Section 2: Underlying factors and the pathway to CSAM-use

Section 2 of the ReDirection Self-Help Program will help you to understand the factors that impact your use of CSAM and how your thoughts, attitudes and feelings are connected to your use of CSAM. Part A will ask you to reflect on your life situation, including your relationships, sexuality, daily life and your values. Part B will cover your pathway to using CSAM, from the triggering factors that start your desire to search for CSAM, to the motives behind your use of CSAM, the needs you aim to fulfil by using CSAM, and finally the justifications you use to allow yourself to use the harmful content.

By understanding how your thoughts, feelings, and behavior connect with your use of CSAM, and by recognizing your pathway towards watching CSAM, you can step further away from this path. Due to the addictive physical effects that viewing CSAM has on your body and brain, it can be extremely difficult to change your behavior to stop using CSAM. Nonetheless, behavioral change is possible – you can learn to take control over your own behavior and change your actions for the better.

Part A: My life and my use of CSAM

Part B: My pathway to using CSAM

Part A: My life and my use of CSAM

Why do some people use CSAM and others don’t? The use of CSAM is a complex phenomenon, which can occur as a result of a number of underlying factors, including sexual interest towards children, desensitization to legal adult pornography, sexual abuse, relationship problems, boredom, stress, or low self-esteem. A person can have deviant sexual fantasies and thoughts about CSAM, and this does not necessarily lead to them viewing CSAM or other sexual offences. There are certain factors which may lead to sexual interest in children and factors which may push a person to act on these thoughts, including individual motivators, behaviors, emotions, and other variables. It is important to understand what causes you to use CSAM, as this is where you can step in to ReDirect your path and change your behavior and actions.

Each emotion you have is accompanied by an action urge. This is an automatic urge that arises in response to biological stimuli. For example, when you feel hungry, you experience the action urge to eat. Similarly, when you feel sexual arousal, you may experience an action urge to search for CSAM or other illegal materials to satisfy your sexual emotions. However, this is not the only option you have. You can learn to respond to this action urge in a different way, in order to break the chain.

In our ReDirection ‘Help us to help you’ survey (2021), we asked CSAM searchers and users about the reasons for their use of CSAM. Here are some answers:

“When watching porn, sometimes it isn't enough and I need something more "taboo", so normal porn isn't enough.”

“I use child porn when regular porn bored me.”

“Drawn porn/hentai/manga might have functioned as a low entry bar to escalate into more serious stuff (like actual photographs).”

“I have been abused in my younger days, and every time I recall what has happened to me, I feel the urge to view this kind of material so I don't feel alone.”

“I use it to examine the cycle of my own sexual abuse. The attempt to reclaim power.”

In our survey we found that approximately 50 % of the users of the CSAM (N=1 360) said they had sexual thoughts or feelings of sexual arousal and 30% said they had sexual thoughts about children or illegal material before viewing CSAM.

Predisposing factors or risk factors are personal characteristics, traits or behaviors that may increase the likelihood of harmful behavior. Different factors form “sets of predisposing factors” unique to each individual.5 Possessing predisposing factors may make certain individuals more likely to search for and use CSAM.

Take a look at this list of predisposing factors:

In our ReDirection survey we found that approximately 50% (N=1 360) of the users of the CSAM said they masturbate or stimulate themselves in other ways before the search and use of CSAM.

5. Seto 2019; Hanson, Harris, Scott & Helmus 2007; Ward & Beech 2006; Ward & Siegert 2002

Tasks for Part A

In this task, you will look at different aspects of your life situation that may be related to your use of CSAM. These aspects include yourself, your relationships and sexuality, your daily life, and your values.

Instructions: Read through Tasks 1(a)-(d), reflect on the questions and write down your answers. Once you have completed the tasks, fill in the Task 1 Summary Form to summarize your thoughts.

In response to our “Help us to help you” survey, approximately 70% of CSAM users (N= 2 351) said that they were under 18 years old when they had first seen CSAM, and approximately 40% were under 13.

Approximately 50% said they first saw CSAM by accident, whereas approximately 20% first found it by actively searching for hard core pornography or CSAM.

