Compulsive sexual behavior to avoid memories of combat Research Paper

Compulsive sexual behavior to avoid memories of combat - Research Paper Example The case study is based on Jim, a soldier who served Marine combat duty in Iraq. He is twenty three years old and a Caucasian male. He is married and has a son. Howard (2007) is part of a team that provided a comprehensive treatment for Jim’s addiction and emotional problems. He collected qualitative data from Jim through counseling sessions. Findings showed that combat experience produced traumatic experiences for Jim, which resulted to his emotional and relationship problems. At the same time, Jim went through problems at home, which reinforced his need to escape his pain. Howard (2007) stressed that Jim self-medicated through the use of pornography, which became a sexually compulsive behavior. His sex addiction became a source of immediate temporary happiness that numbed him to pain. Howard (2007) also described the addiction cycle. Then, he recommended measures that can deal with the diverse components of addiction. He emphasized the importance of treating trauma, not just the addiction, through a systemic approach, which includes the wife/partner in the healing process. Howard (2007) concluded that sexually compulsive behavior can be an escape route for other traumatic experiences, such as rape and events of terrorism. ... The military sampling includes soldiers who are deployed or have come from deployment. Anderson (2010) explained how technology assisted the ease of developing pornography addiction. He interviewed Navy Lt. Michael Howard, a licensed therapist and chaplain, who has a specialty in sex addiction. Howard stated that twenty percent is a conservative estimation for soldiers who are addicted to porn. Anderson (2010) described the flourishing industry of Porn 2.0, as well as the practice of using social networking sites and â€Å"sexting† as means of porn addictions. Access to technology made porn addiction a convenient form of instant pleasure. Porn, as a kind of sex addiction, is similar to other forms of addiction, where it titillates the pleasure centers of the brain. Anderson (2010) talked to Robert Weiss, director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, who described what happens to the brain while consuming pornography. Watching porn releases dopamine, a neurotransmit ter that activates pleasure centers and blocks pain sources in the brain. Weiss added that masturbation increases dopamine levels and reinforces porn addiction. Porn addiction has numerous psychological and social effects. Anderson (2010) interviewed soldiers, who were fired because of storing child pornography images in their computers or accessing child porn websites. Soldiers also complained of how porn addiction affected their relationships and work performance. They admitted that porn became a way of dealing with their stress. The wives of soldiers addicted to porn expressed distress too because they felt betrayed when they learned of the porn addiction of their spouses. These interviews assert the individual, family, and organizational consequences