Recently, there was some truly troubling news out of New Jersey. A man was arrested and charged with two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child after it was discovered that content from his live-streaming porn service involved children. To put that in plain English, the guy was putting 14-year-olds in webcam shows, and people – potentially lots of people – were paying to watch.

The exploitation of children in pornography is appalling, and because of his actions, this man is now at the mercy of the law. But right now, my concerns are for the kids involved in these shows and the people paying to watch them.

I've written before about how damaging the porn industry can be to young women. It's terrible enough when the “just-turned-18” crowd is targeted by filmmakers. Young women can sometimes be purposefully misled or coerced into scenes they don't want to do. To then go even further by involving children, who cannot possibly be emotionally mature enough to consent to what they're doing is behavior that indicates a problem of escalation.

Seeking A Bigger High

If everyone was universally turned off by children in porn, then there wouldn't be an audience for it. It wouldn't sell. With no demand, porn producers would never stoop to that level and the problem would solve itself. Yet sadly, here we are, with stories like this one popping up in the news far too frequently.

There are many psychological issues that might cause someone to be sexually attracted to children, but the one I see most often in my work with porn addicts is addiction escalation. An addict might have begun with regular male/female scenes, but after a while, he realized he wasn't getting quite the same rush as he used to. He needs something riskier.

Some people in need of sex addiction therapy progress into more violent territory. They may seek out increasingly darker S&M videos, or videos appearing to picture assault. Indeed, the man arrested for child endangerment had apparently also offered to pay for raw video footage of a woman being sexually assaulted. Again, he would only be willing to purchase that footage if there was an audience willing to pay for it. Unfortunately, there is.

In the quest to seek out more and more forbidden content, many porn addicts in need of sex addiction therapy might begin turning toward the unthinkable; and that's how we end up with an audience looking to pay to watch children in sexual situations.

Addicts Are Wounded People

Happy, well-adjusted people who had terrific childhoods and who have excellent self-esteem would never stray into territory like this. Kids who were loved and nurtured don't suddenly “degrade.” Instead, this escalating behavior comes from addicts who are still trying to cope with emotional wounds sustained in their own childhoods.

As a result of the abuse or trauma they experienced when they were younger, they have developed a self-soothing mechanism that involves sex or porn. The problem is that when the stresses of adult life keep coming, and the old habits aren't helping anymore, the addict will feel the need to step up their involvement with the addiction. This is how we end up with people compulsively acting out sexually and watching exploitative or violent videos.

You Can Still Stop This

I am a sex addiction therapist that works with men all the time who have gotten to their “rock bottom” moment. Many of the men I speak to are startled by their own behavior, fearing that they no longer have control over what they watch, regardless of how the videos may be hurting others.

I am here to tell you that there is hope. You always have a choice. You can always come back, no matter how far down you've been dragged by your addiction. Together, we can bring you to the realization that your addiction isn't at the steering wheel. You are, and you always have been.

I urge all my clients to view stories like this as a wake-up call. If you're ready to stop this addiction before it progresses any further, reach out to Neulia Compulsion Solutions for sex addiction therapy. Help is all around you.