Porn can't take away the viewer's real life problems, but it can become one of them.

Everyone needs some sort of help to make it in life - even our tzaddikim and gedolim admit that they do. But...

I keep hearing people asking in one way or another, "So how can I finally convince myself that I am really powerless/that I am an addict?"

Gevalt.

I do not believe that is how the 12 Steps work. The recovering people I know (myself insluded) do not treat the Program as though it were a 'religion.' We do not believe that it needs to be spread everywhere in order to save everyone who likes sex or porn. We have nothing to say to people who obviously like porn (because they keep using it) but are trying to stop mainly because G-d says it's bad. That's fine, but it is a moral and a religious issue. My addicted friends and I have come to see that if morals and religion were really our true motivation, we would have quit long ago, before we came to 12 steps program! So we do not fool ourselves any more telling ourselves we are in some epic "Torah-struggle for our neshomos."

Along the same lines, unlike Torah, the Program is just our experience, not dogma. And the experience of sober addicts using the 12 steps is also that it is silly for us to try to preach or to convince anyone to do as we do; we can only share and offer (see Tradition 11). This includes not "trying to convince" ourselves, either. And that's important, as I will try to explain in the next paragraph, be"H. Rather than seeing the steps as things we "take," we find that we are really overtaken by them. For they are just natural necessities created by our reality as addicts who are living sober. And the very best example of that is Step 1. It's a thing we are either forced to take by the reality of our lives now, or we generally do not take it at all.

If my perception and my experience are right, this means that Step 1 is just admission of a fact about ourselves rather than an instruction or imperative to me or to anyone. If I am an addict, then acceptance of that is not a thing I need to 'work' on - for I have been working on it all the years I was acting out my lust! The sincere mesiras nefesh with which I held onto and protected my acting out for years and years is not a philosophy, but a fact. Anyone, who knows my entire sexual acting out history and what I do when I act out my lust in its details, can see that lust has always been precious to me and trusted by me in my worst of times, over Hashem and all else. So if I am an addict, the powerlessness is already there for anyone to behold. In this respect, the 1st step is really the simplest step. All the groundwork of Step 1 was already done before we came to recovery. Our contribution to the 12 steps is our addiction behaviors, and all that "taking our 1st Step" really means is finally admitting defeat. The truth about ourselves - though uncomfortable - is OK to face and admit. Hashem knows it. So in Step 1 we are just getting on the same page as the Ribbono shel Olam who knows us quite well, I am sure.

So in light of all that, I ask: if one's own honesty does not prove to him or her that he is indeed ill and needs special care - care that normal drinkers/lusters/sinners clearly do not need - then why should that person be desperate to be 'convinced' of being an addict or working the steps? Why are some people desperate for a thing they do not even believe about themselves? Where is there a mitzva to be an addict?! Of course, it does not exist. Addiction and recovery from it are for sinners who are addicts, not for sinners who are normal. Torah, mussar, and chassidus have lots of good advice for sinners who are not addicts. Let them use it!

So, are you normal? If you cannot figure that out, then get help from a person who can help you do so. 12 step people have ways to help you discover that. But our ways come at the price of honesty and openness which few are willing to actually do. The people not really serious about their lives do not even open up to a therapist - and if they do, they do not really disclose the entire truth! In fact, as we see so often, usually they are only willing to get help behind a username or from a book. Dignity is still just too important to them.

Please daven for Refuah Shleimah and Kroivo Lovoi for Dovid Chaim Ben Chaya Ita

Dear Rabbi Twerski,

My wife found out I was viewing pictures and she was very offended, and rightfully so. It almost ruined our marriage! However, since she found out and I admitted everything to her, literally everything, she suggested I get help. She thinks I have an addiction. She could be right, I am not sure. I think I'm a normal guy and I have the same challenges as other guys. I don't know how to classify an addiction. Do I need professional help with counseling and group therapy? Or am I just a normal guy with a high libido?

Do you have a problem with obsessive and compulsive porn use? Have you seriously tried the tools on GYE and feel that you are not getting better? Maybe it’s time to consider joining a 12-Step program.

Porn Anonymous (PA)
If you’re compulsively acting-out with pornography and masturbation we suggest you explore joining Porn Anonymous (PA). If you need help deciding whether to join PA, call Michael at 347-699-2368, or email help@pornanonymous.org to schedule a time to talk. For more information visit pornanonymous.org (Hebrew: p-a.org.il / Yiddish: pa-yid.org).

Sexaholics Anonymous (SA)
If your compulsive acting-out has progressed beyond the screen (with other people, paid sexual services, etc.) we suggest you explore joining Sexaholics Anonymous (SA). To figure out if SA is for you, call Dov at 917-414-8205, or email Dov at dov@guardyoureyes.org to schedule a time to talk. For more information visit www.sa.org.