The way you view yourself may have an impact on your use of CSAM. Low self-esteem and other negative emotions may lead to certain individuals using CSAM. Using CSAM can also influence your self-esteem and your emotions. Reflect on these questions about yourself, how you view yourself, and your emotions. Write down your answers.

In our survey we found that that approximately 40 % (N= 1 776) of the CSAM users said that they had experienced feelings of guilt about their use of CSAM or other illegal material.

“I am aware of the harm caused by those actions to other families.”

“I tried in every way to free myself from this problem that I carry from my childhood, I realized that the situation only gets worse, I am afraid that everything will come up, once I have to reveal myself about the problem I have in my dark heart.”

“I often hope to get busted by the law but I am also afraid that it will happen.”

People satisfy various needs, such as sexual needs, the need for intimacy, and the need for love, through relationships. There are different types of relationships, including the following:

How are these needs and relationships being met in your life right now? How are your relationships related to your use of CSAM? Reflect on the following questions and write down your answers.

Approximately 15% of respondents to our survey mentioned that they have experienced difficulties in close relationships.

“I try to feel 16 years old because I had depression and not relationship with girl in my teen age”

“I mean I am the helper for others I can't ask for help I don't have anyone so ... I am just a guy a gamer, I didn't have a relationship before. That's bad for a 21 year old.”

“hard time getting an erection”

“It affects my actual adult healthy sex life”

“I have never had a relationship”

“Thoughts about the monster that I’ve become prevents me from keeping relationships and also makes me hate myself”

Read and reflect on the questions below about your daily life. Write down your answers.

If you are worried about your use of substances, please contact your national healthcare sector for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.

In this task you will identify your core values and look at how your use of CSAM relates to your values. Reflect on the questions and write down your answers.

Now you have considered these different aspects of your life situation, fill in the form below to summarize your thoughts.

Look back over what you have written down in Tasks 1(a)-(d) to help you answer the questions in the form.

PART B: My pathway to using CSAM

In this section, you will learn about the thought and behavioral patterns that guide your actions and lead you to use CSAM. You will gain a better understanding of the factors that cause you to use CSAM and learn new skills that will help you abandon harmful thoughts and behaviors and replace them with new goals.

The ReDirection Self-Help Program is a rehabilitation program based on cognitive behavioral theory. Rehabilitation programs based on cognitive behavioral theory are proven to be effective at achieving long-lasting behavioral change.6 According to cognitive behavioral theory, our actions are based on three factors: behavior, thoughts and feelings, which operate together. Through cognitive-behavioral rehabilitation, by changing thoughts, it is possible to also change behavior.

In the following tasks, you will consider your underlying motives for using CSAM, and the psychological and sexual needs that you are trying to fulfil through your use of CSAM. These motives and needs are different for everyone. This section will help you identify triggers that lead you down the path of CSAM use. By recognizing these factors, and by practicing alternative responses, you can control your own behavior and step off the path to CSAM use.

In response to our “Help us to help you” survey, 30% of CSAM users (N= 1 787) said that they would like to stop searching for and using CSAM/illegal violent material nearly every time they view it.

6. Scarlora & Garbin 2003; Hanson, Bourgon, Helmus Hodgson 2009.

Tasks for Part B

The use of CSAM does not happen on its own but is prompted by various internal and external triggers.7 A trigger is a factor that sets off a chain of events that leads to the use of CSAM. Both internal and external factors can impact your use of CSAM, by leading you to act on your emotions and feelings. These factors include your personal qualities, emotions, values, relationships, sexual interests and daily routines, as well as external factors in your social environment. By understanding your triggers, you can choose how you want to behave in response to them. You are in control of how you react – you can either choose to use CSAM or take active steps to go in the other direction.

“I, myself, can choose how to react to a trigger - I can choose whether or not I want to use CSAM”.

Internal triggers:

External triggers:

Try linking your triggering factors to what you wrote in the Task 1 form.

