Ep.6 - Overcoming Porn Addiction with Joshua Shea

Let's Stay Faithful

Let's Talk About Porn Addiction
In today's episode I dive deep into the porn crisis that our society is facing today, as kids younger and younger are getting brought into this industry. Joshua talks all about why it's happening and what we can do as parents, and a society to help. This is something I personally used to battle with and have personal experience in. I don't think that it get talked about enough in today's day and age. Let's fight against society and talk about it, rather then hiding it in the closet.
About Joshua Shea
Joshua Shea is the father of two amazing children and the husband to a wonderful wife. He and his family have a menagerie of cats and dogs and reside in Central Maine, where he was born and raised.
Today he works as an author and public speaker, sharing his story and educating others about addiction. Each of his books are available for purchase on Amazon and can be found under the ‘Get Help’ tab on the main menu of paddictrecovery.com.
Joshua believes that if we, as a society, can begin to talk more about pornography addiction and mental health, people may be able to address their addictions before they devolve to the unhealthy and criminal places where his very own hit rock bottom.
For years, on the outside, people only saw him as a successful magazine publisher, film festival founder and city councilor. Joshua hid his mental health issues, pornography and alcohol addictions from the world. The end to this façade came in 2013 after engaging a teen girl in an online chatroom. For this action he served six months in jail and credits this experience to being the wake up call needed. Joshua credits his higher-power for giving him the strength to fix his very broken self.
Like most in recovery, Joshua understands the issues better than the non-addict. However he does not wish his stories, experiences, thoughts and opinions be misinterpreted as any definitive answers. Does he consider himself a pornography addiction expert? At this point, yes. Unfortunately, it’s not hard to be a pornography addiction expert these days. He does believe that what makes him an expert is that he has a multitude of third-hand knowledge from research and interactions with so many pornography addicts.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
- Pornography Addict for 25 years; Alcohol Addict for 21 years
- In Recovery and Relapse-Free since March 2014
- Alcohol Rehabilitation at Spencer Recovery Center, Palm Springs, Calif., March-June 2014 (including internship and group facilitation)
- Sex/Porn Addiction Rehabilitation at Sante Center for Healing, Argyle, Texas, May-July 2015
- Author, The Addiction Nobody Will Talk About: How I Let My Pornography Addiction Hurt People and Destroy Relationships
- Co-Author, He’s a Porn Addict…Now What? An Expert and a Former Addict Answer Your Questions
- Contributor of Sex/Porn Addiction Recovery Articles for TheFix.com and Recovery Today magazine
- Public Speaker on the Subject of Pornography Addiction
- Certified Betrayal Trauma Coach – Certification through The PBT Institute, New York
- Presenter at 4th International Conference on Addiction Research and Therapy, October 2020
- TEDx Talk Speaker, December 2020, “The Twisted Tentacles of Porn Addiction"
- Certified Life Coach through KEW Training Academy – Accredited by CTAA