I examined the toughest addictions to quit, and found that love was the worst. But recent research has indicated a seriously disturbing addiction that is more commonplace than most people realized: pornography.

Senator Chuck Grassley asked for an investigation of SEC computers. You know the SEC—the Securities and Exchange Commission—the group charged with policing Wall Street to enforce any new financial regulations that are passed?

What may give us pause is that the SEC is the group that was supposed to police all of those derivative instruments and credit default swaps. In fact, the SEC couldn’t catch Bernie Madoff despite being offered explicit road maps to his Ponzi scheme, as Harry Markopolos revealed in his book No One Would Listen. Markopolos believes—surprise!—that all kinds of fraud are going on in the financial industry and that SEC enforcement wouldn’t recognize a crime if they saw a bank being robbed.

But back to the Grassley-inspired investigation, which was conducted by the SEC Inspector General’s office (and what have they been doing up until now?). This vigilant watchdog found over 30 people repeatedly viewing porn on government computers—during the financial meltdown! Seventeen porn viewers were at senior levels of the SEC.

Here are the worst two cases involving senior officials, one a lawyer and the other an accountant:

• The attorney spent up to eight hours a day viewing and downloading pornography. When he ran out of hard drive space, he burned the files to DVDs, which he kept in boxes around his office. This man was promoted to head of the SEC (or is that SEX)—kidding!—he resigned. (Wonder what he’s doing with the free time he now has?)

• The accountant was blocked more than 16,000 times in a month from visiting porn websites, but by diligent application, he still amassed a large collection of porn on his hard drive. This guy is now head of the SEC! Not, but he still works there, after a two-week suspension.

Visualize, if you will, someone trying 16,000 times in a month to outwit blocks to his getting to his one true desire, or someone spending all day at work compulsively lusting over porn. Tell me—is that an addiction? Come on. You know what porn is when you see it. Surely you can detect when something’s addictive. Let’s just hope they don’t put Harry Markopolos in charge of investigating everybody’s computers!

And this porn-seeking behavior is at the top of the addictive pile (remember, these guys then went home to their personal computers). Heroin addicts don’t spend all day and night shooting up. They rest sometimes.

"We had about 80 persons in Pocatello, about double that in Idaho Falls, triple that here in the Rexburg location. People are understanding (that) this is needing to be discussed in an appropriate way," said Craig Kobia, an event organizer.

State Sen. Brent Hill read some alarming statistics: There are 420 million Web pages of porn, and most people first see pornography at age 11. Senator Hill also spoke about his visit to jail, where he asked inmates about what youth need to do to stay out of prison.

"Number 1, stay away from drugs. Number 2, stay away from alcohol. And number 3, stay away from pornography," said Hill.

KIDK’s Steven Pope asked Dr. Donald Hilton, keynote speaker and brain surgeon, about his feelings on pornography.

"It’s a true addiction. In the past we tended to look at porn as a personal behavioral issue. Science now is equalizing what we call natural addictions to gambling, overeating leading to obesity, and sexual addictions as pornography. Really science is now equating that to drug addictions in terms of changes we’re seeing in the brain," said Dr. Hilton.

"I think what that means for us in terms of treatment, is that we must accord pornography addiction the same respect and treatment that we’d would any true drug addiction," said Dr. Hilton.

Easy access to high-speed, wireless Internet that (usually) is unregulated, uncensored, and unmonitored is "the antithesis of what you find in a typical business environment," Leahy writes, adding that college students are going to get a "real shock treatment" when they go to work for employers who have a zero-tolerance policy on porn. "What’s going to happen when these two worlds collide?” he posits.

Cheryl Wetzstein of the Washington Times writes that Leahy founded www.bravehearts.net in 2002 after recovering from a 30-year pornography habit in order to raise awareness about the encroachment of adult materials in American life.

Between 2006 and 2008, Leahy gathered responses from about 26,000 college students and 2,000 college staff who took an online survey about their sexual views and behaviors. He found that 64 percent of males regularly viewed online pornography, as did 18 percent of females.

He also found that a significant minority of respondents (26 percent of men and 18 percent of women) were already struggling to stop their sexual behavior, even when they knew it was "inappropriate."

Some of these troubled men and women will join the estimated 6 percent to 8 percent of the population considered to be full-blown sex addicts, Leahy said. However, a more common scenario will be that men and women will try to hide their pornography habits, both at home and at work.

Working in the computer industry is especially risky for people with porn problems, said Leahy, who was once an IBM executive. Since computer experts "set up all the firewalls and filtering, they know all the back doors," he said. But "they have no accountability — and they have no way to be held accountable—because they know all the tricks."

