Nov 12, 2015

Addiction Dictionary : Definitions of Common Addiction Terms



ADDICTION - "Addiction is the continued repetition of a behavior/rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences."
(Note: *** Lack of fequency is not always an indicator of addiction. Acting out can be once a day, once a week, once a month, or even once a year etc. and still be an addiction)

PORNOGRAPHY ADDICTION -  1. Pornography addiction is an addiction characterized by repeated use of pornographic material until it causes serious negative consequences to one's physical, mental, social, and/or financial well-being.          
  2 . An "addiction to, or dependence upon, pornography, characterized by obsessive viewing, reading, and thinking about pornography and sexual themes to the detriment of other areas of the viewer’s life." - Free Dictionary 
  3 . Prolonged viewing of pornography - books, magazines, movies, or Internet pornography - that has destructive effects on the life of a person.

SEX ADDICTION - Sex addiction is the umbrella term for all addictions that are sexual in nature (porn, Masturbation, in person affairs, etc), just like drug addiction is the umbrella term for all kinds of drug addictions (cocaine, heroin, etc) c

ACTING OUT - Intentionally seeking out any sexual stimulus, even if "accidental" at first. Ex. If you accidently come across sexual stimulus, but you choose to keep looking, that's still acting out. DEFINITE lines of acting out: pornography, masturbation, infidelity, emotional infidelity, inappropriate relationships with opposite sex, chatting, flirting, sex ad browsing, voyeurism, forcing/coercing anyone to have sex (yes, even if it’s your own spouse), & massage brothels.

PORNOGRAPHY - ANY sexual stimulus outside of an intimate relationship that a sex addict uses to get lust hits from. This could be hard core pornography, or soft core pornography like bikinis, women in workout videos, intentionally checking out women in public, looking up pictures of feet if the sex addict is into feet, or sexual content in books, comics, movies, TV, cartoons, phone apps, etc. Basically, if an addict is intentionally using the stimulus to get lust hits from, then they are turning it into their own personal porn. This doesn't mean the woman in the bikini or a woman in sandals is literal porn, this means the addict is objectifying her and turning her into porn for himself. In the end, whether it was a woman naked or a woman clothed, if an addict is intentionally seeking it out, then it does the same thing to the brain by keeping the addiction neural pathways alive. The point of healing is for those neural pathways to go dormant, which can't be done if it's still being activated with sexual stimulus outside of an intimate relationship. 
(***LDS .org Definition of Pornography -
  "Pornography is any visual or written medium created with the intent to sexually stimulate. If the work was not intended to stimulate but nevertheless causes sexual arousal in an individual, it constitutes pornography for that person."
&
  "Pornography is any entertainment that uses immodest or indecent images to stimulate sexual feelings. So even a mainstream television program or advertisement can be pornographic. If images trigger sexual feelings in you, you should avoid them."
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1977/06/i-have-a-question?lang=eng   
)

MASTURBATION - 1. "To stimulate yourself sexually. In other words, to have sex by yourself, with yourself."
2. "Get sexual gratification through self-stimulation"
3. "Erotic stimulation especially of one's own genital organs commonly resulting in orgasm and achieved by manual or other bodily contact exclusive of sexual intercourse, by instrumental manipulation, occasionally by sexual fantasies, or by various combinations of these agencies."
*** Note they use the word "usually" and not "always". Sexually stimulating oneself with, or without orgasm, is still masturbation.
(Spencer W Kimball said on lds.org :
" Masturbation is not physically necessary. There is already a way by which the male system relieves excessive spermatic fluid quite regularly through the nocturnal emission or wet dream. "

S.L.I.P -- "Sexual Sobriety Lost its Priority" - A slip is a one-time unexpected unplanned break in abstinence. Slips are significant events that call for immediate attention because they can easily lead to relapses. Since it is acting out in ones addiction it requires a restart in sobriety. (Learn more HERE)

RELAPSE - A relapse is the recurrence of symptoms of a disease or to resume acting out after a period of abstinence. Since it is acting out in ones addiction it requires a restart in sobriety. (Learn more HERE)