What is Porn Addiction?
Porn addiction is a behavioral disorder that is less intense compared to sex addiction. It is described as a compulsive and habitual behavior of watching pornographic content and getting satisfaction from it. This can also involve downloading and storing sex videos, magazines, and photos. A person having this disorder unknowingly places a huge amount of time watching these pornographic materials.
Porn Addiction Statistics in the United States
- There are an estimated 24.5 million online pornographic websites
- 90% of young boys and 60% of young girls have been viewing pornographic content before reaching 18 years of age
- Among religious people, 50% of male and 20% of female have confessed to porn addiction
- Men are 543% more prone to have this addiction than women
- 270% of people who view sexual content experienced hiring someone for paid sex
- 79% of men ages 18 to 30 watches porn every month
- 67% of men ages 31 to 49 watches porn every month
- 49% of men ages 50 to 68 watches porn every month
What Causes Porn Addiction?
This behavioral disorder cannot be explained by a single cause. However, pornographic content is like an addictive substance which gives a rewarding feeling to any person and can lead to habitual action.
Below are some of the factors which drive a person towards this kind of behavior.
Biological
- The innate personality of being impulsive towards pleasure-seeking behavior
- High level of sex hormones such as testosterone (male) or estrogen (female) which increases sexual desire
Psychological
- An early childhood sexual trauma experience
- When a person has an existing mental disorder that affects one’s capacity to control mood and behavior. These mental disorders include anxiety, depression, personality disorder, and impulsive behavior.
Social
- The absence of healthy sexual gratification from an intimate partner
- Rejection from a social group
- Isolating oneself from other people or society: This increases the chance of developing negative emotions which pushes the person to seek unhealthy rewarding behaviors.
- Peer pressure and influence: If a person is surrounded by friends who have the habit of watching sexual content, that person is exposed to a high risk of acquiring the same behavior.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of Porn Addiction?
It is evident that the negative impacts of this behavioral disorder pose a great danger to an individual and the people around him. In order to know if a person has this behavior, below are some of its common signs and symptoms.
- Failure to stop viewing pornographic content despite several attempts
- Viewing sexual content even in public areas
- Compulsive masturbation
- Getting angry when told to stop viewing pornographic content
- Decreased sexual performance
- Hiding the fact from others about the excessive habit of watching sexual content
- Inability to track time when viewing porn videos
- Watching more intense pornographic content to get a more pleasurable feeling
- Feeling guilt from doing this behavior
- Watching sexual content as a means to cope with negative emotions
What are the Negative Effects of Porn Addiction?
Pornographic content gives a temporary pleasurable feeling but its negative effects outweigh these things. Knowing the adverse consequences of this behavior allows the person to make a strong decision of stopping this habit.
Physical Effects
- Erectile dysfunction for male: Men find it hard to gain good sexual performance from their normal partner because of the mental conditioning of an intense partner.
- Premature ejaculation
Social Effects
- Decreased desire to have a real sexual activity with a person due to the preference of watching porn videos
- Intense feeling or craving of having sexual contact with random people
- Decreased emotional attachment when performing sexual activities
Psychological Effects
- Development of depression and anxiety
- Higher chance of being sexually impulsive
- Relentless thoughts of explicit sexual content
- Loss of focus and sense of responsibility
What are some treatments for Porn Addiction?
Porn addiction like any other behavioral disorders can be treated. The first step to an effective treatment path is the awareness and acceptance of one’s weakness and recognizing the presence of the disorder. Below are some of the common options for treatment that one can adopt and apply.
Individual or Group Therapy
In individual therapy, a patient has a one-on-one session with a therapist. This treatment is used to know one’s historical background and past experiences and how it affects the current situation.
In contrast, group therapy encourages the sharing of experiences so that all members get a clearer insight and share advice with each member. The therapist and all group members get to see the actual emotional reaction upon sharing one’s experience. Most group therapy consists of five to fifteen members sharing a common issue.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy seeks to identify the negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of a patient and tries to transform them into positive ones or formulate solutions to treat those negative things. The main concept of this therapy proposes that thoughts and perceptions shape behavior.
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational interviewing seeks to help the patient find internal motivation to change one’s negative behavior. This therapy is suitable for people who are angry and hostile when told to stop certain adverse behaviors. It is commonly incorporated with cognitive behavioral therapy and support groups.
This method involves two parts:
- The therapist increases the patient’s motivation to change
- The patient is encouraged to make a commitment to establishing change
Supportive psychotherapy
This treatment applies a conversational approach towards the patient. Its goal is to avoid the patient from being anxious while formulating a practical coping mechanism for one's situation.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
This method helps the patient gain more focus on the present issues in order to have better judgment and decision on what to do. It is very useful for patients with depression and anxiety.
12 Step Recovery Program
This method is composed of 12 guiding principles one must adhere to in order to recover from any behavioral disorders and addictions. Below are the summary concepts of the 12 Step Recovery Program.
- Awareness and acceptance of one’s disorder or addiction
- Acceptance for the need for external intervention
- Understanding one’s past experiences and how it affects the present
- Formulating ways to correct mistakes
- Living life with dignity and honor
- Helping other patients to recover