Pornography addiction very often fills a gap, when the link to the other is weakened. When the main pillars of an individual’s life: family, work, sports, social ties, are lacking, these people may be led to take refuge in a feeling of physical well-being, by viewing pornographic images, which are often a filmed sexual axis. The fact that, in the brain, faced with this type of images, the secretion of serotonin or pleasure hormones is triggered, can lead the individual to become addicted to pornography.

The term “pornography” has its roots in ancient Greek: “porn” comes from “porne”, which means “prostitute”, and “graphos” means “to write” or “to paint”. “Pornography is not new, points out Christelle Pot, psychiatric nurse specialized in the follow-up of the perpetrators of sexual violence. Some ancient pottery was already very suggestive …Etymologically, pornography is therefore the act of writing or painting prostitutes, bad morals: however, it seems that this term has never been used with such acceptance in modern times.

In fact, a word of French origin coined from Greek, “pornography” very probably dates from the Age of Enlightenment. Reduced today, by apocope, to “porn”, it essentially designates the representation, written, visual or symbolic, of the sexual act. With the advent of the Internet, an important debate is developing on the place of pornography in society: pornographic images, which show the accomplishment of an act of filmed sexual penetration, are indeed numerous and easy to read. access.

Christelle Pot sums up: “Given the increase in media, via the Internet and television, there is a multiplicity of access, creation and distribution of the medium. And behind that, it is the degradation of the image of the woman which is at stake. ” Not only that of the woman, moreover: the men, too, begin to pay the cost of the enslavement of their body. 

«Dependence is defined as the meeting between a person, an object, at a time“, Explains Christelle Pot. Depending on the type of product, addiction can set in very quickly or more gradually. Thus, alcohol dependence will take longer to set in, on average after three years and three drinks per day, heroin addiction will be effective from the first intake!

The person addicted to pornographic images may be brought, sometimes several dozen times a day, to view this type of video, even at work … Which may moreover go as far as causing him to lose his job.

Pornography addiction, like all other addictions, is linked to the depletion of individual bonds, and fills a gap. “An individual can be represented by a cup which is placed on pillars. These pillars are something that secures him, sustains him. It’s about family, work, sport, activities… All those things that feel good“, Points out Christelle Pot.

And if in the family the links are broken, the individual does not have an interesting job, nor does he have a satisfactory emotional and sexual life, then he can resort to the pornographic image. . He will have the impression that the only access to pleasure will be this one, a pleasure which is not only visual, but often also associated with masturbation. This pleasure will satisfy the brain, via the neurotransmitter that is serotonin as well as other satisfaction hormones, and the individual may gradually become dependent.

«It’s a loss of freedom, addiction!“, Insists Christelle Pot. This dependence is therefore an alienation, which will lead the person to isolate himself more and more, and no longer invest in the other spheres of his life.

Pornography addiction can be cured within, in particular, CSAPAs, centers for treatment, support and prevention in addiction. “In our unit for the care of perpetrators of sexual violence, we would also like to be able to act at the level of prevention, but we already have so much to do, we are still hands in dirty: we have to deal with all the existing problems.“, Specifies Christelle Pot. Because she says it: viewing such images, especially among the youngest, can be the breeding ground for future perpetrators of sexual violence.

A practice, in some families, called incestual viewing, leads parents to watch pornographic films on television together on Saturday evenings. Children see pictures they shouldn’t see when they are young. “You have to keep in mind the question of the break-in that the content has on minors, young children, the trauma that this represents“, Indicates Christelle Pot.

Educating children begins with educating parents. The psychiatrist Serge Tisseron has also established the rule of 3, 6, 9, 12 for the use of screens and tablets. A child under three should therefore never be put in front of a screen.

At present, the legislation on pornography is still in its infancy, although the political authorities are aware of the problem. Child pornography is obviously already completely prohibited: the dissemination and possession of child pornography are firmly punished by law.

«Adult images are shot by porn professionals. It’s their job, I don’t know how they can do it, but they manage to free their filmed sex act from any affective aspect.“, Suggests Christelle Pot.

The most fragile people, the most prone to becoming addicted to pornography, are those whose quality of emotional bond is poor. “Unfortunately, there are children who are not considered more than a washing machine.“, Deplores Christelle Pot. However, it takes a supporting link to build a person. “A child is an emotion, a heart, a body, a spirit. He must be loved, and feel that he is lovable“, Adds this nurse specializing in psychiatry.

If he lacks the fundamentals, the child will become a being with a poor social and interior life. The addiction to pornography will be able, then, in the adult that he will have become, to fill a sexual, emotional lack… A lack of everything! Pornography will first increase people’s excitement, then frustrate them, make them sad and leave them feeling empty.

«The family is the pressure cooker that must cultivate being, and being, to become fulfilled, needs love above all.“, Finally considers Christelle Pot. She who calls to cultivate, above all, in the child and in the little being that he already is, “his internal flower” …