ST. FRANCIS — Dr. Peter Kleponis, a Catholic licensed clinical therapist and assistant director of Comprehensive Counseling Services in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, has developed a seven-point plan of recovery for those addicted to pornography. In explaining the plan on his website www.peterkleponis.com, he notes it is “not a seven-step plan because each point is of equal importance.”

An archdiocesan initiative aims to help people free themselves from use and addiction to pornography.

An archdiocesan initiative aims to help people free themselves from use and addiction to pornography.

He continues, “The first step in recovery is asking for help. This is done by finding a qualified therapist who can work with you to develop an effective recovery program.”

• Self-knowledge and commitment: Every day admitting to yourself that you have a problem and that you are responsible for getting help. Being committed to doing whatever it takes to recover.

• Purifying your environment: Getting rid of all pornography and anything that reminds you of it. This includes destroying magazines, videotapes and DVDs, blocking sexual internet sites, avoiding certain businesses or parts of town, and even ending unhealthy relationships.

• Support and accountability: Anyone who has been successful in recovery knows you cannot do it alone. There are no “Lone Rangers” in recovery. You need other men who can support you in recovery as well as make you accountable for your actions. Twelve step groups, such as Sexaholics Anonymous, and Catholic men’s groups, like The Kings Men, are needed for support and accountability.

• Counseling: This is needed to get to the root cause of pornography use. Often issues like shame, loneliness, anger, childhood abuse and abandonment, and pure selfishness are the root causes of pornography use.

These emotional conflicts need to be resolved for recovery to be lasting. Without this, any sobriety will be a “white knuckle” sobriety, and there will always be a struggle with strong temptations to use pornography.

Counseling is also needed to ensure that all other points of the recovery plan are in place and working properly. For married men, marital counseling is needed to heal the deep wounds to their marriage caused by porn use. Wives may also need counseling to help them recover from the trauma caused by their husband’s pornography use.

Spiritual plan: Anyone who has been successful in recovery also knows that a strong relationship with our Lord is necessary. This includes daily prayer, spiritual reading, the sacraments and even working with a priest in spiritual direction.

A healthy spiritual life can help reduce selfishness, loneliness, anger and fear. It can also help strengthen confidence and raise self-esteem. In addition, it can help heal deep emotional wounds. Daily walking with the Lord can make recovery a lot easier.

Education: You need to educate yourself on the dangers of pornography, its addictiveness, and what it does to relationships. You then need to share this knowledge with others. It becomes increasingly difficult to fall into using porn when you know the truth about it. In recovery, several books are recommended to educate men, and their wives, on the truth about pornography.

• Virtue: This is unique to this recovery plan. By working every day to grow in virtue, men find it easier to avoid pornography. It is said the true measure of manhood lies in virtue. The virtuous man strives to live a life of integrity that avoids all vices, including porn. It can be very difficult to fall into using pornography when a man is striving to grow in chastity, honesty, faithfulness, charity and courage.