Chrysalis® Blog
Can you be addicted to anything?
As many of you may be aware, Chrysalis also run the acclaimed HeLP Addictions website; a not-for-profit self-help programme, which at the moment, offers support for those struggling with pornography addiction.
As a result of this, we have had a lot of media interest – you can always count on sex and especially pornography to get their attention.
But it always seems to raise the same questions and the same comments on accompanying discussion boards – can you really be addicted to pornography?
The same arises whenever sex addiction is mentioned in the press. Can you really be addicted to sex? Aren’t people just making excuses for their poor behaviour? What about food addiction? Computer games?
Studying something like a counselling course, can and should make you question your own views on such subjects. So much about pursuing a career in counselling is about looking at yourself first. There are no hard and fast rules as to what you should think or feel about any given subject – just simply to have an awareness of your views, in order to understand how they may affect you as a therapist and therefore your clients. Can you effectively treat someone for pornography addiction if you don’t really believe the problem exists? A favourite one from my teaching days on the Chrysalis hypnotherapy course was, can you take someone on for a Quit Smoking programme, when you are a smoker yourself?
And indeed, is addiction a relevant term for such problems? Can you be addicted to anything?
As so often happens in the realms of psychology, counselling and the like, we are again left with more questions than answers.
But that is part of the fun of it right?!
Why don’t you go and have your say on our Facebook page?
