So I haven’t blogged in a while, and I probably will have to cut back because I am starting PRACTICUM! What in the world is that? It’s essentially an introduction to an internship (basically the same thing.) By God’s grace, I landed a spot at a group practice with one of my professors from Trevecca. So it’s pretty cool to see what academics do on a clinical level. Eventually, I want to work in private practice, whether individually or in a group practice. I see my first clients next week, and a few friends have asked how I feel.
My response was paradoxical; I’m excited yet somewhat terrified. It’s not terrified where I feel scared, and I don’t feel nervous; it’s more of fearful awe. Think of when the subdeacon says to the congregation to “worship God in fear and trembling.” It’s not an “I’m afraid of God, I’m going to hide” but one of wonder. I also told a friend that most of my clients are older than I am. It felt like I was a middle schooler whose voice cracked from puberty when I introduced myself as a grad intern when I was observing this week. What’s interesting about this practice is that they do general therapy, but my professor/clinical director specializes in sexual addiction. I’ve been reading and learning so much. As you may have seen, I’ve posted about pornography. This topic is where I hope my niche will be because no one talks about it, within the Coptic community AND outside. If you think the not talking about it is a “Coptic problem,” you are gravely mistaken. But why isn’t spoken about?
In pornography, there are 3 A’s when it comes to the factors of not speaking about it. Accessible, affordable, and anonymous. Anyone can access porn anywhere at any time without having to interact with anyone else. With other types of drugs, there’s the action of having a dealer or someone who supplies it. Before the internet, it required going to a store to get magazines or tapes, but now it’s the world wide web. The second is affordable. According to research and statistics, a free porn site uploaded over 1 million HOURS of content just in 2019…that’s 169 years of content. Before, when you would go to these places, you would pay; although, today people still get hooked and can spend thousands of dollars. Lastly, anonymous, or so one might think. We don’t speak about the struggle of using pornography because it occurs in the privacy of people’s homes on personal computers. No one watches or is aware of what a person is doing.
Next post, I’ll talk about the building blocks of sexual addiction. And by the way, you don’t necessarily have to be having sex or masturbating to be a sex addict. Comment below with any comments or questions. If you want to ask privately, head to the contact page.