Porn addiction is a complicated condition and it needs a holistic strategy for treatment. It can be difficult to stop watching porn suddenly. In reality, treatment can work differently for various people. Most of the time, porn addiction recovery will be similar to treatment for substance use. It may include a mix of therapy, medicines, and support. The purpose of this recovery phase is to help you minimize your porn use — or to stop watching completely.
While recovering from porn addiction can be a difficult process, it is not unattainable and the benefits of recovery are innumerable.
Continue reading to understand how to recover from porn addiction and how long does it take to break a porn addiction.
What is Porn Addiction
Porn addiction or sex addiction, is described as compulsively watching excessive pornographic content and feeling a total lack of self-control over their behaviours.
While watching porn is a normal behaviour but when it becomes excessive and has a negative influence on your life, this may be a sign that you’ve developed a harmful porn addiction.
Several people can spend numerous hours consuming porn, at the expense of their well-being. Here are some stats about porn addiction:
- In the United States, 3% of women and 11% of men self-reported a porn addiction, according to a study by the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
- More than 75% of people define themselves as recreational porn users, and nearly 12% would consider their porn usage as compulsive.
What Does Porn Addiction Look Like?
How would you know what porn addiction feels like and if you need to start recovering from porn addiction?
The following are indications your use is problematic:
- You cannot control your usage of porn. You are not able to limit your use or stop.
- You witness a cycle of excitement before and during use, followed by extreme shame and embarrassment.
- You go out of your way to conceal your porn usage from others and start isolating yourself.
- You spend significant time thinking about porn content even when you are not using it, as well as taking time to prepare when you will use it again.
- The time you spend watching pornography rises to the point of taking priority over other duties or relationships.
- Your usage of pornography has negative effects on your life. For example, you may engage in increasingly dangerous behaviours that may cause physical or emotional harm. Your use may impact your academic, or even place you at risk of losing your career.
- Your pornography use causes issues in your relationships, creates an emotional border between you and your partner, or causes people with you to feel unseen or distrustful.
Any of the indications above could mean that your pornography use is a problem and that you need to take steps to recover from porn addiction.
Why is Pornography Addictive?
While it is still discussed by researchers if watching porn can be categorised as an addiction, what is understood is that the abuse of porn can lead to negative health effects and can be addictive.
Humans can easily form addictions to behaviours that enable the brain’s dopamine centre, which causes extreme feelings of pleasure. Like drugs and alcohol, pornography activates a dopamine discharge in the brain. When someone experiences an orgasm, the body produces endorphins and there is a rise in dopamine levels, causing the person to witness feelings of pleasure like when someone uses drugs or alcohol.
A person can gain a forbearance for pornography just as they would for alcohol or drugs, meaning they will still need more stimulation every time to reach the same level of pleasure. This continuous demand for more stimulation can make some people desire potentially harmful sexual actions in real life.
Cravings occur when dopamine is activated over and over again. Watching porn can cause an increase in dopamine, which in turn causes a desire for more dopamine release.
Is Porn Addiction Recovery Possible?
Porn addiction recovery can be challenging, but with the correct strategies and help, it’s entirely possible.
For some, recovery can take a few weeks or even be lifelong. While quitting porn can happen quickly, recovery is a constant journey, and comprehending this is crucial. It is important to stay committed, be patient, and recognise that every step brings you closer to your porn addiction recovery.
Healing from any health condition is a long-term, ongoing plan, which is the same for porn addiction.
Depending on the extremity of your addiction, porn addiction recovery may need many changes and treatment strategies, including lifestyle changes, behavioural changes, therapy, support groups, and more.
The initial stage for getting help getting over porn addiction is first admitting you have a problem and seeking the right help for you.
How Long Does it Take to Recover from Porn Addiction?
Porn addiction recovery differs for each individual. To satisfy the criteria for being seen as a porn addict, you must be unable to control your usage of porn despite experiencing negative effects.
So, the porn addiction recovery timelines vary widely. Some factors affecting how long to recover from porn addiction are –
- Duration and commonness of porn use
- Type of porn material watched
- Triggers leading you to watch porn
- Other mental disorders
- The kind of problems caused by porn
- Whether you masturbate while watching porn
- How much porn you watch
- Your porn usage method
Since porn addiction recovery is an endless process that requires dedication, it depends on the above factors for how long does it take to break a porn addiction.
Also Read: Porn Addiction Recovery Timeline
10 Helpful Tips That Can Support You on Porn Addiction Recovery
There are many ways “how to recover from porn addiction” Psychotherapy is one of the best ways of fighting compulsive porn consumption. Installing a porn blocker can also help you to avoid relapsing.
Here are 10 tips on “How to heal from porn addiction?”
