How to Help and Support a Partner with Porn Addiction
Porn addictions are one of the least discussed addictions. How can you help when your partner is addicted to porn?
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When you first start looking into how to support a partner with porn addiction, you likely feel lost and defeated. Public awareness on the impact of drug and alcohol addiction has spread widely over the past few decades. Many people understand the cycle of addiction to drugs and alcohol and the impact it has on the lives of the addict or alcoholic.
Understanding and awareness surrounding porn addiction still falls behind, though. Perhaps it’s due to the stigma of shame that surrounds watching porn. Maybe it has something to do with the lack of an official psychiatric diagnosis. Regardless, if your partner is addicted to porn, you understand the way it weighs on them and strains your relationship.
Are you looking for more information on how to support a partner with porn addiction? Keep reading to find out some of the resources available to you and your partner.
Porn Addiction Statistics
Pornography, especially with the rise of porn on the internet, is a massive, worldwide, 13 billion dollar industry. Internet pornography exploded with the introduction of the world wide web in the 1990s. Since then, the consumption of online porn has only grown.
Techaddiction.ca compiled various studies and found that:
- 42.7 percent of internet users (or 102.4 million people) view porn
- 40 million Americans regularly visit pornographic websites
- 200,000 Americans are “porn addicts,” or spend 11 hours or more per day watching porn
- 12 percent of websites contain pornographic content
- 28,258 people are watching porn at any given second
Despite the widespread impact of porn on America, little understanding still exists. People don’t often talk about porn or how often they watch it. Awareness will rise as greater numbers of researchers continue conducting and publishing studies. You will be able to better support a partner with porn addiction.
Women Struggle with Porn Addiction Too
Watching porn seems to be a males-only activity. A large majority of porn is produced with men as the target audience. Scantily-clad women dominate the seeming majority of films produced and published online. You might think that only men deal with addiction to porn. This isn’t exactly the case, though. Millions of women watch porn, too.
In fact, one study revealed that 1 in 3 people who watch porn are women, more than 13 million nationwide. 17 percent of women admit to struggling with porn addiction. Additionally, 20 percent of men admit to watching porn online at work. They aren’t alone, though. The 13 percent of women who watch porn at work follow closely behind.
You might feel alone if you’re a man trying to support your partner with a porn addiction. Hopefully the above statistics help you realize that other men have partners addicted to porn as well. There is still hope to find help for your loved one.
Hypersexual Disorder, Sex Addiction, and Porn
As time passes, awareness and understanding around porn addiction continues increasing in the medical community. Yet there is still no official psychiatric diagnosis for porn addiction. While the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) refers to gambling addiction and internet gaming disorder, there is no talk of porn addiction.
Instead, psychiatrists and psychologists categorize viewing porn as a criteria to qualify for hypersexual disorder, or sex addiction. In order to classify for hypsersexual disorder, the person must be 18 years or older. They also must show at least four of the five behaviors over a period of six months. The symptoms of hypersexual disorder include:
- Spending excessive time consumed with thoughts or fantasies that are sexual in nature, or planning on engaging in sexual behavior.
- Engaging in the imagined fantasies in order to fight back against or ignore negative moods or feelings.
- Engaging in sexual behaviors to relieve or distract from stress in life.
- Trying to control, limit, or eliminate sexual behaviors but not succeeding.
- Continuing to engage in sexual behaviors regardless of the physical or mental damage caused to others or to themselves.
Watching porn may limit some of the sexual behaviors performed with others. The act still impacts the addict themselves, though, and their ability to form relationships with other people. Does your partner show signs of hypersexual disorder? If so, it may be easier to find help to support your partner with a porn addiction.
How to Support a Partner with Porn Addiction
Despite the smaller number of resources available to support a partner with porn addiction, help is still available! Websites like Your Brain on Porn and organizations such as Fight the New Drug aim to raise awareness surrounding porn addiction.
Seeking mental health treatment at an inpatient rehab facility like Hawaii Island Recovery may help as well. Oftentimes porn addiction stems from other mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem. Treating the root cause helps limit or eliminate these unhealthy behaviors.
If you want to support your partner with porn addiction, call our office today at
Someone will direct you to resources that will help both you and your partner work through this difficult time. Remember – you don’t have to be alone if you ask for help!