Mark Kastleman's story is an old one, with a modern twist. He became an addict in his youth. He was 14 the first time he found his drug of choice, and he was immediately hooked.There was nothing that gave him the kind of high he got from it, nor the relief from anxiety like those hours of escape and euphoria. It was a seemingly endless cycle of highs, followed by guilt and shame and thoughts of suicide, followed by repeated, and ultimately failed, attempts to quit.His drug of choice was cheap, readily available and came with easy anonymity.Cocaine? Heroin? Alcohol? It was none of those.It was pornography, which produces a drug of its own in the brain.Kastleman wrestled with his addiction for 20 years before he was able to break its stranglehold. He was so moved and altered by his experience that in 1997, at age 38, he made a career change, from corporate training to author, researcher and "recovery coach" in the field of pornography."When I discovered the truth about this, I thought everyone needs to know about it," he says. "It brought me such hope and broke me out of that dark place."Kastleman, author of "The Drug of a New Millennium — the Brain Science Behind Internet Pornography Use," says that the only real way to beat the addiction is to rewire the brain through a prescribed method of therapy. For the past 12 years, he has been part of clinical efforts that applied that method. The problem was they couldn't keep pace with the skyrocketing problem of pornography, which has soared with the proliferation of the Internet."We're to the point now where face-to-face therapy is next to impossible," he says. "Our clinicians have a four- to five-month waiting list. Addiction rates are skyrocketing because of the Internet. Some have said it's as high as 10 to 15 percent of the population. I think it's much higher."So, beginning last February, Kastleman and a group of investors and clinicians turned to the Internet, of all things, to meet the growing demand for therapy. They started a company called Candeo (Greek for "light" or "illumination"), which provides therapy via the Internet. The irony is not lost on them."We're fighting fire with fire," Candeo president Don Thomason says. "Some would say it's like curing an alcoholic in a bar. Our method is facing that and addressing it. A lot of counselors and clergy say that if you have a problem, stop using Internet. That's impossible today. Pornography has used technology to take addiction rates to new heights; we are using the same technology to fight it. It's anonymous, effective and affordable."The company includes co-founders Dr. Randy Hyde, the primary clinical psychologist on staff who has overseen this type of therapy at his own clinic in Provo for 12 years, and Dr. Bernell Christiansen, who deals with the same problems as a licensed marriage and family therapist in Draper.The first thing Kastleman and his cohorts want people to understand is that porn addiction is an illness and an addiction, like alcohol and drugs. The viewing of pornographic materials releases neurochemicals in the brain, among them dopamine, which provides euphoria or a high."It's a chemical addiction," Kastleman says. "The brain science absolutely proves it. It's close to street drug use. It's often compared to cocaine. There's a chemical response in the brain that's similar to the use of those drugs. The primary chemical that viewing porn releases is dopamine. It provides immense pleasure."People need to understand that they are not bad people, and they need to understand what's happening in their brains. MRIs show that the brain chemistry and wiring in the brain is changed. The pleasure center of brain takes over and the frontal lobes — or the logic part of your brain — begins to check out. Dr. Hyde has treated people who are addicted to coke and porn, and he says pornography was more difficult to break."As an example, he notes the reports of actor David Duchovny's recent stay at a rehab clinic for treatment of sex addiction — this despite his marriage to actress Tea Leoni. Duchovny has freely discussed his love of pornography in interviews."People say, 'Why would he turn to pornography; he's married to a beautiful woman,"' says Kastleman. "It's because it's chemical; it's not about how attractive a woman is."It doesn't make matters easier that society is filled with sexual stimulus everywhere, whether it's the swimsuit section that's a regular feature of the Sports Illustrated Web site or television or movies or the magazine and video racks at the store."That's the great challenge," says Kastleman. "Imagine a coke addict walking around and his drug is everywhere. Plus, we're genetically designed to be attracted to that drug in the first place."Not to mention the challenges of the Internet. It once took effort and the risk of embarrassment to find pornography; now it's available with the press of a button on the keyboard in the privacy of a room."If you want to be an instant millionaire, set up a porn site," says Thomason. "It's a $100 billion industry."While the study of Internet pornography and its effects is relatively new and still being understood, many believe it leads to criminal behavior and drug use. "Police tell us that when they make a drug bust, porn is present," says Thomason. The addict becomes less productive in his work and more detached as a parent and husband. He wastes hours of time on the computer. Because the viewing of pornography is solitary, it isolates people; relationships begin to break down and marriages founder. Women frequently complain to counselors that they feel like they no longer know their husband and that he is chronically angry and depressed."It starts with curiosity, then it becomes a pleasure outlet," says Kastleman. They turn to it when they're bored or burned out, lonely, angry, stressed or tired. They turn on the computer and it releases this tidal wave of neuro chemicals. If they're using that to deal with the stresses of life, it becomes a crutch, and then they don't have the skills to deal with stress in a healthy way."One of the primary focuses of the Candeo program is to rewire the brain, not merely require the addict to attempt to suppress his desire for pornography. Kastleman himself knows that difference. He suppressed his desire for pornography for more than two years to serve a mission for his church. But after he returned home, the pressures of marriage, working a full-time job around school and a church calling, and his wife's pregnancy proved overwhelming."I felt myself going back to the drug I had relied on as a teenager," he says. "I got to a place where I was so helpless that I contemplated suicide. I had tried everything."He was finally introduced to a form of therapy that was the rudimentary precursor to the program that Candeo implements today."Without getting too technical, it's a special form of cognitive behavioral therapy that can literally rewire the addict's brain and change brain chemistry so that the individual no longer seeks porn as a drug of choice," Kastleman explains.Candeo has introduced its program, which lasts six to eight weeks, with a yearlong follow-up protocol, to various church denominations, therapists, clinics, state government and the National Guard."Everyone talks about the need for awareness," Thomason says. "The next step is, OK, now we know about it, what do we do?"
- Candeo calls its training Six Weeks to Freedom and divides it into four parts — discovery, transformation, connection and enjoyment.Those four parts are:Discovery: After identifying the power that comes from the individual's personal motives, students create a "dream board" to determine what they would like their lives to be. Students address how they got where they are and are taught about the obsessive-compulsive cycle.
- Transformation: Students are taught to break the obsessive-compulsive cycle with a "face-it-replace-it-connect" concept. They are also taught how to deal with setbacks.
- Connection: Students are introduced to the concept of "sacred sexuality" and taught to re-label "making love" to "expressing full commitment." They are also taught to view women in healthy ways.
- Enjoyment: Students are taught about the brain's "simple addiction" to the neurochemicals released by pornography use and how to interrupt the triggers that cause the brain to seek pornography. Students are also taught to bring simple, healthy pleasure back into their lives.
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