MSI Press Blog

excerpt from  He's a Porn Addict...Now What?  by Tony Overbay and Joshua Shea Introduction This book is a unique collaboration between a mental health professional, Tony Overbay, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Joshua Shea, a former journalist who spent more than two decades struggling with pornography addiction. Usually, the expert sitting in the chair and the person on the couch getting the help don’t work together on a project outside of the therapist’s office, but we think this is a natural match. (And for those wondering, Josh was never Tony’s client—they met on a podcast.) Tony spends dozens of hours every week working with couples who are at various stages of the therapy process. Many of these couples have struggled with pornography issues. Although you’re probably feeling alone in the world right now, you are not. Tony has dealt with women, men and couples who are going through exactly what you are experiencing. Josh was a pillar of his community whe...

  How do I know if he’s actually an addict?   Tony, the mental health professional   To be clear, until recently, there wasn’t anything in either the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD) that talked about sexual addiction or pornography addiction. Recently, the WHO updated the ICD to include Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) as a mental health condition. While this designation doesn't exactly meet the standard for addiction, it is definitely the strongest statement made by a body of experts in the field of sexual mental health.   Let me share a very 30,000-foot view of what is happening to the brain when viewing pornography.  When a man watches porn, his brain releases the feel-good drug, dopamine. There is some fascinating research around what is called “The Coolidge Effect.” The idea is that ...

My First Questions How do I know if he’s actually an addict? Tony, the mental health professional When a client comes into my office to talk about her partner who she thinks is an addict, she’ll usually begin to list all the reasons she’s sure he’s addicted to pornography. Then she’ll ask me the question, “How do I really know?” At this point, I recognize she’s doubting herself and questioning her intuition. This usually happens for one of two reasons: either she thinks she’s not qualified to make that diagnosis or, most commonly, she doesn’t want it to be true. I’ll hear the client’s entire monologue about her partner’s behavior, a behavior that led her to my office in the first place, only to hear her say, “But I’m probably wrong.” What she’s really thinking is ‘Please tell me I’m wrong.’ Chances are, she’s not wrong, but there is help, and there is hope. There are countless definitions of addiction, each with its own little nuances, but for the work I do,...

Diane Keaton’s passing on October 11, 2025, from pneumonia at age 79, left many of us reflecting not only on her cinematic brilliance but also on her quiet courage. For decades, she spoke candidly about her battle with bulimia —a disorder that shaped her early adult life and informed her understanding of addiction, recovery, and self-worth. “All I did was feed my hunger, so I am an addict,” she told Dr. Oz in 2014. “It’s true. I’m an addict in recovery. I’ll always be an addict. I have an addictive nature to me.” Keaton’s words resonate deeply with those who’ve faced food addiction in its many forms—whether through binge eating, compulsive snacking, emotional eating, or cycles of restriction and purging. Her honesty reminds us that food addiction isn’t about willpower. It’s about neurobiology, emotional trauma, and the search for comfort in a chaotic world . 🔍 What Is Food Addiction? Food addiction is not officially classified as a distinct disorder in the DSM-5, but its pattern...