Leahy recommends that business leaders face the reality that, since the mid-1990s, young people have "been raised on perhaps the most explicit and habit-forming types of pornography known to man."

Having employees sign an Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) that forbids online pornography, exchange of lewd photos and obscene jokes, and storage of adult materials on company equipment is not enough, Leahy said. Rather, employee education and awareness training about Internet pornography and sex addiction will help employees understand warning signs and open the door for conversations about the problem.

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) should include referrals to sex-addiction counselors and 12-step programs, just as they do for substance abuse, Leahy said. For people in recovery, EAPs can help negotiate temporary limits on computer access at work and "accountability partners" who get summary reports on a person’s computer activity.

Leahy warns, "For every employee who surfaces and is exposed as a violator of our sexually related company policies and Internet AUPs, I can assure you that there are 10 others hiding in our hallways and operating under the radar yet to be discovered."

“Finding it was devastating to us. We had no idea, and the things that were coming up on the screen were…we’re not just talking a Playboy picture, we’re talking some horrible sexual figures that came up and some in cartoon form which was really awful to think what age they’re targeting for this,” the boy’s mother told Minnesota’s ABC 6 News.

Internet porn graduated to telephone porn in his case. “We felt like we had conquered the monster,” she explains. “We secured our computer and learned how to watch for it. A year later, when he was 15 we discovered that the phone had a bunch of 800 numbers on it. We had blocks for 900 numbers but his cell phone had 800 numbers. When we got the bill I looked it up and started dialing the numbers and found it was telephone porn,” she says.

“These are very hard core, pornographic pictures that even 8-year-old kids are seeing and it’s getting into their minds,” says Internet Forensic Investigator Darin Finch.

Finch investigates Internet activity on the corporate level and sees the long-term effects this type of addiction can have. “In my position with a couple of different companies, I’ve seen people’s careers end because they couldn’t stop browsing inappropriate things even though they know they’re being watched,” says Finch.

Vicki Tiede is a Christian motivational speaker who counsels countless women on pornography addiction. She has first-hand knowledge because her ex-husband spent a lot of time and money on his addiction to pornography.

“I share my own story having walked through this, having been married to someone before who didn’t struggle with it but who just did it and saw nothing wrong with it. Those who struggle with it actually have hope because they want to be rescued from this pit,” says Tiede. “I was one of those women who was up at two and three in the morning because my husband was on the computer, and thankfully I was pointed to resources and people who could help.”

Finch says, “I think the biggest challenge is how to explain to them how it could affect them later in life. How serious those images are and actions—we’re even talking about movies—how that is adversely affecting their views of women, their view of masculinity and sexuality and what healthy sexuality is versus what they’re seeing on TV or on the Internet.”

“One of the factors that contributes to this is the way we as a society normalize and endorse excessive sexual behavior, as evidenced by, for example, a female client who has a major sexual addiction and goes to see a therapist, and the therapist says that she needs to get in touch with her sexuality!”

She continues, “A male pornography addict whose addiction has had major consequences on his life and his marriage goes with his wife to see a psychiatrist in Pretoria. The psychiatrist says, “Boys will be boys and she needs to accept it and maybe she should consider watching with him. And it’s not a problem and he doesn’t need to stop.”

“Sexual addiction is not just about going out and having as much sex as one can. It manifests in a number of ways. And it does not necessarily have to involve physical sex—it can involve fantasy only,” she explains. “But it is mostly, in my experience, a largely misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and denied problem.”

“Contrary to being able to enjoy sex as an affirming source of pleasure, the sex addict has learned to depend on sex for comfort from pain so it is his or her primary mood regulator in much the same way that the alcoholic relies on alcohol and the drug addict on drugs,” she writes.

“Contrary to love or intimacy, the illness transforms sex into the primary relationship for which all else may be sacrificed including family, partners, friends, health, and work, not necessarily in that order. As life unravels, danger becomes normalized and the addict cycles between despair, shame, and hopelessness.”

She explains that there are a number of characteristics that can suggest sexual addiction, including exhibiting a number of preferred sexual behaviors (some of which may be illegal, including voyeurism and exhibitionism) and acting them out obsessively; acting out on sexual thoughts or behaviors despite negative consequences such as health problems, financial risks, injury, and damaged relationships; attempting to control or curtail sexual behavior to the point of hardship or self-mutilation; spending a lot of time fantasizing; and experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms that parallel those of opiate addicts.

