What is porn?
Pornography, or porn for short, refers to content that contains explicit sexual behaviours, including nudity, utilised to increase sexual arousal and interest. The content can be written, visual or audio in format, including texts, videos, and photographs. Specific forms of pornography may be considered harmful and even illegal – for example, when it is violent in nature, depicts non-consensual sex, or involves children.
Historically, pornographic material was more challenging to obtain – the magazine on the top shelf of the news agency or a video purchased from a store. Now, porn is only a few clicks of the mouse or a couple of taps on the screen away – accessible anywhere, at anytime.
According to a 2017 study, 84% of men and 54% of women in Australia have viewed porn, with the average age of the first exposure to porn being 13.2 years for males and 14.1 years for females. Along with these statistics, there are concerns young people are receiving and internalising harmful attitudes and behaviours due to porn use, including normalising violence and participation in sexually coercive behaviour.
Is it wrong to watch porn?
Unless you have a religious or moral objection against sexually explicit material, watching porn is not inherently wrong. Many people use porn for sexual pleasure by themselves or with their partner. Experiencing sexual pleasure is considered to be a normal, basic human need.
However, because porn is so accessible these days, it can be challenging for people to manage their consumption of sexually explicit material healthily. Porn taps straight into the human brain’s pleasure centre, and this particular part of our brain wants more and more and more once it is activated. This part of the brain also doesn’t care about the quality of your life – it just wants to experience pleasure. Porn use can cause issues in one’s life when the pleasure centre begins to take priority, disrupting the brain’s other essential responsibilities and functions.
What happens if I watch too much porn?
Pornography, when used excessively, can cause problems for people emotionally, physically, sexually and interpersonally.
Porn use can increase your risk of developing anxiety or depression. Watching porn can become compulsive and impact on your day-to-day functioning, leading to emotional dysregulation. As your brain becomes used to the dopamine (the hormone your brain releases to make you feel pleasure) that it receives when you use porn, it can become dependent upon it, making it harder to find the motivation to carry out your usual activities. Similarly, watching porn is an activity that requires very little energy – consuming porn often and for extended periods means that you are less active. Porn overuse can also lead to difficulties with sleeping.
Overuse of porn can lead to sexual challenges. Often, people who use porn excessively find they are unable to get an erection in the absence of porn, or they can find sexual interactions with their partner or other people less satisfying when compared to how aroused they feel from porn. Extreme porn use can also lead to problems with premature ejaculation and a decrease in libido.
People in relationships who engage in excessive porn use often experience more complex sexual and social difficulties as well. Common outcomes of porn overconsumption include a negative impact on one’s attraction to their partner. Although a person who watches porn excessively may still find their partner physically attractive, they would often prefer to engage with pornography (which is typically depicts unrealistic, fantasy versions of sex) than participate in a sexually intimate way with their partner. When or if a person affected by porn addiction wants to engage in sexual intimacy, their frequent porn use often results in unrealistic expectations about their’s or their partners’ sexual performance. Furthermore, it can lead to objectifying behaviour towards the person they are engaging with sexually. Excessive porn use can lead to problems within your relationship, and your partner might feel cheated on and betrayed.
The overuse of porn can lead to antisocial behaviours outside of romantic and sexual relationships too, including isolating oneself, choosing to watch porn over participating in other activities or socialising with family and friends. Watching too much porn might also lead to you engaging with other, increasingly risky behaviour, or it might result in the development of a self-centered approach to intimacy.
What is a porn addiction?
The overuse of pornography is an increasingly prevalent mental health issue and an area of concern for many. Porn addiction can be defined as a behavioural addiction, centred around a compulsive desire to consume pornography. Although it doesn’t have a formal diagnosis and isn’t included in the DSM-V-TR (the guide utilised by mental health professionals to classify and diagnose mental disorders), porn addiction can be described as any use of pornographic material that creates significant negative consequences for someone personally, professionally or interpersonally.
Typically, someone who is addicted to porn experiences a lack of control over their porn consumption, which then significantly impacts their everyday life. Unhealthy or dependent porn use involves strong feelings of compulsivity. Another indicator of the problematic consumption of porn may be that a person often feels deep shame, guilt and regret about their porn use.
What are the signs of porn addiction?
Although there is no clinical diagnosis of porn addiction, there are some apparent symptoms that may indicate someone has a problem with porn, including:
- A decrease in interest in or engagement with regular activities, in favour of watching porn
- Difficulty regulating one’s use of porn, including an inability to reduce or quit porn use
- The feeling that porn use is interfering with one’s everyday life
- Utilising porn despite knowing that it is harming one’s life, relationships, body and/or mind
- Identifying oneself as having a habitual or compulsive relationship to porn
- Significant emotional distress, including feelings of shame and guilt
What are the effects of having a porn addiction?
The impacts of a porn addiction on one’s life can be broad, wide-ranging, and destructive. These effects differ from person to person, as every individual is unique, with their own set of circumstances and histories. Still, there are some commonalities reported about the impacts of unhealthy porn consumption. These common effects of porn addiction include:
- Decreased quality of relationships
- Low self-esteem
- Reduced level of sexual satisfaction
- Decrease in sexual intimacy
Besides creating difficulties in relationships, porn addiction can impact other areas of people’s lives, including:
- Difficulties with employment and productivity, due to watching porn at the workplace or not showing up to work, for example
- Feelings of sexually inadequacy or performance anxiety due to the unrealistic performances that porn actors display
- Erectile problems or dysfunction
- Criticism of one’s own appearance or body, along with general self-esteem issues
- Engagement in increasingly risky behaviours
- Sexual dysfunction
- Other related psychological conditions, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorder
Treatments available for porn addiction
Treatment for porn addiction needs to be indiviualised and targeted, to explore and treat what it is precisely that is driving the person’s behaviour. With a psychologist or counsellor, treatment for porn addiction will focus on exploring how you can manage your behaviours and habits around porn. A mental health professional creates a safe, non-judgemental space to explore underlying causes, develop coping strategies, challenge negative patterns, teach relaxation techniques, and develop tools to manage daily life effectively. During a counselling session, you can expect to engage in open and supportive discussions about your concerns, emotions, and experiences. Therapists attending Brisbane Counselling Centre are understanding and caring, and they want to listen, provide guidance, offer coping techniques, and assist you to develop strategies to manage your porn addiction.
Common therapeutic approaches used in treating porn addiction include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based therapy, and psychodynamic therapy. When relevant, therapy for porn addiction may also aim to address underlying stress or trauma, utilising trauma-informed methods such as EMDR. You and your partner might also require couples therapy, in order to work towards repairing any relationship damage caused by unhealthy porn use.
The choice of approach will depend on your individual needs, as assessed by and discussed with your psychologist or counsellor.
We can help!
If it’s a professional, consistent and caring affiliation you seek, and you are interested in learning more about how Brisbane Counselling Centre can assist you with porn addiction, our psychologists and counsellors are available to help. Please call to speak with one of our friendly team members to discuss your needs further.
