Watching porn is a common pastime for many people. Studies estimate that only about 6% of men claim to have never watched porn.
Sometimes, routinely watching porn may prove beneficial for sexual education and self-exploration, but porn addiction is problematic as it interferes with a person’s personal and professional life.
Porn addiction is similar to other dependencies as it has numerous adverse effects. While porn addiction is not officially recognized as a disorder, increased consumption of pornographic content significantly affects your mental health as it is similar to a behavioral problem such as a hypersexual disorder.
If you feel compulsive or recognize any signs of porn addiction, you must develop an effective strategy to combat porn addiction. Otherwise, it will have a detrimental impact on your life as it has various long-term effects.
Addiction To Porn
Here are the various signs and symptoms of porn addiction.
• Difficulty controlling sexual thoughts
• Unable to stop watching porn
• Craving pornographic content
• Require extreme content
• Experiencing irritability when unable to view porn
• Craving explicit content persistently
What Causes Porn Addiction?
Porn addiction has several causes. Experts agree that a variety of factors contribute to the addiction, including biological, environmental, psychological, and cultural factors.
Some people depend on porn to satisfy their sexual needs, while others watch it out of boredom. Unfortunately, porn addiction can manifest various mental health problems such as the following.
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Narcissistic personality disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Many people use porn as a means to escape psychological distress. Porn acts as an outlet to relieve discomfort.
Subsequently, relationship issues trigger porn consumption. People unsatisfied with their relationships also turn to porn sites for sexual activity. Virtual sexual fantasies distract people from facing their problems.
Besides this, porn addiction also manifests through various cultural norms. Since cultures follow the specific pattern of how people should look or act, porn provides the means of different self-expression during sex. These factors keep people hooked on watching porn regularly.
Long-Term Effects Of Porn Addiction
Porn is quite accessible, which makes it easy for you to depend on erotic content. According to a study, people who consumed a lot of pornographic material had an increased brain reaction when presented with porn.
Similar reactions are observed in people with substance and gambling addiction. Beyond these changes, excessive consumption of porn leads to various mental health disorders.
Encourages Mental Health Disorders
A heightened appetite for porn is linked to generalized anxiety disorders. Besides this, hypersexual disorder, mood disorders, and substance abuse also result from porn addiction.
In addition, when porn addicts do not consume erotic material, it causes distress and associated symptoms.
Porn Affects Your Partner’s Self-Esteem
Since excessive consumption of porn results in low self-drive, it can significantly affect your partner’s self-esteem. In addition, when you draw away from your partner, your partner questions their self-worth and sexual activities.
Normalization Of Rape Myths And Violent Behaviour
Porn addicts tend to explore various categories of porn to satisfy their needs. Sometimes, addiction makes porn addicts consume more violent and graphic content to satisfy their urges.
People who struggle with porn addiction may internalize that violent behavior and rape myths are acceptable, resulting in people being coercive, which makes them forceful with their partners.
Increased Rate Of Infidelity
About 40% of relationships and 25% of marriages experience an infidelity-related incident. As infidelity is a result of dissatisfaction in relations, porn addiction can contribute to an increase in the likelihood of infidelity by 300%. Therefore, one of the many long-term effects of porn addiction is infidelity when a partner’s sexual needs are unmet.
Increased Depression
People who watch more pornographic content regularly are more likely to have depression than those who rarely consume erotic material.
Many people recognize porn addiction, but they are unable to stop it. It leads to constant distress, which can be a potential reason for increasing depression.
How Porn Addiction Can Wreck Your Sex Life
One of the many long-term effects of porn addiction includes a low sex drive and poor sex life. Porn addiction causes several problems that affect your sex life. These problems include the following.
• Loss of interest in sex with your partner
• Difficulty becoming aroused
• Difficulty achieving orgasm without viewing porn
• Feeling compulsive and out of control
• Extremely low sex drive
• Becoming demanding during sex
• Having intrusive thoughts and fantasies
• Sexualizing violent behavior
• Growing dissatisfaction
• Sexual dysfunctional
• Being coercive
• Delayed ejaculation and erectile dysfunction
• Increased interest in abusive and risky behavior during sex
Relationship Dissatisfaction
Excessive consumption of erotic material causes relationship dissatisfaction. About 40% of sex addicts lose interest in their partners.
According to research, people engaging in cybersex and pornography lose interest in sex due to dissatisfaction. Consequently, their partners also lose interest in sex, increasing infidelity and relationship dissatisfaction.
People start to make comparisons when viewing different bodies and intimate relations. Unfortunately, the comparison between their partner and a professional sex worker can significantly harm a partner’s self-esteem.
Moreover, porn addicts have unhealthy fantasies which can affect their sexual experience, leaving them unsatisfied.
Porn Affects Intimacy Between Partners
While anyone is subjected to porn addiction, it is more common in men. This trait is highly problematic for their partners as men pull away emotionally from their significant others.
Such people form secretive traits. They also have increased depression due to dissatisfaction. Besides this, the type of porn a person views also contributes to dwindling intimacy.
Final Words
Porn addiction can result in long-term psychological and relational problems. It can affect a person’s ability to function and cause significant mental health disorders. People who struggle with porn addiction feel ashamed and cannot seek help.
But despite the dominating nature of porn, an individual can successfully manage their porn addiction with determination by seeking help from mental health professionals who recognize the underlying causes and devise a treatment strategy.
Porn addicts may experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability and physical side effects, but with the right help, they can overcome porn addiction successfully.