Is it Possible to Cope With Porn Addiction on Your Own?

   Sexologists, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists receive many requests to treat porn addiction. However, the World Health Organization does not officially include this disorder in the list of mental disorders. Pornography addiction is expressed in the compulsive desire to watch, read and think about porn and sex, negatively affecting the person's quality of life and their family (environment).

   If you lose your sense of reality while watching porn, have difficulty performing daily and work-related duties, become socially isolated, become irritable and aggressive, and avoid or ignore standard intimacy, this is a clear sign of a problem.

   Awareness of porn addiction is the first step in working on it. At the initial stage, it is important to establish what you would like to change in your life. 

   Total or Partial Renunciation of Porn

   It is necessary to assess the extent of the craving for porn. How frequent is the viewing: daily, several times a day, and is that number increasing? To what extent do thoughts of restricting porn viewing cause anxiety? How much does the genre of the video cause feelings of shame or guilt after you've finished watching it? Does masturbation accompany each time? If the anxiety is severe when giving up porn, it will be difficult to cope alone, and it is better to seek help from specialists. On your own, you can start by completely giving up watching porn. Then organize this activity, creating a kind of viewing schedule. As an option, watch only a particular genre of porn.

   Find the Causes of Addiction

   It is important to deal with the problems that cause porn addiction. People who watch porn excessively often have difficulties establishing real sexual contact. They can not meet new people and have sex because of anxiety about poor erections, complexes about appearance, attitudes about "own uselessness," "unattractiveness," "unworthiness," and thoughts of higher expectations from the partner. Perhaps the departure into virtual reality occurred because of existing problems in the present, chronic stress, depression, and other reasons. It is necessary to understand from what moment it became a problem.

   These questions can be solved independently if the porn addiction has appeared relatively recently (less than six months) and have no deep expression. Some are helped by reading unique literature, watching videos of how others have dealt with a similar problem, and frank conversations help some with their loved ones. It is essential to understand that it is possible to cope with porn addiction. Consult a sexologist (psychotherapist, psychiatrist) if you cannot cope independently.