Brodie also notes that there are several factors that can make one more susceptible to developing sexual addiction, including having been sexually abused as a child, being raised in a dysfunctional family, having a history of emotional and physical abuse, and having any type of addiction in the family.

“In terms of pornography,” she writes, “a lot of people, including the professionals, are saying that pornography is OK. My concern is that I believe that addiction in the form of Internet users affect younger people more and more. Access has never been easier and I understand that there is a heavy demand for bestiality, child pornography, and bondage/sado-masochism sites.”

“We are surrounded by ‘soft porn.’ Porn has become increasingly respectable. Is it OK? Are we sure? What about the deeper effects of pornography? Are we prepared to look deeper? Or have we become so used to instant gratification that we do not and cannot go there?” she asks.

She also notes that recognizing the problem is hard for some people because it involves being in reality as opposed to fantasy and pursuing intimacy instead of avoiding it. “It also involves the nurturing and nourishment of real relationship—the coming alive and being present in your body. For me, that is the gift and that is the healing.”

Jim Edwards of Bnet.com writes that Beausejour, now a pastor at Mariemont Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, confessed his problems on his church’s website. “The most obvious problem was my sexual addiction,” he writes. “It started as a teen with magazines and then videos and strip clubs. In 1988 we moved to Sydney, where I was responsible to establish P&G Australia.”

“By 1991, the business had grown by 400%, and I was elected as P&G’s youngest-ever vice-president at 34. I traveled more and more across Asia. In most places, massage parlors were cheaper than an in-room movie here, and when massage parlors weren’t enough, it was a short step to call on a prostitute,” he explains.

In 1996, while on a retreat in Hong Kong, Beausejour discovered a religious calling and vowed to clean up his act. “We are wired to need God and the hole inside us cannot be filled with money, sex, wisdom, power, fame, or anything else! Once I had invited Jesus into my life, the hole in my soul got filled. I have not looked at pornography in 8 years. I have a new life with my kids. God cleaned up my language. Those are His miracles!”

CNBC news aired a TV special that took an unprecedented look inside the $13 billion dollar porn industry. One of the many people interviewed in the show was Michael Leahy, a recovering sex addict and founder and executive director of BraveHearts, a website that helps people who are fighting “for freedom from sexual exploitation and sexual addiction.” Michael is also the author of Porn @ Work, Porn Nation, and Porn University.

Michael wrote a guest blog called “Recognizing a Sex Addict @ Work” for CNBC. In it, he describes running in to an old friend he used to work with at a software company in Atlanta. The friend started telling Michael about an employee who was recently fired after being caught and reprimanded twice in less than a month for looking at porn during work.

The friend said to Michael, “I just don’t get…the guy gets caught by someone who sees him looking at porn in his office. So the IT department checks his computer and discovers he (has) a bunch of porn loaded on his hard drive. He basically almost loses his job over it…Less than a month later, they catch the guy looking at porn again. But this time, he’s used another employee’s computer and logged on with their user name and password. Of course they found out it was him and fired him for it on the spot. What an idiot! I mean, he had to know that he’d get caught. Right? How stupid can you be?”

Michael writes that for most people, this is a logical question to ask. But as a recovering sex addict, Michael realizes that what his friend is really saying is that he doesn’t understand the mind of a sex addict at work.

Michael points out that of 61 million US visitors logged into pornographic web sites in March of 2006, every fifth visitor was from an office work station, and that two-thirds of 474 human resources professionals said they’ve discovered pornography on employee computers. Nearly half of those said they had found such material more than once.

In addition, a 2004 study of 350 companies in the US, the UK, and Australia found that one-third of all workers said they’d been exposed to sexually explicit materials by co-workers. In 2003, employees at the UK Department of Work and Pensions downloaded about 2 million pages of pornographic content. Of these, about 1,800 contained child pornography.

Michael writes that while a conclusive diagnosis for sexual addiction should only be carried out by a mental health professional, there are several behavior patterns one can look out for. These behaviors, compiled by Dr. Patrick Carnes, can indicate the prescence of sexual addiction in any environment:

1. Acting out: a pattern of out-of-control sexual behavior
2. Experiencing severe consequences due to sexual behavior, and an inability to stop despite these adverse consequences
3. Persistent pursuit of self-destructive behavior
4. Ongoing desire or effort to limit sexual behavior
5. Sexual obsession and fantasy as a primary coping strategy
6. Regularly increasing the amount of sexual experience because the current level of activity is no longer sufficiently satisfying
7. Severe mood changes related to sexual activity
8. Inordinate amounts of time spent obtaining sex, being sexual, and recovering from sexual experiences
9. Neglect of important social, occupational, or recreational activities because of sexual behavior

Here are a few telltale signs of what this looks like in the workplace:

• Hiding Internet use or secretive behaviors
• Declining work performance
• Withdrawing from others
• Increased irritability
• Losing sleep and declining health
• Declining interpersonal skills
• Inappropriate sharing of sexual beliefs with others

Michael admits that in his own life, he displayed every one of these behavior patterns while at work at one time or another, and that even though he made conscious efforts to hide the behaviors, he was still in denial that any of them were “all that serious.”

