Santa Clara University

Working with Couples when Pornography is an Issue

CPSY x754

Day	Friday, March 30, 2012
Time	1pm to 5pm
Room	Loyola Hall Room 136
Credit	.4 CEUs / 4 CE Hours
Cost	$95

Description

         50,000,000 Americans view adult pornography every month. This has led to a troubling arena of conflict between porn users and their partners. For example, we see porn use implicated in desire discrepancies; power struggles; religious values conflict; body image issues; and secrecy.
          Many clinicians depend on personal experience, their own values, and psychology’s gender stereotypes and sex-negativity when dealing with these cases. This can lead to interventions we wouldn't consider in similar non-sexual situations - taking sides, pathologizing one partner while legitimizing the other, diagnosing “porn addiction” without sufficient information. This often results in treatment errors and premature termination.          
         Both consumers and clinicians need to develop “pornography literacy.” By promoting pornography literacy, clinicians can support both porn consumers and their partners. I’ll describe clinical strategies for working with cases involving pain around porn use; for example, how and when to assess whether discomfort about a partner’s porn use is actually discomfort about masturbation.         
           We’ll also look at the most common clinical models of how porn use shapes sexual decision-making and an alternative model that better the fits the reality of people’s lives. We’ll find out exactly what are the most common depictions in pornography today.          
           Finally, we’ll discuss how to explore one of the fundamental issues in these cases: To what extent is a couple’s conflict about pornography a way to avoid talking about the deficits in their sexual relationship? When both parties want to avoid this conversation, should we encourage it? If so, how?