CSAM users told us about different triggering factors that lead them to use CSAM:

  • Traumatic life events (such as sexual, physical and/or mental abuse in childhood)
    • “I was a victim myself and we watched it together.”
    • “I have been abused in my younger days, and every time I recall what has happened to me, I feel the urge to view this kind of material so I don't feel alone.”
    • “I was sexually abused when I was really young and this is a coping mechanism, a horrible one.”
  • Moving from watching legal adult porn to more taboo and extreme sexual materials
    • “When watching porn, sometimes it isn't enough and I need something more "taboo", so normal porn isn't enough”
    • “I use CSAM when regular porn bored me”
  • Easy access to CSAM
    • “It is very easy to access and the thought of viewing something illegal and forbidden is very sexually exiting”
  • Negative emotional states
    • “I was depressed and nervous”

    7. Finkelhor 1984, 1997; Seto 2019; Ward & Hudson 1998.

    Take a look at the specific factors that trigger you to use CSAM. This will help you learn to take control of how you react to triggers, in order to change your behavior and stop your use of CSAM. Follow the five steps to understand your triggering factors and learn how to deal with them.

    Step 1: Think back to moments/situations that have acted as triggers and led you to use CSAM

    Step 2: Write a diary for a week (see form below)

    Step 3: After completing your diary entries, make a summary of the common triggers that lead you to use CSAM and their relationship with your feelings, thoughts, bodily sensations, and behavior

    Step 4: Come up with alternative ways to react to your triggers (see form below)

    Step 5: Practice your new ways of thinking and behavior

    Diary Exercise

    1. What triggered me to use CSAM

    Where were you? Who else was there? What did you do?

    Draw parallels between the triggering factor and the wider themes raised on the 'My life’ form (e.g. there were problems in your relationships, you felt lonely). Explore what is happening in your mind, body, and surroundings.

    • The internal factors that triggered me to use CSAM:
    • The external factors that triggered me to use CSAM:

    2. My thoughts related to the triggering event:

    What were you thinking? How did you react to the triggering factors? What did you think about the triggering factors? What type of thoughts took you closer to using CSAM?

    • How could I think differently/how could I reframe my thoughts?
    • What thoughts would help me to take a step back from using CSAM?

    3. My emotions related to the triggering event:

    What feelings did the events evoke in you? How were you feeling? What was your mood at the time? How did you process your feelings? What type of feelings took you closer to using CSAM?

    • What could I do to calm down my emotions?

    4. My bodily sensations related to the triggering event:

    What bodily sensations did the events evoke in you? What type of bodily sensations took you closer to using CSAM?

    • What could I do to calm down my bodily sensations?

    5. How did the above thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations make me behave? What did I do that took me closer to using CSAM?

    What stopped you from acting differently, in a way other than using CSAM?

    • What could I do to prevent me from taking things further to the point of using CSAM?

    In this task you will create a risk management plan for moments when you feel the urge to use CSAM. Write your plan on paper and look back at your plan whenever you want to use CSAM, or you experience any of your triggering factors that you identified in Task 2(a). List at least three risk situations and make a risk management plan for them.

    Creating a risk management plan:

    Examples

    Risk situation

    I am using my computer and I have the urge to search for and use CSAM.

    Solution

    I immediately turn off my computer. I take a few minutes to calm down and I look back at my values and how I want to behave and act to uphold them.

    How to avoid risk in the future

    I will remove the TOR browser from my computer.

    I will not (re)download the TOR browser.
    Risk situation

    I am feeling stressed/anxious and I want to watch CSAM to make me feel better.

    Solution

    I talk about my stress with someone close to me. Alternatively, I write down how I am feeling in a journal. I stay away from my computer so that I am not tempted to search for CSAM.

    How to avoid risk in the future

    I will think about what is causing stress in my life. I will find new ways to manage my stress without resorting to using CSAM.

    The desire to use CSAM can arise in various situations, for example, when you are tired, stressed, lonely, or sad. Giving in to your desires often helps you feel better and/or creates pleasure in the short term. Using CSAM is, however, very harmful and has serious long-term effects on your brain and is extremely harmful to the children who are victims of CSAM. Thus, giving in to your desire to use CSAM is harmful in the long term. In order for you to learn how not to give in to your desires, this task will help you to develop self-regulation skills.

    The underlying reasons for your desires are often difficult to identify. To strengthen your self-regulation skills, it is important that you understand where your desires come from. Next time you notice a desire arising, note the situation down in your diary (see form below). Describe how that feels in your body. Where do your thoughts and attention shift to? Recognizing these feelings and factors allows you to decide how you want to react.

