Therapy-space Cambridge Counselling & Psychotherapy with Duncan E. Stafford

Cybersexual and pornography addiction

I offer help to those who suffer with issues around porn, sex and cybersex addiction (online throughout the UK and Europe via video chat like FaceTime, What'sApp and Skype* or telephone) whether as a user, partner, family member or in some other way. Read on for further details of my services; alternatively, you can visit my relationship and sexual issues website or the Porn Recovery UK blog for other information that might help users, partners, family members or therapists.

Engaging in cybersexual and cyber-relational activities might seem exciting when you first become a user, as do telephone chatlines. These forms of communication and entertainment allow you to develop whole new personalities depending on your mood and desire. You can be taller, smaller, thinner, more muscular, blonder, darker … Your online/phone hours seem like an escape from your real life – which might feel lonely, depressing and full of anxieties, or marked by marital discord, work-related stress or financial problems. However, rather than being a genuine escape from these difficulties, chatrooms, porn and chatlines tend to mask your real-life problems.

You might already have noticed for yourself, or had it pointed out to you by someone else, that you seem preoccupied with the Internet. Perhaps you have noticed that if you try to cut down your use of the Internet or chatlines you feel:

• moody
  
• depressed
  
• irritable, or
  
• weak-willed.

The very thing you were using to escape the realities of your life might now have become one of your biggest problems. Perhaps you have found that if a loved one challenges you about the time you spend on the Internet you become:

• defensive
  
• angry, or
  
• begin to hide your usage.

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If you would like help you can email me confidentially.

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Useful publication