Interior Integration for Catholics

Our guest, Dr. Gerry Crete discusses with Dr. Peter the hidden, subtle, but powerful reasons why Catholic use porn, even when they don't want to. Join us as we discuss what pornography means to some parts of those who use it, leading to internal conflicts. We also discuss how to get over the use of porn, the first steps.

Show Notes

  1. Intro: Welcome to the podcast Interior Integration for Catholics 
    1. Interior Integration for Catholics brings to you in each episode the best psychological information essential for your human formation, knowledge that is fundamental in shoring up the natural foundation for your Catholic spiritual life.  
    2. In this podcast, we confront the tough questions we Catholics have in our day-to-day lives, we confront head on our struggles in the natural realm, the psychological difficulties that keep us from fully loving our Lord and our Lady in a deep, personal, intimate way. 
    3. And we deal with these difficult, demanding issues for one primary reason: to free you to love God our Father, Jesus our Brother, the Holy Spirit and Our Mother Mary more and more over time.  
    4. This podcast helps you focus inward on your interior integration -- to help you bring together the different parts of yourself into unity and harmony with God.
    5. 'Together, we are on a journey toward deep transformation in our mindsets, our heartsets and our bodysets, a radical transformation at the core of our being so that our souls can one day enter into contemplative union with God. 
    6. I’m clinical psychologist Peter Malinoski and I am here with you, to be your host and guide.  
    7. This podcast is part of Souls and Hearts, our online outreach at soulsandhearts.com, which is all about shoring up our natural foundation for the Catholic spiritual life, all about overcoming psychological obstacles to being loved and to loving God and neighbor
    8. This is episode 55, released on February 15, 2021
    9. This is the seventh episode in our series on sexuality and the fourth one on masturbation.  
    10. And it is titled: Why Catholics Use Pornography
  2. Practical steps you can take to overcome a pornography problem. These are good but only go so far:
     
    1. Device management
  3.  
    1. Accountability
  4.  
    1. Support Group
  5.  
    1. Therapy
  6.  
  7.  Inner Work: Here we get to the root of the problem and find lasting solutions
     
    1. Recognize that the pornography use has a negative effect on one’s life
       
      1. Marriage and family
    2.  
      1. Career
    3.  
      1. Downtime
    4.  
      1. Relationships
    5.  
      1. Spiritual life
    6.  

    1. Awareness that something must be done and that one needs to commit to change
  9.  
    1. What part of me doesn’t want to change? It’s a “protector”
  10.  
    1. Recognize that the part of you turning to pornography is a protector
  11.  
    1. The protector doesn’t want the system to feel pain
  12.  
    1. At some point the protector learned that pornography is an escape from pain
  13.  
    1. The protector also learned that pornography can meet unmet needs
  14.  
    1. Identify the positive intention of the “pornography” protector
  15.  
    1. Identify what this protector really believes about why pornography is the only answer
  16.  
    1. See this protector (unblend) and recognize his misguided but sincere intention
  17.  
    1. If the protector is protecting an exile (the pain) then promise to attend to the exile
  18.  
    1. Allow him to share with you his real unmet needs
  19.  
    1. Recognize that the fantasy involved in the pornography choices represent a dynamic that seeks to meet the unmet need
       
      1. Safety
    2.  
      1. Attachment injuries
    3.  
      1. Being seen
    4.  
      1. Seeing others
    5.  
      1. Connection
    6.  
      1. Sense of “power” or agency
    7.  
      1. Traumatic re-enactment
    8.  


What is Interior Integration for Catholics?

The mission of this podcast is the formation of your heart in love and for love, Together, we shore up the natural, human foundation for your spiritual formation as a Catholic. St. Thomas Aquinas asserts that without this inner unity, without this interior integration, without ordered self-love, you cannot enter loving union with God, your Blessed Mother, or your neighbor. Informed by Internal Family Systems approaches and grounded firmly in a Catholic understanding of the human person, this podcast brings you the best information, the illuminating stories, and the experiential exercises you need to become more whole in the natural realm. This restored human formation then frees you to better live out the three loves in the two Great Commandments – loving God, your neighbor, and yourself. Check out the Resilient Catholics Community which grew up around this podcast at https://www.soulsandhearts.com/rcc.