If you suspect you are a pornography addict, or if you are concerned that someone you know may be a porn addict, here is information that will help.

About pornography addiction

Pornography addiction has its roots in the viewing and hording of magazine and video pornography, however these days; the porn addict has a new and frighteningly powerful and problematic enabler called the Internet.

Porn addicts can engage their Internet porn problem by viewing online still photos, by downloading porn films or with the use of webcam sex. Some use the Internet to simply view images while others eventually end up using the Internet as a vehicle to meet with anonymous sexual partners or for one night stands.

By using a webcam porn addicts can engage in real-time sexual activity with anyone willing to provide it to them – some of these situations are paid – as in online prostitution, while others are engaged with whomever shows up.

What is porn addiction?

Similar to someone with a chemical or substance addiction, porn addicts tend to replace important relationships and commitments with Internet sex or other forms of porn. Non-Internet porn addicts can be found in places like strip clubs and adult bookstores, but it is unlikely that they have a strip club addiction or an adult bookstore addiction, but rather that they have consistent and compulsive sexual problems that appear in a variety of settings.

Pornography addicts tend to isolate themselves when engaging in their sexual acting out. They can typically spend many hours or even days lost in online images and experiences. Some also lose time to Internet addictions such as online fantasy games and/or gambling sites.

Nonsexual Internet addiction can also be painfully isolating, causing real life consequences for the person addicted to online gambling or fantasy games, but Internet porn addiction also carries a moral stigma and the likelihood that important love and sex relationships will be negatively affected.

While some sex and porn addicts use compulsive masturbation as a part of their acting out, others engage only minimally in the sex act itself but nonetheless end up lose themselves to the endless sexual images and sites found online.

Some signs of porn addiction can include:

• An inability to stop the behavior (s) and porn use despite previous attempts to do so
• Anger or irritablity if asked to stop
• Hiding or attempting to keep secret all or a part of the porn use
• Continuing the behavior despite obvious consequences – like a relationship or job loss
• Getting lost in the problem porn use - i.e. Spending more time than intended, losing time

Getting Better

Stopping porn addiction involves honesty and outreach. For those addicted to porn and sexual acting out, honesty begins by finding someone knowledgeable in breaking pornography addiction and admitting entire the problem to them- without omitting the embarrassing or humiliating parts. Such people can be found in the 12-step sexual recovery meetings and through professional organizations like (SASH.NET) and (IITAP.COM), which have listings of certified sexual addiction specialists or CSAT's.

Getting help with porn addiction can feel shameful, embarrassing or humiliating, but those feelings have to be tolerated when the greater concern is that the pornography addictions will significantly interfere in the life of the sex addict or in the lives of those they love.

For the spouse of someone with an Internet pornography addiction - self-worth suffers as partners tend to blame themselves for the sexual addiction problem. Spouses often feel less-than and will compare their own bodies to the images the porn addict is viewing online. As there is no way that anyone could reasonably compare themselves to, or compete with online fantasy images and experiences, spouses are often left feeling trapped and alone with the problem.

Unlike alcohol or drug addiction, this issue can often feel too embarrassing or shameful for spouses to ask for help. It is difficult enough for most people to reach out for help with a private family matter, but when the problem is this personal, it's not like a spouse is going to announce "help my husband has a porn addiction!" at family gatherings or with friends. There are however, groups dedicated to helping spouses of porn addicts and women affected by men's addiction to porn. Similar to the 12-step programs for sex addicts, groups like S-ANON, COSA and CODA are support groups where a spouse can come to discuss these issues and maintain his or her anonymity.

Some spouses seek all the answers for their addicted partners, hoping that the porn addict simply needs to learn how to stop porn addiction and then they will stop. Unfortunately, addiction recovery involves more than leading a horse to water and providing the answers for them.

The sex addict involved in internet porn addiction often has to arrive at to his or her own conclusion to make a change, a decision that often comes a lot later than their partners would like or can tolerate.

Porn addiction help tips

Below are listed a few tips for dealing with porn addiction:

• Getting blocking software for the computer
• Putting up inspirational pictures around the computer (kids, people you love etc.)
• Moving the computer to a public space in the home – not in a den or bedroom
• Having an addiction prevention plan – to carry out when tempted
• Knowing the signs of porn addiction – both the general signs and those specific to you
• Knowing the stages of porn addiction
• Making good use of porn addiction resources like 12-step meetings, sex addiction professionals and online recovery support groups
• A commitment to breaking pornography addition has to be renewed one-day-at-a-time, it can be a set-up for the addict to think of it as forever!