Pornography addiction refers to obsessive viewing of pornography without regard to negative consequences.
The term is used primarily by those actively seeking to reduce or eliminate the use of pornography. Not everyone believes that pornography addiction exists, or that the harmful effects ascribed to it are real. An Adult Video News article by Lawrence G. Walters, for instance, claims that the phenomenon has been exaggerated to promote a conservative agenda[1].
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of pornography addiction is usually informal. Some groups have created checklists or self-tests by which a person can examine themselves for "signs" of this alleged form of addiction (for example, this one). Common points include:
- Looking forward to one's next on-line session with hopes of attaining sexual arousal
- More interest in masturbation than sexual relations with one's spouse
Dr. Victor Cline mentions a model of pornography addiction with 4 assumed progressive steps:
- Addiction - A person compulsively views pornography.
- Escalation - As time progresses, the addict requires more extreme, more deviant material to get the same effect and satisfy the compulsions.
- Desensitization - The addict loses their perception of what is socially acceptable. Illegal material or those considered taboo, immoral, or repulsive seems "normal."
- Acting out sexually - "...an increasing tendency to act out sexually the behaviors viewed in the pornography, including compulsive promiscuity, exhibitionism, group sex,voyeurism, frequenting massage parlors, having sex with minor children, rape, and inflicting pain on themselves or a partner during sex." (www.setfreeporn.com/progression.htm)
Overcoming addiction
According to the University of Texas at Dallas Student Counseling Center self-help library page on pornography addiction, "One of the great rewards of overcoming a pornography addiction is the ability to be fully committed to another person in a loving way, having nothing to hide and enjoying great sex" [2]. Many pornography addicts have recounted stories of trying to quit, and then, believing they had overcome the addiction, deciding to sample it one more time. For a true addict, one image can be enough to trigger an escalating pornography binge lasting several hours[3].
Numerous websites have been founded to provide support to pornography addicts. Convenant Eyes Internet Accountability, for instance, has created software that allows addicts to link up with an accountability partner, who will automatically receive an emailed report of his internet activity (www.no-porn.com/ce.html). E-cards are also available to help addicts' significant others say, "Please get help for your pornography addiction"[4].
Connections with violence
It has been claimed that a small number of people who view pornography develop addictions which lead to violent and anti-social behavior. Pornography addictions have been linked to the enactments of serious crimes, notably in the cases of Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz. However, these links are highly suspect, since they come primarily from the criminals themselves, who have a vested interest in shifting the blame for their actions. No reputable study has uncovered a link between pornography and violence, including some which hypothesized and expected to prove such a connection, such as those of the Meese Commission.
See also
External links
- Breaking Pornography Addiction
- Free e-cards for pornography addicts and the people who love them, Fires of Darkness.
- Treatment and Healing of Sexual and Pornographic Addictions - Dr. Victor B. Cline
- Can Intimacy be Found Online? - from pornography recovery website PureIntimacy.org
- Differential Diagnosis of Addictive Sexual Disorders Using the DSM-IV by Richard Irons, M.D. and Jennifer Schneider, M.D., Ph.D.
- The Harmful Effects of Pornography by Paul J. McGeady describes Dr. Victor B. Cline's stages of porn addiction in more detail.
- How I Broke My Sexual Addiction, Exchanged Life.
- The Science Behind Porn Addiction: Senate Counter-Arguments, Lawrence G. Walters, Adult Video News Online, Dec. 2, 2004.
- Alvin Cooper et al.: Sexuality on the Internet: From Sexual Exploration to Pathological Expression
- Overcoming Pornography Addiction, University of Texas at Dallas Student Counseling Center.