What Causes Porn Addiction?

Pornography addiction is a complex issue surrounded by misconceptions. Not all people experiencing porn addiction have addictive personalities or even a high sex drive. There isn’t one singular contributor to porn addiction. Although unresolved trauma often is the root cause, various factors could lead to someone becoming addicted. So, what is it that causes millions of people to spend hours and money watching porn while sacrificing their own well-being? What causes porn addiction?

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What is Porn Addiction?

Porn addiction is when a person compulsively views pornography to the point that they become emotionally dependent on it. It may start as an innocent habit but spiral into an uncontrollable addiction. It can be difficult to determine if you are addicted to porn. If watching porn interferes with your daily life, relationships, or work and you can’t stop viewing it, you may be experiencing porn addiction.

Symptoms of porn addiction include:

• Increased porn viewership
• Feeling guilty about watching 
• Inability to control your urges
• No longer enjoying sex
• Watching porn in inappropriate settings
• Spending excessive time watching porn or money on porn
• Feeling an insatiable need
• Increased tolerance for more extreme or violent porn
• Consuming thoughts of porn
• Neglecting responsibilities to view more porn
• Feeling like you need a porn “fix”
• Experiencing low self-esteem
• Losing sleep 
• Having difficulty controlling your emotions
• Losing track of time due to watching porn 
• Hiding your porn watching from loved ones
• Lack of interest in socializing 
• Experiencing sexual dysfunction

The Data on Porn Viewing and Addiction 

Looking at the data on porn can help you understand how porn addiction affects people and how many people experience porn addiction.

Data on porn addiction: 

• 11% of men and 3% of women self-report a porn addiction 
• 12.7% of porn users self-report as highly distressed but non-compulsive 
• 75.5% of people self-report as recreational porn users
• 46% of men and 16% of women report intentional pornography use within the past week

The data shows a higher prevalence and frequency of pornography use and porn addiction than you might expect. Porn addiction is not uncommon, and anyone can be susceptible, although some people may be more inclined than others. So, what causes porn addiction, and who is most likely to be affected?

Uncovering What Causes Porn Addiction 

The root cause of porn addiction isn’t one singular perpetrator. But, it usually boils down to one theme. Watching porn makes you feel something, whether it’s pleasure, stress relief, or numbing your mind for a little bit. The behavior is operant conditioning. When watching porn, you experience a burst of emotional pleasure, incentivizing you to return for more. The more you watch, the more you reinforce the behavior, rewarding yourself with positive emotion. Before you know it, your brain craves the positive emotion, and a habit develops.

Porn addiction feeds off of basic instinct. It’s biologically natural to be sexually motivated, but when it comes at the expense of your well-being, it becomes a harmful habit.

Causes of porn addiction include:

• Trauma. When you experience trauma in adolescence or adulthood, it can stick with you and affect many other aspects of your life. Turning to coping methods like porn is common since your brain attaches a positive sentiment to the behavior. It can provide temporary relief or distraction from emotional trauma.
• Unhealthy Coping. When dealing with unwanted feelings, it can feel easier to try to numb them or “turn them off.” Watching porn can feel like an escape, although temporary. You might use porn as a coping mechanism for bad things in your life. 
• Isolation. If you have become isolated due to personal preference or external circumstances, you may seek sexual gratification from accessible sources. Porn can make you feel wanted and worthy, but this artificial feeling can be dangerous. The more you look to porn for these feelings, the more difficult it becomes to feel them organically. 
• Intimacy Issues. If you struggle to form and maintain relationships, you may turn to porn as a way of experiencing fulfillment without the emotional investment. This habit can aggravate your ability to form meaningful connections in real life if you learn unrealistic expectations and behaviors from porn.

Matt Wenger, Clinical Director at Begin Again Institute, said sex addiction is primarily an intimacy disorder, so it harms all intimate relationships, including those with romantic partners, parents, and friends.

“People dealing with sex addiction usually feel isolated and lonely, feeling the need for connected relationships but unsure how to foster them,” he said.

Biological Results of Porn Addiction

Porn doesn’t just stem from seeking pleasure. Many people with porn addictions say they don’t enjoy watching porn, but they still can’t stop. That’s because watching porn affects your brain’s neurochemistry and creates a chemical imbalance. 

Porn acts on the brain’s reward system, which processes dopamine. Dopamine drives you to seek out things or feelings, like food, entertainment, and pleasure. Once you achieve your reward, the brain remembers that stimulation and reacts accordingly. You learn to expect the reward. The more you watch porn, the more reinforced the behavior becomes. Porn hardwires your brain into thinking continuous dopamine stimulation is normal. Your reward system is trained to expect porn and expect it often, continuing the dopamine loop that can feel impossible to escape.

When you continuously experience bursts of dopamine, the brain goes into overdrive, overproducing more dopamine than it can handle. It starts to become desensitized to normal stimuli, meaning you need more extreme porn or a much larger amount to get the same fix. You’ll start to experience downregulation, which is when receptors make your brain and body less receptive to the substance you’re seeking. Essentially, you build tolerance by shutting down the receptors in your brain.

Societal Influences on Porn Usage

It’s natural to look at what other people are doing for inspiration, but sometimes societal pressures can be harmful. Social influences can trigger or encourage behaviors that enable porn addiction.

Effects of societal influences on porn usage include: 

• Cultural Norms. Despite being a normal human behavior, discussion around sex can feel taboo. This stigma leads people to research sex and sexual behaviors on their own, often turning to porn for guidance. Watching porn can feel intimate and secretive. The more you watch, the less you feel you can stop. Soon, you’ve developed a habit that you may feel guilt or shame about. It can feel impossible to get help without exposing your secret. 
• Easy Accessibility. Porn is available 24/7, anywhere, anytime. With free websites or inexpensive subscriptions, almost anyone can access it with the secrecy of private browsers. The easier it is to find porn, the easier it is to form a habit.
• Secrecy. Porn use feels private. Because you can access it privately from your own devices, it feels like a harmless pursuit that no one will ever find out about. You may even assume that everyone else behaves the same way you do. 

Getting Help for Porn Addiction

Even if you can stop watching porn for a time, porn addiction is unlikely to go away. You’ll probably need help identifying and treating the root cause to truly recover.

A mental health professional can help you work through the past events that led to your addiction. Over time, you can recognize maladaptive behaviors, determine unmet needs, and implement coping strategies. A mental health professional can also utilize various techniques and methods to help you manage your addiction. 

An intensive treatment offers the option of removing the stressors of daily life while you work with counselors on healing and recovery for a short time. With 24/7 care, you can feel comforted knowing you have the support you need for recovery. 

Group therapy can be extremely validating, as it allows you to meet and share with others with similar experiences. It helps diminish the shame often accompanying porn addiction. Support groups can offer opportunities for an accountability partner to help encourage and empower you. 

Nate Geyer, Primary Therapist at Begin Again Institute, said treatment for sex addiction allows clients to connect with themselves and others in an emotionally profound way. 

“Those in treatment come to realize that they are not alone in their hurts,” he said. “It creates a space for individuals to lift themselves up out of shame by challenging negative core beliefs and feeling the truth of self-worth and compassion.”

Getting the Lasting Care You Need

Porn addiction can feel isolating and inescapable. But by taking the first step and asking for help, you’re already on the road to healing.
At Begin Again Institute, we offer programs to create a solid foundation for lasting recovery. Contact us to learn more about our innovative treatment model that helps real people change their life.

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