    Diary: The Awakening of My Desires

    Date

    Bodily sensations

    Where in my body can I feel the awakening of desire?

    How does it feel?

    Actions

    What am I tempted to do?

    How am I tempted to act?

    Thoughts

    Where do my thoughts shift to?

    Values

    Does this take me towards the life I want to lead?






























    With this task, you can practice your ability to regulate yourself and manage your strong urges by ‘surfing’ on your desires. It is best to begin practicing with something concrete. Many people find a hard candy helpful for this exercise. Place a hard candy in your mouth and keep it there without chewing or eating it. Now pay attention to what is happening in your mind and body and follow the steps below:

    Many people find that the desire strengthens a lot in the beginning. With time, however, it often decreases significantly. What do you notice happening? For example: “even strong desires ease up. I do not need to act upon my desires. I can manage even though the desire is strong”. What kinds of conclusions can you draw based on your findings?

    Combine this exercise with your own values: what reaction to this urge would be in line with your values and the life you want to lead?

    You can practice this safe surfing on desire wherever you want. For example, in the grocery store: you have decided to eat healthy, but while you are grocery shopping you begin to crave chips and beer. In those moments you can try to surf on the desires and look at what happens. Just let it be and pay attention to it for a while. Surfing on desire is a skill that requires patience and practice. It can be difficult at first, like any other new skill that you are trying to learn. Practicing your skills with your desires will help you to keep on developing the skills that help you to stop the use of CSAM.

    In the previous tasks you looked at your life at the moment and the triggering internal and external factors that lead you to use CSAM. In this task you will identify the underlying motives behind your use of CSAM. All our behavior is guided by motives and using CSAM is no exception. The motives of individuals to watch CSAM may be related to sexual needs or other personal psychological needs that the individual tries to fulfil through using CSAM. Alternatively, an individual may have some other inhibitions preventing them from achieving sexual fulfilment through socially acceptable means. When examining your use of CSAM and deviant sexual arousal through the framework of motivations/needs, two things must be considered:

    1. What is the purpose of using CSAM for you?
    2. What is the significance of using CSAM for you?8

    Carefully consider these questions and write down your answers.

    Motivations behind CSAM-use

    The motivations behind using CSAM can generally be divided into three main groups:

    1. Sexual interest in children or other deviant sexual interest.
      • An individual in this category gets sexually aroused when looking at pictures of children. The use of CSAM serves to satisfy their sexual needs and urges. Being sexually interested in children does not, however, automatically lead to CSAM use, because a thought is different from an act. Directing sexual gratification needs at CSAM or deviant objects can be a temporary or permanent characteristic. For some, sexual contact with a child/using CSAM may represent a longing for intimacy and relatedness. For others, the motive/objective of the using CSAM is to reinforce their sense of autonomy and control.9
    2. Feeling emotionally connected with a child, whereby the adult can feel connected to a child, easier than to an adult.
      • In these situations, an intimate, emotional relationship with an adult may seem scary.10 Through watching CSAM, an individual can get a feeling of closeness/connection with another person, even only through images.
    3. A person can meet other psychological needs through watching CSAM (Good Lives Model (GLM)-needs)
      • The GLM theory explains an individual's use of CSAM through the pursuit of nine Good Life goals (needs) using the wrong methods resulting from the individual inadequate problem-solving skills.11 Rehabilitation helps you identify such deficits in yourself and replace them with more effective problem-solving strategies. With new skills, you are better able to fulfil your life goals without harming yourself or other people through your actions.12
      • E.g. CSAM might be used to ease stress or loneliness.

    Think about which of the three categories you might fall into. What are your main motivations for using CSAM?

    Good Lives Model Theory: Nine Needs

    Wellbeing

    Experience of physical, mental, and sexual wellbeing.

    For example, sufficient somatic and psychological health. The ability to express your sexuality in a way that brings pleasure and well-being to yourself and does not harm others.

    Knowledge

    Experience of mastering basic things.

    For example, having the necessary knowledge and skills to function as a member of society. Studying can be a way to fulfil the needs related to knowledge.

    Self-efficacy

    Experience of competence, ability and skill through work, leisure activities and relationships.

    For example, a feeling of being capable at your job or mastering a hobby.

