Author: Alex Thompson

Porn addiction: Signs, causes, and treatment

Compulsions are repetitive behaviors with no rational motivation, but are often engaged in to reduce anxiety. Addictions involve an inability to stop the behavior, despite negative consequences. Research comparing the brains of people who compulsively view porn to the brains of people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol has produced mixed results. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, is used by healthcare professionals to help diagnosis mental disorders.

While it may be uncomfortable exposing truths about your behaviors and thoughts, you need to confront these realities to ensure you get the treatment you need. With the right treatment, you can achieve lasting recovery from porn addiction. Porn addiction has been shown to cause changes in the brain that are similar to those experienced by people who use drugs. This observation suggests that both psychological and physiological factors may play a part in compulsive pornography use. Although some argue that these behaviors or associations can occur with porn addiction, the relationship is generally inconsistent or vague.

Thus, there is evidence that quantity or frequency may not be the only determining factor in whether a person reports feeling out of control in their use of porn. A 2014 study emphasizes that many studies of pornography addiction have been poorly designed or biased. The authors caution that little evidence supports a causal relationship between pornography use and its purported harmful effects.

The researchers argued that the same response occurs when a person who uses drugs views drug-related images. While the association on its own is hardly conclusive, it does suggest that porn addiction has a physiological as well as a psychiatric component. The DSM doesn’t recognize porn addiction as an official mental health diagnosis. You can also look into self-help and support group like Sex Addicts Anonymous or Sexaholics Anonymous. In addition to having people who understand what you’re going through, they can also point you to mental health professionals trained in dealing with excessive porn use.

Psychotherapy can be very beneficial in helping you understand and change your behavior. In particular, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of therapy that focuses on rewiring unhelpful thinking patterns, may be helpful for managing pornography consumption. Other research on couples has shown that problems can occur when only one partner — typically the man in a heterosexual relationship — uses porn very frequently. In these cases, there’s a tendency to withdraw emotionally from the relationship. The study findings show that certain traits — neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and obsessive-checking behaviors — were linked to high porn use.

Everything You Need to Know About Pornography ‘Addiction’

Your relationships and sense of well-being are worth the effort, and recovery is possible. But if you’ve tried to stop and can’t, consider contacting a mental health professional experienced in treating compulsions, addictions, and sexual dysfunction. Treatment for behavioral addictions generally involves talk therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. But your doctor may recommend medication if you have co-existing conditions, such as depression or OCD.

The diagnosis of pornography addiction is controversial, and not all therapists will acknowledge it. Working with a psychologist who can provide the most effective treatment methods, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), will be essential to helping you develop effective relapse prevention skills as you address porn addiction. According to a 2015 study published in the journal Behavioral Science, an electroencephalogram (EEG) can detect changes in brain activity (specifically, a reactive event called P300) when porn is viewed. Overcoming porn addiction is a gradual process, and slip-ups and relapses may occur. Stay committed, be patient with yourself, and continue seeking help and support as needed.

1. Other research on couples has shown that problems can occur when only one partner — typically the man in a heterosexual relationship — uses porn very frequently.
2. Addictions involve an inability to stop the behavior, despite negative consequences.
3. The researchers found that the brains of the men with PPU reacted differently to erotic images — or the anticipation of them — than the brains of men without PPU.

Ask a primary care physician, mental health professional, or local hospital for information on pornography or sexual addiction support groups. This study puts some finality into the answers as to whether porn addiction is a true addiction. By reframing “porn addiction” as “an incongruity between morals and behaviors,” the paper showed that the amount of time spent using porn does not predict problems with porn; rather, religiosity seems to be the bigger problem. Receiving care from a sex-positive therapist who can identify underlying problems and offer evidence-based treatment strategies can help a person improve their relationships and regain a sense of control over their pornography use.

Pornography addiction is a compulsive need to view pornography despite negative consequences. While many health and psychiatric professionals do not consider compulsive porn use a true “addiction,” the signs and symptoms are often strikingly similar to those of behavioral addictions. There’s an important difference between looking at porn and being addicted to porn. Looking at porn can be a totally healthy form of sexual expression; it becomes an addiction when it begins to interfere with other parts of your daily life, like work and relationships. Research shows that certain behavioral addictions, such as internet addiction, involve neural processes similar to substance addiction — and that internet pornography addiction is comparable. Specifically, hypersexual disorder (commonly referred to as sex addiction) refers to excessive and uncontrollable sexual thoughts, desires, urges, or behaviors that cause distress and harm to your relationships, finances, and other areas of your life.

Press Play for Advice On Dealing With Porn Addiction

Counseling sessions will help you understand what caused the compulsion in the first place. Your therapist can help you develop effective coping mechanisms to change your relationship with pornographic materials. This easy access makes it more difficult to stop if watching porn has become a problem. Other scientists point out that studies so far have either been poorly organized or have struggled with defining what exactly would make this an actual addiction. Plus, some say it’s difficult to get a handle on how widespread the problem is, in part, because few users think the habit is a problem.

If any of these sound like you, you may need help controlling your porn consumption. The key is noticing if porn is actually having a clear detrimental effect on your life. If it’s just annoying to realize you spent a bunch of money on OnlyFans, but it isn’t actually doing you financial harm in other arenas and you can choose to stop spending your money that way without stressing about it, you may just need to adjust your priorities.

When a person with addiction initially uses the substance or engages in the behavior, they receive an intense rush of dopamine, causing feelings of pleasure and reward. Over time, their body may produce less dopamine and rely on the substance or behavior to feel the dopamine rush. This was without any clinical screening that should eliminate primary disorders (e.g., depression) or religious-based concerns, so these should be considered high-end estimates for potential disorders, if any exist. If your porn viewing has become compulsive, is interfering with how you feel about yourself, and has impacted your ability to function in your relationships, at work, and other aspects of your day-to-day life, know that you can get help.

Shame is an important factor in problematic porn use.

Other studies of CBT use for pornography addiction have been made but they haven’t led to any reliable conclusions. When the DSM-5 was being drafted, experts considered adding a diagnosis called “hypersexual disorder,” which would have included pornography as a subtype. But the final decision was to leave it out, based on the fact that there wasn’t enough scientific literature to substantiate it. Indeed, because many researchers do not believe that pornography addiction is a real medical condition, some doctors and counselors may feel that no treatment is necessary.

Simply viewing or enjoying porn doesn’t make you addicted to it, nor does it require fixing. Those definitions are subject to change as we learn more, according to Go Ask Alice. A Kinsey Institute survey found that 9 percent of people who view porn have unsuccessfully tried to stop.

Tips for managing pornography consumption

Anyone seeking treatment should choose a therapist whose values align with their own. Interview the therapist about their beliefs and philosophy before committing to treatment. Therapists hold varying views on pornography — some may believe that all pornography use is harmful, while others may think that it is never addictive.