KHTS Editorial by Mark Jorgensen, owner of Desert Solace. 

Ashley Madison is a website that entered the consciousness of many more Americans this week, and we suspect a number here in Santa Clarita.

However, the “infidelity website,” isn’t necessarily happy with this newfound attention. For the uninitiated, Ashley Madison is openly and proudly dedicated to facilitating extra-marital affairs. In fact, the site advertises itself with the motto “Life is Short. Have an Affair.”

The reason Ashley Madison is a bit squeamish lately is because hackers have made good on their threats to release the identities of Ashley Madison clients.  The company, as would be expected, promises complete confidentiality and anonymity to its customers. Needless to say, the disclosure of this information has wreaked havoc in the lives of thousands (if not millions) of couples and families.  

One such family is Josh and Anna Duggar. It hasn’t been a good year for Josh Duggar.  In May, Duggar admitted to “inappropriately touching” two of his younger sisters when he was 14 years old. (What exactly “inappropriate touching” means has been a fierce debate that won’t be rehashed here, and will probably never be fully known.) The resulting notoriety and media frenzy caused the TLC network to pull the plug on the reality show 19 Kids and Counting, which featured Josh Duggar, his 18 siblings, and their parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.  

Now 27 and married with four children, Josh Duggar was exposed this past week as a customer of Ashley Madison from February of 2013 to May of 2015 (when news of his first scandal broke), and has admitted to cheating on his wife. Duggar also admitted to developing “over the last several years” an addiction to internet pornography.  

As a vocal public advocate for Christianity and family values, Josh Duggar is of course a very large – and easy – target for the charge of hypocrisy from his critics. Duggar himself has declared that he is “the biggest hypocrite ever.”  That he explains his behavior as the result of addiction only adds fuel to the fire.  

The legitimacy of pornography addiction and sex addiction is a much discussed topic in the mental health world.  Practitioners debate whether compulsive sexual behavior, including viewing online pornography, is consistent with the classic definition of addiction.

But whether Josh Duggar is suffering from addiction or incredibly bad judgement, or both, is perhaps irrelevant. The fact remains that he has left a trail of chaos in his wake. The emotional, mental, relational and financial devastation to the Duggar family is indisputable.  

Unfortunately, millions of other families, including some in Santa Clarita, suffer the same devastation every day, albeit out of the public spotlight. Undoubtedly, the Ashley Madison hack is delivering emotional blows to countless other wives besides Anna Duggar.  And certainly marriages and families were being ripped apart by sexual infidelity long before anyone ever heard of Ashley Madison.  

Mark Jorgensen is the owner of Desert Solace, a residential treatment center for men dealing with pornography addiction and sex addiction.  It is committed to assisting individuals, couples, and families heal from the effects of unwanted, unmanageable, and unhealthy sexual behavior.