    Agency

    Opportunities to experience and express a sense of control, healthy self-esteem and experience of the possibility to influence what happens to you.

    For example, when you need to make a decision, you have the sensation that it is you who is controlling the situation, you are not a bystander who is unable to play a role in the outcome.

    Relatedness

    Experience of connection and interaction with other people.

    For example, family or close friends, with whom you share an important emotional bond and a shared feeling of enjoying each other's company.

    Inner peace

    Experience of peace of mind and mental stability.

    For example, the ability to face adversity and overcome it by restoring your internal balance without significant consequences to yourself or others.

    Spirituality

    Experience of meaning and purpose in life and values.

    For example, the feeling of knowing what things are important and valuable to you and what you want to achieve in your life. This could be, for instance, religion or other such belief.

    Happiness

    Experience of happiness and satisfaction with oneself and one’s own life.

    For example, the feeling that things are good enough taking into consideration the circumstances. A subjective feeling of happiness.

    Creativity

    Experience of the opportunity to express creativity in a natural way.

    For example, a sport, singing, playing an instrument, work, chores, doing art.

    The aim of the following tasks is help you understand the motives that guide behavior and the needs that you may be trying to fulfil through your use of CSAM. You will examine the extent to which you have sexual interests in children and how much these interests have guided your path towards using CSAM. You will investigate your personal problem-solving styles and self-regulation (e.g. what stopped you from achieving a sense of control and power and sexual gratification by other means than using CSAM?). You will also consider alternative ways of fulfilling your needs (e.g. need for power, control or sexual gratification) that you have previously fulfilled by using CSAM.

    The aim of the following tasks is to help you understand the deeper goals and motives operating in the background causing you to use CSAM and the methods you choose to achieve these goals. Realizing this supports your sense of self-efficacy and hope and thereby develops your skills to set meaningful life goals and to flexibly explore different ways to achieve them.

    8. Barnett & Wood, 2008.

    9. Finkelhor 1984, 1997; Seto 2019.

    10. Herman, McPhail & Helmus, 2017.

    11. Ward & Stewart 2003.

    12. Ward & Brown 2004; Ward & Mann 2004.

    Reflect on these questions and write down your thoughts.

    Think about your own motives and needs related to your use of CSAM. Look at your findings from your diaries in Task 2(a) and Task 2(c).

    Mirror the questions to the things you considered in Section 1, Task 2: ‘My life’. What area of your life is lacking, that the use of CSAM fills?

    Look at the nine needs in the Good Lives Model below. Which of those needs do you aim to fulfil by using CSAM? Select at least three needs that link together.

    Example

    GLM needs

    1. Wellbeing
    2. Knowledge
    3. Self-efficacy
    4. Agency
    5. Relatedness
    6. Inner peace
    7. Spirituality
    8. Happiness
    9. Creativity
    What do you gain from using CSAM? Which GLM-need does the use of CSAM fulfil? How can I meet these needs without using CSAM?
    "I was stressed but using CSAM made me feel more relaxed." 6. Inner peace - I use CSAM to make me feel better and more calm. In what other way, other than through CSAM use, could I feel better? For example I could go out for a short walk
    "I get sexual satisfaction." 1. Sexual wellbeing - I get sexual gratification from using CSAM. In what other way, other than through CSAM use, could I achieve sexual gratification/satisfaction?
    "I feel less lonely/ I don't feel lonely." 5. Relatedness
    6. Inner peace
    4. Agency - I don't feel lonely when I watch CSAM, so using CSAM is a way to control my emotions. I feel capable when I watch CSAM.

    In the previous exercise you looked at what GLM-needs your use of CSAM fulfils and what you gain from using CSAM. The GLM theory emphasizes that the goal (motive) is always appropriate, as you are aiming to achieve a balance between the nine primary needs.13 However, the method chosen to achieve the aim is where an individual may go wrong. CSAM users are aiming to pursue the elements of Good Life, such as sexual pleasure, meaning, or a sense of agency, but they choose methods that are harmful and wrong. Harmful behavior is thus seen as a result of unsuccessful problem-solving.14

    In this task you will look at the problem-solving skills you use when you feel certain emotions, such as feeling lonely, anxious or stressed. Peace of mind and mental balance is a mental state where the individual is free from internal stress and anxiety. For example, an individual who feels lonely, has a lot of problems, and feels unable to find a way out and therefore constantly ruminates over problems, may find it difficult to achieve peace of mind. An individual can use a range of methods to relieve themselves from anxiety, stress, depression and anger.