“But as my disorder progressively got worse, the symptomatic behaviors and their related consequences became more obvious to family, friends and coworkers,” he wrote. “As such, the presence of four or more of these showing signs within a six month period of time is a strong indicator that this individual may have a serious problem and require some help or intervention.”

According to a Wall Street Journal article, one recovering addict is using a free program called X3watch, which runs in the background of his Web surfing and keeps track of any questionable sites he visits. The program then emails the log to a self-appointed “accountability partner,” who will then sit him down for a talk. A $19 pro version allows for more reports and more accountability partners.

However, the software doesn’t just look at the domain name of the questionable site but also looks for words within the pages like “naked,” “nude,” and “voyeur.” This means it can sometimes flag a visit to an innocent news site, but it typically only logs questionable sites.

Another program called Safe Eyes allows administrators to select which type of sites to block, including gambling, sexual, and even videogaming sites. It can also limit time spent online and restrict access to certain times of the day. A one-year subscription costs $50. There’s also a $20 Safe Eyes Mobile application for the iPhone so that your mobile phone will also be restricted.

All of the software is marketed through an online anti-porn ministry called www.xxxchurch.com, which aims to help people who are addicted to porn.

Sex is a part of human nature. In an age where the world is available at the touch of a key stroke, it’s no surprise that Internet pornography sites have become so popular. Until recently, porn sites were the most-frequented sites on the Internet, only recently haven been beat out by social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Needless to say, sex sells. Or at least draws a large amount of viewers.

While viewing online pornography as a couple or alone may be a form of foreplay, for many Americans this simple pleasure can develop into something much more severe—an addiction. It is estimated that 15 million Americans are addicted to and/or compulsively view pornography. Although there are many critics who dispute that porn addiction is a real condition, it is a significant problem for many men and women when it affects aspects of their lives including their relationships and jobs.

Pornography addiction is defined as a psychological addiction or dependence upon pornography, characterized by obsessive viewing, reading, or thinking about pornography and sexual themes to the detriment of other areas in one’s life. Currently, neither pornography addiction nor Internet pornography addiction are defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), although that may change in the near future. Regardless, for those suffering from the disorder, it is a very real and serious problem that needs to be recognized and treated.

Internet pornography has become a widespread phenomenon for several reasons, one being the availability of pornography via the Internet. Individuals can view pornography as still images, video clips, or even as live action via Web cams. New content is constantly being added to sites so fresh material is always available to the viewer. Internet porn also brings with it a sense of anonymity for the viewer. Instead of having to buy videos and/or magazines from an adult store, individuals can watch what they want in the privacy of their own home.

Psychologists suggest that individuals who are struggling with pornography addiction often experience five stages, the first being the discovery stage. In this stage, the individual first comes across pornographic material and experiences a rush of excitement. For many people, this introduction to erotica happens at a young age. The second stage is experimentation/exploration, where the individual attempts to rationalize their exploration as “harmless fun.”

The third stage is desensitization, where material that was once exciting now becomes the norm, even mundane. In this stage, the rush one used to get from viewing pornography starts subsiding. The fourth stage is escalation, where the pornographic material becomes more intense in an attempt to reach that initial rush of excitement. The fifth and final stage is performance, where the individual acts out sexual behaviors seen in the pornographic material. It is important to note that not all porn addicts experience each stage described above.

For most people, perusing the Internet for pornography does not lead to addiction. But when the behavior starts to obstruct an individual’s normal everyday life, and is accompanied by feelings of guilt, viewing pornography becomes a problem.

Suggested treatment for Internet pornography addiction is attending a 12-step program where the addict can share their feelings and concerns with those who are going through the same thing. Setting up Internet porn blockers at home and at the office will also help curb the viewing temptation and can help prevent a relapse. Internet porn addiction is nothing to be ashamed of—it’s a disorder that affects millions, and like any other addiction, it can be treated.