Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences

Open Access
UGC CARE (Group 1)
  • Year: 2018
  • Volume: 9
  • Issue: 2

Pornography as a replacement for substance use: an emerging approach to understand addiction mechanism

1Clinical Psychologist, Department of Clinical Psychology, SHUT Clinic (Service for Healthy Use of Technology), National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

2Additional Professor of Clinical Psychology, SHUT Clinic (Service for Healthy Use of Technology), National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

*Correspondence Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, Additional Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, SHUT Clinic (Service for Healthy Use of Technology), National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru-560029, Karnataka, India. shutclinic@gmail.com

Online published on 18 July, 2018.

Abstract

Substituting addiction, using one substance instead of another has been an important area of research in recovery and relapse prevention studies on substance dependence. Mostly studies have studied this phenomenon in relation to alcohol and drugs use substituting each other. However there is a dearth of research on emergence of pornography use as a substitute for substance dependence. The case was analyzed using clinical interview and tools were administered for evaluation and understanding the pattern of technology use. The case shows the emergence of pornography as a substitute for substance abuse. The case study highlights the replacement of substance use with pornography, a new and emerging field in the area of addiction research.

Keywords

Drug Substitution. Recovery. Relapse Prevention. Technology