1] Keep a journal
If you’ve realised you have a problem and are determined to finally quit porn, it’s good to remind yourself of your reasons and try to stay committed. It can be difficult to understand how to get rid of a porn addiction yourself but you can begin by writing down your reasons for quitting. Maybe it’s affecting your relationship or creating problems at work. Every time you think about watching porn, read your goals back to yourself and talk yourself out of it.
2] Get rid of the porn
One thing you can do when thinking about how to recover from porn addiction is to get rid of the offending items. Throw out your magazines and delete any online presence of porn.
3] Understand your triggers
As with the other addictions, there will be something that triggers your porn addiction. These are stimuli that make you think about porn. It could be a picture, song, or person. Try to evade being in situations where you are exposed to your triggers.
4] Start a workout routine
First, you should create a realistic workout routine that you can do every day. Frequent exercise releases painkilling compounds called endorphins, which can help you handle withdrawal symptoms.
5] Work on your relationships
Many people start isolating from family and friends due to their addiction. During your porn addiction recovery phase, relationships can help alleviate some of the depression, anxiety, and stress of porn addiction withdrawal.
6] Find a new coping mechanism
People turn to porn to avoid stress in their lives.
You should find other coping mechanisms for stress, such as:
- Self-care: Sleep well, eat healthy exercise, and give yourself breaks when you feel stressed.
- Take time to unwind: After work, try to do something you enjoy.
- Talk to people: Communicate with your loved ones about your day and feelings.
7] Engage in productive activities.
When you are breaking your habit, you have more time for other healthy activities. Use this time to explore a new hobby. As you stop using porn, there is an opportunity to find new passions.
8] Seek professional help
If you have some underlying mental health symptoms, consider talking to a professional about your problems. Regular meetings with a therapist can help you comprehend why you’re struggling with porn addiction, why you have specific mental health symptoms, and ways to reduce such symptoms.
9] Porn addiction counselling
Porn addiction counselling can help you gain better control over your porn usage
Some therapies to consider during porn addiction recovery –
- Talk therapy helps people recognise and change problematic thoughts and even addictive behaviours.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a goal-oriented way of psychotherapy. It explores why your addiction is occurring and how porn affects your emotions.
- Sex addiction therapy is for people who have sex addiction due to porn addiction. It helps you handle factors that may be triggering your addiction.
- Couples counselling teaches people in a relationship effective ways to understand the consequences of porn addiction. Once the couple has understood their issues, they can enjoy their sex life again.
10] Support Groups
Porn addiction support groups include other porn addicts who are working towards getting over their habit. These sessions are guided by a facilitator, who is either a therapist or a former porn addict.
How to Manage Porn Addiction Relapse?
A porn addiction relapse occurs when you fall back into old patterns after trying to quit. Here’s what you can do if you feel like you are having a relapse.
1. Be patient
Relapse is a normal part of the porn addiction recovery process and the key to control it is to be patient and get back on track.
It’s especially common when you’re filled with emotions. Specific places—for example, where you used to watch porn—may also trigger a relapse.
2. Be kind to yourself
Be supportive and understanding of yourself. Relapse is part of the process and does not mean failure. If you consider relapse as a failure, you are more likely to quit the porn addiction recovery process completely.
3. Find professional help
Recovering from porn addiction can feel lonesome, especially if you don’t have support from anyone. A professional can walk you through your emotions and help you get back on track.
4. Install a porn blocker
Finally, you should find a way to avoid relapses in the future. This can be done by installing an effective porn blocker like BlockP which acts as your accountability buddy and can help you avoid relapses.
Can Sex Education Help Prevent Porn Addiction?
In a perfect world, every child grows up healthily understanding their sexuality, eradicating the risk of sexual addiction. Often, the root of sexual addiction is applied early in life when a child starts seeing themselves as a sexual being.
Clashing views about sex, explicit content versus limited dialogue create a perfect hurricane for a life controlled by secrecy and shame. These are the basis of sexual addiction in adulthood.
Thus, sex education can play a vital role in stopping porn addiction. By promoting open discussions about sex and addiction, parents and instructors can provide valid information and help children gain healthy attitudes toward porn and sex.
How does BlockP help you control Porn Addiction?
BlockP is a free porn blocker with various features that can eliminate all sorts of explicit content from your devices including photos and videos, and even keywords.
Why is BlockP the best app to help you in your porn addiction recovery process?
- Offers customizable filtering choices, allowing users to block the actual websites and keywords they don’t want to see.
- Safe and password-protected, only your accountability partner can modify the settings, making it impossible for you to bypass the blocker.
- Prevents the app from being uninstalled
- Real-time content detection and AI blocking to remove porn from your devices
- Whitelist feature that gives you power over the websites that can be accessed.
- Block distracting apps like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc.
- Block websites not just restricted to adult content but also other harmful sites you want to stay away from