    A) Think back to situations in your life when you have felt depressed, anxious, stressed or other negative emotions. How have you tried to make yourself feel better?

    In general, there are three types of problem-solving methods: problem-focused, emotional, and avoidant. None of the methods are as such right or wrong. Everyone is unique and uses different methods. Sometimes we use different problem-solving styles depending on the situation. What methods do you use with different problems?

    1. Problem-focused: you approach the problem by first defining it and then deciding the best way to solve the problem.
      • When do you use this method?
    2. Emotional: you approach the problem by dealing with the emotions and feelings the problem creates in you, rather than by dealing with the problem itself. You might worry about the situation, feel self-pity, feel desperate, or begin to believe the situation is better than it really is.
      • When do you use this method?
    3. Avoidant: you avoid the problem and solving it at all costs, whilst waiting for it to resolve itself.
      • When do you use this method?

    B) Think back to situations in which you used more CSAM than normally. What happened in your life in those times? How were you feeling? Was there more stress in your life in those times?

    Think back to the ways in which you managed with your problems, what kinds of problem-solving methods did you use? If you see a connection between CSAM use and feeling low/stressed, it is possible that you are using CSAM to avoid uncomfortable feelings and emotions. This leads to your mind learning to use CSAM as a method to solve your problems. It can often start forming into an addiction. Think about ways in which you could solve problems more efficiently in the future.

    13. Ward & Stewart 2003.

    14. Ward & Brown 2004; Ward & Mann 2004.

    People have a natural tendency to justify everything they do, including when they are doing something undesirable, forbidden or illegal. When a person is doing something that they know is wrong or harmful to another person, they must in some way justify their actions to themselves for them to be able to carry out those actions.

    Example 1

    Example 2

    It is said that people are extremely good at lying to themselves, and we find it very easy to justify our actions to ourselves. These justifying thoughts are known as cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions represent your internal speech, or thoughts, by which you explain or defend your actions. 15

    As you are aware on a rational level that you are breaking the social norms by using CSAM, you often convince yourself that your actions are acceptable or justified, so that you can comfortably break the social norms. Cognitive distortions allow you to avoid taking full responsibility for your actions while at the same time regulating the feelings of guilt and anxiety caused by the using CSAM.16

    Below is a list of typical explanations and cognitive distortions that CSAM users tell themselves to justify their behavior to themselves and make it feel accepted and right.

    “I am well-adjusted in using CSAM, since I only enjoy the material when the subject is enjoying it.”

    “I am stuck but I tried to get out of it. I have been a porn addict since the age of 9. I don't think I can be fixed at this point.”

    “There's absolutely nothing wrong with it it's natural if mother nature didn't want us to make love to our children, then she wouldn't have made them so beautiful and attractive sexually.”

    “I am a victim of circumstances”.

    “I don't produce the sort of material. It can be easily found anywhere on the internet if you know where to search. What I mean is it's something that will still keep existing even if I stop doing this.”

    “I don't think it is bad, because just using and sharing it doesn't hurt anyone”.

    “Home where every single illegal porn searching can happen with no worry because there is literally nothing wrong with doing it privately, laws aren't for all humans.”

    “I can see nothing wrong with it. As long as this is consensual”.

    “Children can consent”.

    “I'm not putting it online. I'm not creating it, downloading it, saving it, sharing it I’m just looking at pictures.”

    The more you become aware of your cognitive distortions, the more able you become to replace them with different thoughts, which will then lead to different behavior. The goals for the following exercises are to:

    There are a lot of misconceptions about CSAM. The reality is very different.

    Below you can find common cognitive distortions/misconceptions that CSAM users use to justify their behavior. Think about the misconception and the reality behind them. What do you think about them?

    Misconception: Children are sexual beings, just like adults.
    Reality: Based on what we know about children’s sexual development, we can conclude that children do not identify themselves as sexual beings in the same way as adults do, and they have difficulties with understanding adults’ sexual acts and feelings.

