Pornography is not new and it’s always been controversial but in the digital age, it has become widespread due to advancing technology and easy internet access. According to different international studies, about 50 to 99% of men and 30 to 86% of women use porn. Many people consider it a solid source of sexual education or a harmless personal entertainment and feel absolutely fine about it. But like all forms of online entertainment (social networking, gaming, gambling, surfing), pornography has a strong tendency to be addictive. For some people, watching porn can become a destructive habit which often goes together with masturbation addiction. If that happens, excessive pornography use starts to interfere with other aspects of people’s lives and negatively affects them. 

What Is Porn Addiction?

It’s important to note that “porn addiction” is not considered as addiction in the clinical sense of the word by many medical and psychiatric professionals and is not formally diagnosed as a hypersexual disorder. But it still remains a real issue that so many people struggle with. Although there are no definite diagnostic criteria for this disorder, it still qualifies as a process (behavioural) disorder or an impulse-control disorder. 

When people develop addiction to substances or activities, they actually become addicted to the effect of those activities and drugs on the brain. Addictions can occur when certain drugs are added to the body and alter the brain function. In the same way, certain activities like eating, gambling, and sex can result in a similar effect and lead to changes in brain activity that are similar to those seen in someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol. 

When people view porn, it triggers the reward center of the brain. Watching porn increases levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that causes a feeling of pleasure and provides motivation to repeat such behaviour and feel excited again. The more you watch porn, the more dopamine floods your brain, and the stronger your urges are to keep doing it. Over time, due to changes in the flow of your brain’s reward system, you can’t experience normal pleasure and need higher doses of dopamine to get your fix. 

How Do I Know if I’m Addicted to Porn?

Watching pornography can become an addiction just like any other sexual activity that feels out of control, for example, orgasm addiction or masturbation addiction. We can speak about porn addiction when it has negative consequences on your behaviour and you spend hours watching porn instead of doing other important tasks and can’t quit even if you want to stop it. 

“I think I’m addicted to porn. What can I do about it?” Most porn addicts experience a set of common signs and symptoms. If you feel that your sexual behaviour is out of control, take our simple online sex addict test to see if you suffer from porn addiction. 

How to Tell If You Are Addicted to Masturbating and Porn

Not everyone who watches porn is an addict but it’s hard to say why watching porn can become an out-of-control behaviour. So how do you find out if you are addicted to porn? Warning signs and symptoms of porn addiction are similar for men and women and here are some of them.

• Increased amount of time you spend on watching porn with many hours and even days lost in pornography
• Keeping your porn use secret from loved ones
• Feeling bored with regular porn and watching progressively more intense or bizarre sexual content
• Feeling depressed, guilty or ashamed about viewing porn
• Making repeated attempts to stop using porn and failing
• Continuing to view porn in spite of the fact that it’s disrupting your life and leads to relationships problems, financial troubles, declined productivity at work and so on
• Inability to enjoy sex without viewing pornography
• Using porn to escape real life problems

Harmful Effects of Pornography Addiction

When porn addiction becomes problematic and gets out of control, it interferes with your everyday life, hurts your body and mind, and causes a lot of problems. Here are some of the negative side effects of porn addiction:

• Neglecting other aspects of a person’s life like school, work, family, and socializing
• Sexual dysfunction with real partners
• Inability to share genuine intimacy with a partner that can ruin relationships
• Increased risk of infidelity, divorce, illegal, and unethical activity
• Financial issues because lots of money are spent on pornography
• Inability to build lasting romantic relationships

Have you recognized any of the above mentioned signs and side effects of porn addiction? If your answer is yes, you should reach out for help.

I’m Addicted to Porn. What Can I Do to Break Free?

If you feel you are struggling with pornography or need advice on how to stop masturbation addiction, being educated on harmful effects of porn on the brain, real-life relationships, and society as a whole is the first step on your way to quitting this habit. The next step is admitting that you have a problem, taking it seriously, and making every effort to overcome this harmful habit and replace it with healthy habits. 

Like any other behavioural addictions, porn addiction can happen to anyone. It may start as a form of escape from emotional discomfort during a period of time when you are depressed, anxious, feel lonely or bored. But the good news is that you can stop doing it on your own, by joining a support group or by connecting with others on a science-based recovery platform and to become porn-free. 

Porn addiction is highly linked to addiction to masturbation. So breaking one addiction is crucial for breaking the other. If you can’t stop watching porn and are concerned that you might be addicted to masturbation, start a free LadderOut account right now. No obligations, no credit card needed. Just follow the precise journey to a better life without porn.

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