Overview
Struggling with pornography or masturbation despite prayer, accountability partners, or 12-step programs? Discover Beyond Abstinence, a new Catholic sex therapy group that addresses the emotional and psychological patterns underlying unwanted sexual behaviors. Learn how this faith-integrated approach helps men and women develop healthier habits, strengthen self-discipline, and pursue lasting change through professional therapeutic support.
You've prayed about it. You've gone to confession. You've made resolutions, sought accountability, and perhaps even attended a 12-step program such as Sexaholics Anonymous. Yet despite your sincere efforts, you continue struggling with pornography or masturbation.
For many Catholics, this cycle can become deeply discouraging. Each attempt to change brings renewed hope, but returning to the same behaviors can leave you feeling ashamed, frustrated, or uncertain about what to do next.
If this sounds familiar, perhaps the next step isn't simply trying harder. Perhaps it's learning to approach the struggle differently.
Looking Beyond the Behavior
Traditional approaches to overcoming pornography and masturbation often emphasize abstinence, accountability, avoiding temptation, and developing greater self-discipline. These strategies can be valuable, particularly when combined with spiritual guidance and a supportive community.
However, unwanted sexual behaviors can also serve psychological and emotional functions that aren't immediately obvious.
Pornography may become a way to cope with stress, loneliness, anxiety, boredom, or emotional discomfort. Masturbation may similarly develop into a habitual response to difficult emotions or situations. Over time, these patterns can become deeply ingrained, even when they conflict with a person's sincerely held religious convictions.
Understanding these underlying patterns does not mean excusing the behavior or abandoning Catholic moral teaching. Rather, it allows us to address the factors that make lasting change difficult.
Building a Life Beyond Pornography
Imagine a glass filled with wine. One way to remove the wine is to empty the glass. Another is to continually add clean water, gradually displacing what was there before.
This image captures an important principle of a different therapeutic approach: overcoming unwanted behaviors involves more than simply eliminating them. It also involves developing healthier ways to meet the needs those behaviors have been serving.
Someone who turns to pornography when feeling lonely may need to develop more meaningful relationships. Someone who uses masturbation to manage stress may benefit from learning healthier emotional regulation strategies. Someone whose sexual habits have become automatic may need help recognizing triggers and developing new responses.
The goal is not merely to resist temptation more effectively, but to cultivate a healthier, more integrated life in which these behaviors no longer serve the same purpose.
For Catholics, this work can complement the spiritual life. Prayer, the sacraments, and spiritual direction remain valuable sources of grace and guidance, while clinical therapy can help address psychological, emotional, and behavioral patterns.
Introducing Beyond Abstinence: A Catholic Sex Therapy Group
To provide this kind of support, Archangel Catholic is introducing Beyond Abstinence, an ongoing online sex therapy process group facilitated by James Boyd Walther, Marriage and Family Therapy Intern and Certified Sexologist.
The group integrates Catholic sexual morality with clinical approaches to problematic pornography use and masturbation. Participants will explore their habits and triggers, develop healthier coping strategies, strengthen self-discipline, and participate in guided therapeutic discussions.
Unlike programs that focus primarily on abstinence, Beyond Abstinence emphasizes understanding the whole person and building a healthier life.
The group welcomes both men and women, recognizing that struggles with pornography and masturbation are not exclusively men's concerns. Groups may be co-ed or separated by sex depending on enrollment.
Participants will receive professional therapeutic guidance in a supportive environment designed to encourage accountability, personal growth, and meaningful change.
Group Information
When: Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. Mountain / 7:00 p.m. Pacific
Cost: $35 per person, per session
Format: Ongoing online therapy group
Group size: 6–12 participants
Eligibility: Individuals located in Colorado, Idaho, or Washington
Commitment: No minimum number of sessions required
Prospective participants will complete an initial consultation and clinical screening before joining the group.
Take the Next Step
If you've struggled to overcome pornography or masturbation despite prayer, accountability, or participation in traditional recovery programs, professional support may offer another path forward.
Seeking psychological treatment does not mean abandoning your faith. It means recognizing that lasting change may require addressing not only what you do, but also the emotional, psychological, and relational factors that influence your behavior.
You don't have to keep repeating the same cycle. There is another way forward.
To inquire about joining Beyond Abstinence, visit Archangel Catholic's contact page and indicate that you would like to work with James Boyd Walther in the Beyond Abstinence group.
Beyond Abstinence is a clinical therapy service provided by Archangel Catholic and promoted by the Apostolate for Marital Intimacy.
