CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The co-founder of a pornography addiction recovery program said that a recent Cambridge study showing identical brain activity in addicts to pornography, drugs and alcohol is \u201cspot on.\u201d<\/p>\n\tAccording to The Sunday Times of Sept. 22, neuropsychiatrists at Cambridge found that the portion of the brain stimulated in drug and alcohol addicts lights up in the same way as it does for porn addicts viewing explicit materials. The brains of those who are not in the habit of using porn did not react in the same manner to the same materials.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat kind of brain research is spot-on, and there have been a number of different approaches and studies that have said the same thing,\u201d said Bruce Hannemann, co-founder of Elizabeth Ministry International and its program Reclaim Sexual Health.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt doesn't surprise me at all that more and more, people are finding out that there are patterns of addictions that are similar across the board,\u201d he told CNA Sept. 25.<\/p>\n
\tHannemann, a retired chemistry professor, said that \u201cwhatever you have as a thought in your mind, actually changes the chemistry of your brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tReclaim Sexual Health is an online recovery program that helps those addicted to, or in the habit of, unhealthy sexual behaviors. It utilizes the neuroscience of addiction to allow users to 're-program' the chemical pathways in the brain which result in, and subsequently foster, sexual addictions.<\/p>\n
\tThe program is based on the knowledge that \u201cthe brain truly changes with every thought that we have,\u201d and was developed by a team which included neuroscientists, therapists, neuropsychologists, cognitive- behavioral scientists, and professional trainers.<\/p>\n
\tHannemann likened Reclaim to a \u201cgym\u201d for the brain, as it is a series of exercises which is meant to \u201cre-train, re-wire your thought processes.\u201d The exercises help people to \u201cunlearn that (poor) habit, and how to re-learn healthy habits, in terms of their sexuality and relationships with other people; it's really a very comprehensive exercise program, and it has to be worked as an exercise program.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt all fits the pattern of what we would expect to have happen in human anthropology,\u201d Hannemann explained, and indeed the pattern of breaking a vice by educating one's self about the good and habitually acting towards that good \u2013 developing the corresponding virtue \u2013 fits the description of vice and virtue described by Aristotle more than 300 years prior to Christ.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt's our choice to put our brain cells to use to follow our old habits, or to wire them into new behaviors and habits, and really re-learn our lifestyle,\u201d said Hannemann.<\/p>\n
\tHe said the mind \u201cis really capable of telling the brain what to tell your body to do,\u201d but that in the case of addictions, \u201cyour brain has become so habituated \u2026 that it starts to function on such an automatic level that you kind of take your mind out of the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhen a pornography addict is presented with explicit materials, chemical signals from the senses \u201cgo directly to the brain's pleasure center and call up dopamine \u2026 without being processed by the mind any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tReclaim's exercises are meant to re-train the brain so that the physical reaction to seeing provocative material will no longer be something that happens in the person, but can come under the person's control and be a personal act \u2013 a chosen act that can be controlled, rather than an automatic something-that-happens.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt doesn't matter how hopelessly involved someone is with porn, and masturbation: if they start practicing putting their mind into the proper decisions and context, the brain chemistry will follow, because the mind controls the brain \u2013 you habituate yourself to a holy lifestyle,\u201d Hannemann said.<\/p>\n
\tReclaim is a Catholic re-brand of another secular program, which was requested by Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay. Hannemann related that shortly after Bishop Ricken's appointment to Green Bay in 2008, he called the Elizabeth Ministry into his office and directed them to develop programs to deal with human sexuality and to start with pornography, as it as one of the biggest detriments to family life.<\/p>\n
\tWhen Reclaim was launched in May 2012, Bishop Ricken sent letters to his fellow American bishops \u201ctelling them about this program and endorsing it; he's been a very strong backer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHannemann described Bishop Ricken as \u201ca man of action. He doesn't like to sit around, he likes to get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe program of exercises, which is recommended to be followed for at least six months, includes video training, a calendar to track progress, a forum, an online journal, assessments, and a personal trainer, all of which are used anonymously. The program is $49 a month, but if users commit to staying for six months and pay up-front, they are given a discount worth one month's use.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn terms of what we've seen out there in healthy and unhealthy behaviors, we know this is working, really making a difference in people's lives,\u201d Hannemann said. \u201cIf they follow the prescription, the program, and make the necessary changes, it will change their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe recommended using the program in concert with prayer and the Sacraments, but stressed that if people use only prayer and the Sacraments, if they are in the state of a sexual addiction, they will often be unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat's why were so excited about this \u2013 we have one more thing we can give them, some tools to work on the biology and biochemistry, as well as the theology, and that's where the real success lies, I think. We have a real integrated approach here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPornography addiction is not only a problem among adults, Hannemann noted, an observation that has been made increasingly by scholars and other authorities as well.<\/p>\n
\tThe British government intends to filter pornography off of internet connections by default, to \u201cprotect our children and their innocence,\u201d prime minister David Cameron said in July.<\/p>\n
\tAnd a Sept. 25 report by the Daily Mail records the shock of a former soft core pornography magazine editor at finding how much, and how graphic, pornography 13 and 14 year-old children have been exposed to through the internet.<\/p>\n
\tHannemann said that Reclaim has received many requests for help from youth \u2013 children in middle school and high school \u2013 who realize they need help with a burgeoning addiction to pornography.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThey're begging us for help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe noted that Reclaim hopes to develop a program \u201cthat would be available for teens, that would be completely free to them, anonymous, that they could work on doing the brain chemistry and changing their behaviors, but not have to spend the money they don't have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat's our biggest project right now,\u201d he said, and Reclaim is currently trying to raise funds to produce such a program for teens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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