#77 - Dr Paula Hall / Compulsive porn use: what you need to know

On this week's episode of the podcast, we were thrilled to be joined by Dr Paula Hall, a sexual and relationship psychotherapist who specialises in helping people affected by sex addiction and porn addiction. Dr Hall has been working as a therapist for 30 years and currently runs the biggest clinic in the UK, and the biggest therapy training programme for compulsive sexual behaviours.  Together, Dr Hall and Toshi spoke about identifying problematic porn use, advice for anyone who thinks that their porn consumption might be an issue, the impact that compulsive porn use has on partners and how they can access support of their own, why being anti-porn is not the solution and why compulsive porn use is the symptom of a bigger issue.  Dr Hall is the author of several books including Understanding & Treating Sex and Pornography Addiction, Sex Addiction: The Partner’s Perspective, Confronting Porn, and Sex Addiction: A Guide for Couples. Dr Hall has also peer reviewed a number of papers.  Watch her TED Talk on sex addiction here: https://youtu.be/-Qf2e3XZ8Tw?si=8VpOEgOynjCgDxjU Learn more about the Laurel Centre: https://thelaurelcentre.co.uk/ Find more info about Pivotal Recovery here: https://www.pivotalrecovery.org/ Check out our book, 'How to talk with your kids about porn: https://www.sexinspace.com/book-2 Timestamps:  00:00 – Intro  00:40 – Dr Hall’s background + work  03:41 – Porn addiction vs compulsive porn use 06:02 – When is someone’s porn use problematic?  08:31 – Advice if you think your porn use might be an issue 10:33 – How shame gets in the way of people seeking help 12:45 – Why you need to work out what healthy sexuality means for you  14:36 – The impact of compulsive porn use on partners 16:55 – Support for partners of someone with compulsive porn use  18:43 – Dr Hall’s message for parents  24:06 – Why being anti-porn is not a solution 27:44 – The issue with trying to block pornography 29:28 – How moral debates can get in the way of helping people 33:18 – Compulsive porn use is the symptom of a bigger issue 35:52 – How the brain changes when a behaviour shifts from being recreational to compulsive  38:22 – One thing Dr. Hall wants you to take away from this podcast 39:31 – About Pivotal Recovery 40:43 - Conclusion Software mentioned by Dr Hall - Canopy: https://canopy.us/Qustodio: https://www.qustodio.com/en/Covenant Eyes: https://www.covenanteyes.com/-----------------  Follow us here: https://www.instagram.com/sexinspacedotcom https://www.tiktok.com/@sexinspacedotcom https://www.facebook.com/sexinspacedotcom https://www.youtube.com/@sexinspace For more info, check out our website at: https://www.sexinspace.com/    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.