Net program helps porn addicts

Mark Kastleman's story is an old one, with a modern twist. He became an addict in his youth. He was 14 the first time he found his drug of choice, and he was immediately hooked.

There was nothing that gave him the kind of high he got from it, nor the relief from anxiety like those hours of escape and euphoria. It was a seemingly endless cycle of highs, followed by guilt and shame and thoughts of suicide, followed by repeated, and ultimately failed, attempts to quit.

His drug of choice was cheap, readily available and came with easy anonymity.

Cocaine? Heroin? Alcohol? It was none of those.

It was pornography, which produces a drug of its own in the brain.

Kastleman wrestled with his addiction for 20 years before he was able to break its stranglehold. He was so moved and altered by his experience that in 1997, at age 38, he made a career change, from corporate training to author, researcher and "recovery coach" in the field of pornography.

"When I discovered the truth about this, I thought everyone needs to know about it," he says. "It brought me such hope and broke me out of that dark place."

Kastleman, author of "The Drug of a New Millennium — the Brain Science Behind Internet Pornography Use," says that the only real way to beat the addiction is to rewire the brain through a prescribed method of therapy. For the past 12 years, he has been part of clinical efforts that applied that method. The problem was they couldn't keep pace with the skyrocketing problem of pornography, which has soared with the proliferation of the Internet.

"We're to the point now where face-to-face therapy is next to impossible," he says. "Our clinicians have a four- to five-month waiting list. Addiction rates are skyrocketing because of the Internet. Some have said it's as high as 10 to 15 percent of the population. I think it's much higher."

So, beginning last February, Kastleman and a group of investors and clinicians turned to the Internet, of all things, to meet the growing demand for therapy. They started a company called Candeo (Greek for "light" or "illumination"), which provides therapy via the Internet. The irony is not lost on them.

"We're fighting fire with fire," Candeo president Don Thomason says. "Some would say it's like curing an alcoholic in a bar. Our method is facing that and addressing it. A lot of counselors and clergy say that if you have a problem, stop using Internet. That's impossible today. Pornography has used technology to take addiction rates to new heights; we are using the same technology to fight it. It's anonymous, effective and affordable."