Hello everyone. I’m 35 and am a practicing catholic for a while now, and I go to confession frequently and to Mass almost every day and I try and pray the Holy Rosary every day as well as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day too. But I have had a problem/struggle with porn since I was about 12 yearss old.
But I’ve confessed all my past sins of lust and porn and still continue to go to Confession when I sin/fall…
So what should I do?
Thanks and keep me in your prayers…
The first thing to do is to go to Confession. Sex addiction is primarily a spiritual disease since it involves grave matter. Sex addicts are demonically obsessed and if they become hardened sex addicts they are at risk of eventually dabbling in the occult, since one of the primary effects of sins of Lust is the denial of immortality that accompanies them (is it any wonder that our hedonistic culture is also one of the most atheistic). Sex addicts become spiritually dry and therefore go looking for spiritual “experiences” in the occult and end up putting themselves at risk for demonic possession. The sins of the flesh provide the spiritual energy behind the culture of death. Societies that crave the sins of the flesh also crave the destruction of the flesh, whether unborn or born. Sins of the flesh lead to the utter destruction and desecration of the flesh. It is an age-old, Satanic formula.
I have noticed that with sins of the flesh Satan likes to first try to make your conscience lax and then if that fails and you find the courage to go to confession, he likes to try to make you scrupulous and doubt the efficacy of your confession. Satan knows that when a person masturbates they are releasing powerful mind-altering drugs into their body. He knows what the physiological effects of these drugs are and he knows that their release amplifies the effects of laxity and scrupulosity. This is why you must find a good priest to serve as your regular confessor and spiritual director and must obey his direction in this matter even when you “feel” otherwise.
Seeking a spiritual solution (regular confession, daily prayer, and daily mass and rosary if possible) to sex addiction is the first step to recovery. But you should also be familiar with the fact (contrary to what popular culture and popular medicine tell you) that masturbation is very harmful to your physical health. Here is great article by neurosurgeon Donald L. Hilton, Jr that will help you to understand how Porn and Masturbation will literally destroy your brain: “Slave Master: How Pornography Drugs & Changes Your Brain” (
salvomag.com/new/articles/salvo13/13hilton.phphttp:/www.salvomag.com/new/articles/salvo13/13hilton.php). You could also Google the writings of Dr. Judith Reisman, who has written extensively on sex addition and has been predictably demonized and marginalized for doing so.
Looking at Porn and Masturbating releases feel-good chemicals (norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, adrenaline & serotonin among others) into your brain. It’s basically like a drug that your brain gets hooked on and part of the reason why masturbation is so hard to stop. Again, see the above article by Dr. Hilton. If you ever tried to stop then you no doubt are familiar with the strong urge to look at porn and/or masturbate again after a few days to a week. After this amount of time the effects of the feel-good chemicals wear off and you start going thru withdrawal symptoms. It is a vicious cycle. Regular masturbation lowers your stamina and lowers your drive to accomplish things. Regular masturbation puts a high amount of stress on a man’s prostate. Masturbation also weakens your immune system thus making you more prone to diseases, especially to colds and flu during the winter season. Regular masturbation also weakens your tendons and ligaments, making it easier to strain a muscle or sprain a joint. Furthermore, you will start to get lower back pain if you continue to masturbate regularly. However you will most likely not experience this particular symptom until after you are past your teen years. Others will start to experience thinning hair on their heads as well. This is due to too much of your testosterone being converted into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which overloads your body. You also lose several miligrams of zinc every time you ejaculate. Zinc plays an important role in cell division and growth. It is essential for protein and DNA synthesis and helps in liver function and proper insulin activity and is essential for proper functioning of the sexual organs. Zinc is found in abundance in semen and the prostrate gland. Sexually active men require more zinc than women for the health of the reproductive organs and fertility. Zinc is a component of many enzymes that help in the metabolism of lipids, carbohydrates and proteins and helps in wound healing. When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, certain trace minerals and prostaglandins are absorbed from the female vaginal secretions which balance the zinc-loss effect and also there is a sort of natural suction during normal sex that helps drain all the semen during an ejaculation. Contrast this with masturbation, where a small portion of semen does not drain and ends up remaining in your system, which is not good.
Our society has turned masturbation into a normal, healthy behavior. Even some Catholics have fooled themselves into thinking that it is just a normal part of going through puberty. These are all lies.
I will be praying for your recovery!
