It seems like a simple enough question. But determining whether you are addicted to internet pornography is actually a bit trickier than you might think.
Setting aside the fact that it isn’t an issue most people would feel comfortable walking into a doctor’s surgery or mental health clinic and asking openly about, diagnosing a porn addiction requires defining a few crucial factors. Questions that need to be answered include:
- How much porn is considered too much?
- At what point does porn use become problematic?
- Is the threshold for when porn becomes a problem the same for everyone?
- What if you’re using porn a lot but it isn’t having any negative impact on your life?
While there’s no widely accepted definition of pornography addiction in the mental health community at present, there is a condition called compulsive sexual behaviour. This is where a person engages in any kind of sexual activity to an extreme or unhealthy level which starts to have adverse consequences.
Pornography would definitely fall under the umbrella of compulsive sexual behaviour, so we can use the criteria it sets out to determine whether porn use has reached a harmful or uncontrollable level.
Diagnostic Criteria
The criteria for compulsive sexual behaviour disorder are laid out in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), a handbook used around the world to diagnose health conditions. The criteria are:
- A persistent pattern of failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges, resulting in repetitive sexual behaviour and distress.
- Continued repetitive sexual behaviour despite adverse consequences or deriving little or no satisfaction from it.
- Multiple unsuccessful efforts to control or significantly reduce repetitive sexual behaviour.
- The inability to control impulses and behaviour persists for six months or more.
- The behaviour causes marked distress or significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Looking at this specifically with regards to porn use, the main factors are:
- Uncontrollable urges: feeling a strong desire or impulse to watch porn which you find it difficult to control
- Negative consequences: porn use has led to adverse consequences such as relationship difficulties or inability to meet demands such as work or education
- Distress: as well as causing practical impairment to your day to day life, porn use caused significant emotional distress
- Unsuccessful attempts to stop using porn
To meet the official diagnosis criteria, these symptoms would need to be experienced for six months or more.
As you can see, a lot of these criteria are subjective to each individual. There’s no set marker such as “spending at least two hours per day watching porn”; it’s all about how your porn use affects you and the important areas of your life.
If your porn use is causing you serious shame or unhappiness, if it is interfering with important areas of life such as work, relationships or education, and if you can’t seem to control the urge to watch porn despite these negative consequences, it’s definitely time to do something about it.
I’m Addicted to Porn, Now What?
If the above criteria sound all too familiar, you have a choice to make. Will you continue to let porn use dictate your life and make you unhappy? Or will you take a stand and decide to act?
Addiction to porn is a sensitive subject, but you’re definitely not alone in having these struggles, and recovery is absolutely possible. The first step is talking to a qualified health professional, such as your doctor or a psychologist. Remember, these conversations will be kept in the strictest confidence.
Just like any other kind of addiction or compulsion, problematic porn use can be overcome through hard work and discipline. It’s a difficult step to take, but seeking help can lead to a life where you don’t have to feel ashamed of your porn use, or afraid of what would happen if it were discovered.
For confidential help finding the right path to take, get in touch with our team now.