    Misconception: Pictures do not harm anyone. Using CSAM is a “victimless crime”.
    Reality: Many individuals who have their photograph circulating on the internet against their will, feel that they are being abused over and over again. The child may feel intense feelings of losing control and powerlessness, which are related to the fact that the child is unable to make decisions regarding themselves and their bodies.

    Misconception: The child themselves has taken the picture and made it public. Therefore, it has been the child’s decision and they feel good about their choice.
    Reality: Children are not able to make good decisions regarding their well-being and often make mistakes (e.g. experimenting with drugs and alcohol) that they regret later on. This is because they are still developing and they are unable to think about the consequences of their actions in the long run. Therefore, it is the adults’ responsibility to protect children and not to strive to benefit from their mistakes and poor choices.

    Misconception: Someone else produced the material. In any case, this material is circulating on the web. It is not my fault that it is available.
    Reality: Demand generates supply. The more people willing to access and use the material, the more it will be generated and made available. By being part of the demand, you are personally contributing to the supply of CSAM.

    In this exercise, you will examine the explanations that you use to justify your use of CSAM.

    A) To start, write a list of all the thoughts (before, during and after using CSAM) you use to justify your use of CSAM. It is a good idea to write down the answers, following the table above. Try and keep a diary for at least a week to observe your CSAM activity and the connected thinking. Reflect on your answers.

    Before using CSAM:

    Whilst using CSAM:

    After using CSAM:

    Situations My thoughts to give myself permission to use CSAM before I use CSAM My thoughts to give myself permission to use CSAM while I am using CSAM My thoughts to give myself permission to use CSAM after I have used CSAM
    1.





    2.





    3.





    4.





    B) Next, examine the list you have made and go through it, question by question, and consider the following questions on each of your justifications for using CSAM. Write down your justifications on paper and analyze your cognitive distortions by asking yourself:

    In the previous task you looked at how you justify your use of CSAM to yourself, before, during, and after using the material. In this task you will look at all the practical things that you do to make CSAM use possible (look at the figure below: How does the use of CSAM take place? How do I remove external obstacles?).

    The aim of the task is to help you recognize the behavior that allows you to use CSAM. The better you recognize the warning signs taking you closer to using CSAM, the earlier you can stop going towards CSAM and ReDirect your behavior. This enhances your ability to make conscious decisions and control your behavior. For situations in which you are already taking concrete steps towards watching CSAM, it is good to come up with a path to take another direction.

    A) Think back to situations in which you have decided to use CSAM. Write down the actions that you did to make it possible to use CSAM.

    For example

    These following quotes are from respondents to our Help Us to Help You – Questionnaire:

    “At home and when I am alone.”

    “Somewhere private by myself.”

    “When I am under the influence of drugs.”

    In our survey we found that nearly 30% of the users of CSAM stated that they often drink or use drugs before they search for and use CSAM.

    B) Think of alternative ways to act in these situations. What could you do differently to interrupt the path toward using CSAM. What could you say to yourself that would make you stop the behavior?

    In the previous tasks you have thought about your life at the moment and the triggers that lead you to use CSAM. You have thought about the underlying motives of your CSAM use, as well as the ways that you justify your use of CSAM. Through the tasks you have formed a path that helps you visualize your way to CSAM use. This visualization helps you find alternative behaviors to replace the ones that currently lead you towards using CSAM.

    This task is a summary of the previous tasks. Look at the figure below and think back to the path that leads you to use CSAM. If you have written the past tasks on paper, you can visualize them easier by placing them on a table accordingly to the figure below. Go through all of the contributing factors that bring you toward CSAM use, and all of the new thinking and behavioral methods that take you away from CSAM use that you have learned through the tasks.

    Look at the path and all its phases. What does your path look like from the beginning, all the way to CSAM use? Imagine yourself walking on the path, one step at a time. What could you tell yourself that would take you away from CSAM use on your path? E.g. “I feel lonely and using CSAM would make me feel better. Even though CSAM use would make me feel better, I want to practice other ways to deal with this. This feels difficult, but I know I can do it."

    Remember that you can stop at any stage of the path and take your time to figure out new ways to react.