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Sexual addiction from a behavioral psychology viewpoint focuses on objectively observable behavior, learning, and habit information. If a sexual behavior or fantasy provides people with pleasure or relief from pain; then, the body learns how the attachments occur. This behavior then tends to occur more frequently and repeated behaviors become a habit. Repeated experiences of association between sexual behaviors and attachments form a type of learning known as conditioning. The process of learning is so deep and automatic at the physical level, that the conditioning is highly difficult to break and extremely powerful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neurological science also has a similar mechanism to behavioral psychology. The nervous system is an essential part of the human body. Sexual addiction is maintained by mood-altering chemicals which stimulate the body. Sexual addicts become neurochemically tolerant to the chemicals that sex produces, such as adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine. For sex addicts, sexual behavior or fantasies becomes the primary way sexual addicts condition their brains to meet their neurological needs. Sexual behavior or sexual fantasy creates an altered state. The brain of sexual addicts craves more and desire to achieve this same state because it becomes less sensitive to pleasure that the addiction creates in the brain. A repeated altered state leads to neurological conditioning. Tolerance develops after becoming desensitized to the chemicals that sexual addiction creates in the brain. If sexual addicts\u2019 brains do not generate enough neurochemicals to achieve the same effect, then the sexual addict will pursue neurological balance through sexual activities or fantasies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is very important for a Christian counselor to consider the neurological condition of sexual addicts in order to help them recover because the brain is the largest sexual organ humans have. If a counselor only evaluates sexual addiction from a psychological or spiritual perspective without considering the neurological perspective, treatment for the sex addict will not be effective. For sexual addict\u2019s recovery, new pathways in the brain must be created because the sexual addict has neurologically conditioned the brain with sexual stimuli. The sexual addict must learn how to stop sexual fantasies and have relational sex. The sexual addict\u2019s sexually and neurologically conditioned brain must be changed and reconditioned by a new healthy life pattern. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Another aspect of the neurological understanding of sexual addiction is that the brain never completely forgets its past learning and conditioning. Even after breaking a sexually addicted habit or reconditioning, the potential for relapse always exists in the sex addict. The new neurological conditioned systems can never obliterate the old systems that have been formed in the brain. As times goes on, addictive behaviors will not be as intense. However, the brain is quick to be reminded of old patterning and conditioning through slight stimulus and momentum because the brain does not forget old patterns. Thus, the recovery of sexual addiction is not a one-time healing but an ongoing process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is the neurological perspective of sexual addiction is important?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sin\u00a0pollutes not only the individual\u2019s spirit\u00a0but also\u00a0his\u00a0body.\u00a0It is easy for\u00a0a\u00a0Christian to downplay the value of the body. Yet, the effect given to\u00a0the\u00a0body also must be considered very important\u00a0in order\u00a0to understand sexual addiction because humans consist of\u00a0both\u00a0body\u00a0and\u00a0spirit\u00a0or soul. The Bible does not see body and soul\u00a0as\u00a0separate from one another.\u00a0Humans are unified beings.\u00a0A\u00a0spiritual nature is not completely independent from the body.\u00a0In the Old Testament, the most frequent word is\u00a0basar<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cflesh\u201d), which\u00a0refers to\u00a0the body as a whole.\u00a0A\u00a0human being\u2019s bodily nature indicates not only\u00a0one\u2019s\u00a0mortality with physical needs,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u00a0also provides the\u00a0plane of attack\u00a0for\u00a0sin. In the New Testament, the body is not only mortal,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u00a0also\u00a0serves as\u00a0the place of proper worship and\u00a0the temple of the Holy Spirit. A\u00a0Romans 12:1 says, \u201cI urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.\u201d\u00a0A\u00a0divine soul\u00a0is not liberated\u00a0from the body but\u00a0offers\u00a0the body in service\u00a0to\u00a0God.\u00a0The Apostle\u00a0Paul\u00a0also\u00a0argues that\u00a0the\u00a0inner life is as important as\u00a0the\u00a0outer life,\u00a0and both are related to each other.\u00a0Thus, sexual\u00a0addiction\u00a0rules the body as well as the heart.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you enjoy this blog? We think you’ll like the other blogs in this series, too!<\/em> Be sure you check out what Dr. Lee has to say about the psychological <\/a>and spiritual <\/a>perspectives on sexual addiction<\/em> in his other posts.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reference <\/p>\n\n\n\n Erickson, M. J. (2013). Christian theology<\/em> (3rd ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Struthers, W. M. (2009). Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain<\/em>. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Growth of the Internet makes it easy for surfers to access hundreds of thousands of pornography web sites, which are now the main source of pornographic materials in the world. As pornography found in the Internet is almost impossible to avoid, problems with pornography among people are rapidly growing and becoming increasingly severe. As a result, the number of people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,125,152,144,142],"tags":[12,25,19],"class_list":["post-999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-cshb-faculty","category-dr-jong-cheon-lee","category-research","category-science-and-christianity","tag-cbu-faculty","tag-psychology","tag-science-and-christianity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=999"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1271,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999\/revisions\/1271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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