Porn can be a lot like alcohol: plenty of people consume it regularly without any problems, it makes them feel good and it’s entirely possible to use it in moderation. But then again, porn is also not like alcohol, at all. Porn is not a physically addictive substance. It does not cause withdrawal symptoms. You cannot die trying to detox from porn.
For all those reasons and more, porn “addiction” is not real in any sort of clinical, diagnostic sense. Neither porn nor sex addiction are officially recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) or ICD-11,the primary diagnostic tools for mental health. And yet, as many men report, it can nevertheless become a destructive force in their lives, impacting their ability to maintain relationships, have sex and even hold a job.
All of this has made it a contentious topic. On the one hand, there’s little scientific evidence to support porn addiction’s legitimacy. On the other, people report genuine struggles with pornography that in many cases feel like an addiction. Is the trouble with porn itself, our definition of addiction or something in between? It might be even more complicated than that.
The Guardian reports that 53 percent of therapists surveyed by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) reported an increase in patients seeking treatment for “problematic porn use” in the past year.
“For many, porn only becomes a problem when it’s their main way of coping with stress, loneliness, anxiety, or boredom,” says Jessica Singh, a certified sex therapist and clinical sexologist based in Vero Beach, Florida. “This can create a cycle in which that brief relief leads to stronger and more frequent urges over time.”
“When someone says,’“I’m addicted to porn,’ what they often mean is, ‘This isn’t working for me anymore, and I don’t know how to stop,’” she says.
Of the men who report feeling addicted to pornography, there is no simple narrative. Few people report watching porn for the first time and instantly being hooked in the way someone might describe injecting heroin for the first time. Instead, there is a complex confluence of factors — in many cases, porn use is paired with another detrimental habit, or serves as a release for underlying mental health issues. The same can often be said of chemically addictive substances, too, though: According to the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, almost 32 percent of adults who had experience any mental illness in the last year also report a substance use disorder, with anxiety, depression and PTSD being common among them.
“It’s endless, there’s always something more you haven’t seen or something a bit more extreme,” says Jeff, 32, a self-described porn addict. “It fills up your head and pushes whatever else you are feeling away so whenever you don’t want to think, it’s there 24/7 for free as an escape from reality. For me, that’s pushing away boredom or feelings of awkwardness.”
When he doesn’t watch porn, he reports feelings of “withdrawal” in the form of social anxiety. While he’s been to therapy for other issues, he has never sought treatment for his porn usage. “it’s the only problem I haven’t talked to my therapist about. I pretend it doesn’t exist, and everyone seems to rather keep pretending it doesn’t exist,” he says, citing the fact that porn addiction is not clinically recognized. Still, he finds maintaining this “addiction” easier than the alternatives.
“Of all the vices I’ve ever employed to feel better, it almost feels like the healthiest,” he says. “No hangover, no monetary cost, no obvious social cost. You can shut it off and go back into work or whatever else you’re doing as easy as stubbing out a cigarette. I can be on a Teams call at work and scrolling some porn whenever there’s a lull. At 5 p.m. I’ll get up and go to the gym and hang out with friends after and have a genuinely good time. Drinking beer or smoking pot all afternoon can’t do that.” With all that said, he still finds that porn robs him of hours of his day. The longest he’s been able to abstain is three months
In some cases, problematic porn usage is also linked to substance use. As Carter, a 42 year old lawyer explains, his porn consumption was closely linked with an addiction to cocaine. “In my addiction I would wait until my wife fell asleep, especially if she had a bit of wine. I would do cocaine and masturbate for three to five hours before I came to bed,” he says. I would claim to be working in our office, I could pull it up quickly if she woke up. I also sometimes would skip work and do cocaine and masturbate all day, stopping an hour before she got off work.”
He is since divorced, has gone to sex addict meetings and pursued therapy. He also attended meetings specifically for men addicted to “chemsex,” or the practice of consuming recreational drugs to enhance sexual activity. For Carter, being “addicted” to pornography and being addicted to cocaine went hand in hand: he couldn’t appropriately treat one without treating the other.
Some experts believe the problem is not with porn, but our attitudes towards it. “Numerous studies suggest that there is more to the story than just porn and that the conflicts and struggles over porn use have more to do with morality and religion, rather than pornography itself,” says Sarah Kelleher, a sex and relationship psychotherapist based in New York City. “Yes, porn consumption can still become problematic for some. People are and do struggle with porn use, that is undeniable. However, we need to help people understand why they are struggling rather than scapegoating porn.”
As Kelleher suggests, what some may call “porn addiction” is instead a difficulty navigating the shame of viewing pornography in the context of their religious upbringing, for example. While porn is contributing to these negative feelings, their problem may stem back to a deeper problem. Wanting to quit watching pornography for spiritual reasons may indeed be a perfectly valid motivation, but it also does not inherently make you a porn addict or suggest some kind of deeper-seated issue.
In discussing porn addiction, the conversation often falls along political lines. Conservative organizations like the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, formerly known as Morality in Media, use the term to frame porn consumers as victims in an effort to shut the industry down and limit sexual freedoms among adults. Others who entirely refute the concept, meanwhile, often frame pornography as harmless fun. The reality, of course, is probably somewhere in the middle.
There are, therefore, different measures of “treatment” to be pursued accordingly. “Clinically, therapists can play a vital role in guiding clients through this process using mindfulness practices, interventions for anxiety and mood symptoms, psychoeducation, and thoughtful moral exploration,” says Kelleher. “The core issue isn’t pornography but the unresolved moral discomfort that some individuals carry, often because they’ve never been given the tools, language, or supportive space to examine these conflicts without fear of judgment or shame.”
It is possible that some changes in porn itself are shifting people’s relationships with it. “New trends like gooning show that online porn is shifting toward longer, more immersive, and more dissociative experiences,” says Singh. “Gooning is appealing because it lets people mentally escape from pressure and self-criticism. We often see that algorithms and online spaces that normalize escalation can encourage compulsive porn habits.”
Meanwhile, technological developments around AI, for example, could make pornography all the more tempting for some, providing an even more alluring escape from the stresses of daily life. Sure, it probably still won’t have the capability of “rewiring” your brain into addiction in the way anti-porn advocates describe, but the possibility for negative consequences remains. Even so, rather than demonizing porn as a monolith, perhaps our efforts are better focused on treating the isolation and unhappiness that makes over-consuming porn so appealing while untangling the stigma that leaves guys like Jeff unsure of how to get help. “I’ve thought about quitting today,” he says. “I think about quitting everyday.”
