Catholics Use Pornography

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 55, released on February 15, 2021This is the seventh episode in our series on sexuality and the fourth one on masturbation.  And it is titled: Why Catholics Use PornographyPractical steps you can take to overcome a pornography problem. These are good but only go so far: Device management Accountability Support Group Therapy  Inner Work: Here we get to the root of the problem and find lasting solutions Recognize that the pornography use has a negative effect on one’s life Marriage and family Career Downtime Relationships Spiritual life Awareness that something must be done and that one needs to commit to change What part of me doesn’t want to change? It’s a “protector” Recognize that the part of you turning to pornography is a protector The protector doesn’t want the system to feel pain At some point the protector learned that pornography is an escape from pain The protector also learned that pornography can meet unmet needs Identify the positive intention of the “pornography” protector Identify what this protector really believes about why pornography is the only answer See this protector (unblend) and recognize his misguided but sincere intention If the protector is protecting an exile (the pain) then promise to attend to the exile Allow him to share with you his real unmet needs 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