Porn addiction: Symptoms, Effects, Causes, and Treatment for Porn Addiction

Porn is a fantasy getaway in an audio and video format with an output aiming to entertain, stimulate and satisfy an individual’s sexual desires. Pornography is prevalent and desired, especially among the youth population, to cater there curiosities and newly developed needs.

However, porn displays an untrue version of the act of sex. The figures, movements, actions, and scenes are highly unnatural, and it sets a very unrealistic idea of sex in the viewer’s mind.

What is porn addiction?

Porn addiction refers to a person’s extreme dependency on porn to the extent that it makes his other areas of life dysfunctional. Porn addiction, like every other addiction, leads to negative impacts on their progress professionally, physically, and mentally. The dependency on porn causes social anxiety and leads a person to detach himself from realistic scenarios.

Porn addiction might also lead further to developing a hypersexual disorder, covering the symptoms of excessive masturbation aggressive and compulsive sexual behavior. Emotional dependency over porn directly hampers the relationships and wellbeing of that individual.

Symptoms of porn addiction

• Using porn as a coping mechanism against anxiety, stress, or daily life problems.

• Engaging in extreme versions of porn to experience intense levels of satisfaction and find the normal and moderate ones boring and less exciting.

• Excessive masturbation or compulsive and risky sexual behavior that can be harmful to oneself and the partner. It is copying the behavior displayed in pornography, losing the conscience that supports reality. It can jeopardize one’s career if one engages in such activity at the workplace or academic setting.

• Decreased interest in one’s own sex life as it feels less exciting than the one shown in porn. One cannot understand the unnatural settings and expects the same in real life leading to disappointment on the grounds of pleasure.

• Dysregulation in cognitive actions and behaviors as a result of sexual frustration. Sexual frustration refers to the discrepancy between desired sexual experience and the one in reality.

• Engaging in watching porn and sabotaging the typical responsibilities and routine. The mind is preoccupied with the mental images and visuals from porn. It is purchasing expensive devices, gadgets, and sources with pornographic content.

• Feelings of guilt and shame after watching porn, deciding to quit it, yet engaging in it repetitively and getting stuck in a loop and having difficulty establishing control over self.

• Emotional, physical and psychological distress leading to severe mental health issues like depression. Distorted relationships and lack of focus eventually develop mental frustration.

What causes porn addiction?

• From the biological perspective, porn addiction can be a result of changes or fluctuations in the levels of neurotransmitters and chemicals in the brain that are responsible for sex drive, arousal, and mood. Norepinephrine and serotonin control the mood, and higher levels of the same might contribute to heavy and compulsive sexual behavior and porn usage.

• Emotional explanation for porn addiction can be the vulnerability of the mind. Rejection from a loved one or probable partners or loss of someone similar can create an emotional void. Porn can be an outlet of the expression associated with such traumas. Dissatisfaction in sexual life leads to sexual frustration, further followed by using porn

• Culturally also, there are some patterns and mindsets associated with the way one has sex, types of sexual pleasure, and the “shoulds and musts” regarding sex. One might be driven to pornography to find a way out of the norms or cater to one’s curiosity.

• Psychological point of view says that if one has underlying psychological illnesses like depression, forms of anxiety, social anxiety, or sexual disorders, one might use porn to escape the distress caused by them. Although porn can be soothing at times, it only aggravates the symptoms of the existing mental problems.  

Treatment for porn addiction

• Psychotherapies for porn addiction can involve Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Both therapies are helpful to manage and effectively reduce the symptoms and build a healthier thought process, naturally improving the behaviour. The ACT helps one be comfortable around negative feelings and helps break their association to porn, lowering the frequency of viewing it.

• Psychodynamic approach might also help figure out our suppressed traumas or sexual needs that are unmet or any suppression associated with sexual behavior.

• Introspection about where porn stands in your life and checking its worth in detail is critical. We often get answers from within, and all we need is to ask and understand ourselves.

• Regular exercise, walking, and meditation help one manage mental as well as physical wellbeing. The regulation of natural bodily cycles is essential for emotional health as well. Once the energy is channelized enough during a healthy regime, the body and the mind do not feel the negative cravings, deprivations, or compulsions of any kind.

• If there are any underlying mental illnesses that lead to porn addiction as an escape, they need to be cured with medications with the help of a medical professional.

What does research tell about porn addiction? 

A research paper published in 2014, in the PMC journal of behavioural sciences under the neuroscience of internate pornography addiction, says that most internet searches about porn do not have a specific time limitation. The searches occur at any time of the day. Oddly surprising is the fact that many searches in the categories of compulsive sex, forces sex, explcit sexual content, impulsive sex, out of control sex, hypersexual disorder, problem sex. This is an alarming and concerning sign when it comes to the subject of porn addiction effects and usage. 

Another research article published under PMC in 2019 with the name online porn addiction, shows that there is an upsurge in the graph of pornography related searches and viewers day by day. It is predicted that this might lead into adverse porn addiction effects causing problems in sexual development and sexual functioning, especially in the younger population. 

Porn addiction is not officially considered a disorder yet, but it has its significance and is different from sex addiction. Porn addiction is fortunately curable, but it is essential to have acceptance towards yourself or the one who has it. Motivating someone with porn addiction to seek therapy without judging or commenting on their condition is the best way of help we can offer.

Read More:

What is Sex Addiction, What Causes It, and How to Overcome It?

Paging Dr. Internet: The Problem with Over-Pathologizing and Self-Diagnosis