How do you know if you have a sexual behavior addiction like sex, porn or masturbation? It’s not always easy to tell the difference between an addiction and a healthy relationship with sexuality. Sex for example, is one of life’s most important pleasures, but it can also be a source of great pain when we use it in unhealthy ways. If you’re struggling with your every day tasks or mental health issues and the only thing on your mind is how to seek pleasure in a sexual way then it might be time for you to think about getting help. Here are some signs and symptoms that you may have a problem:

Feelings of guilt after a sexual experience, sexual activity or viewing porn content.

Feelings of shame because of what you did or didn’t do during sex.

You find yourself thinking about sexual activity or pornographic material all the time. Your thoughts and sexual desire lead to a compulsive behavior and loss of control, effecting your daily life.

A Person with an Addiction

Sex, porn and masturbation addiction is a behavioral addiction that can ruin personal lives, sex lives,  and have negative effects and consequences such as mental health issues. In fact, these addictions can even cause physical damage to our bodies. Not only do these compulsive behaviors change the brain activity, the lifestyle and experience of someone who struggles with sex, porn or masturbation typically revolves around those behaviors and basic health needs are often left by the wayside. People neglect their nutrition and fitness and when someone is struggling with a sexual addiction they often make unhealthy choices such as drugs or excessive alcohol consumption.

Behavior engaging in sex tends to lower inhibitions as well and can lead to mental disorders such as anxiety or depression or a substance use disorder. Sexually transmitted infections are common with those who struggle with sex addiction and a sedentary lifestyle is common for those who struggle with an addiction to porn or masturbation. Sexual dysfunctions later on in life is also common and many will experience symptoms of erectile dysfunction disorder or female sexual dysfunction. 

Like other addictive behaviors, food or gambling addictions, for example,  a person who struggles with this type of addiction will often lie about their habits and try to hide them from others. They may even try to hide their behaviors by lying about who they are with or what they are doing. Relationships are often ruined or comprised. Withdrawal symptoms are also common which can be physical or emotional. Some withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, insomnia and agitation.  This is why it’s so important to get help before things go too far.

Is Your Sexual Addiction Putting You At Risk?

There are very distinct differences between sex, porn and masturbation addiction. There are commonalities between the three and there are also differences. You can be addicted to just one or all three. Each hypersexual disorder has its own unique risks. The most common risk is losing relationships. This can be romantic relationships, familial relationships or professional relationships.

A person who has strong compulsive sexual behaviors is at risk for doing things that society deems unhealthy. These include hurting themselves physically or emotionally. Some people even end their life over their sexual urge to watch pornographic material or masturbate. Others end up harming others through their actions. For instance, someone who watches pornography online could become violent to their partners or during sexual encounters. 

The Effects of Porn Addiction and What it can Lead to…

Viewing excessive porn changes the brain in a similar way substance addiction does. So think about an alcoholic, they start off with a few drinks and their consumption eventually leads to tolerance. Overtime they need more and more to get the same feeling. When viewing pornography, viewing the same type of “soft” porn just won’t do the trick and overtime, a person will need more – more graphic images, kinks, and videos that operate in the grey. Sometimes this does lead people down an illegal path, problematic pornography or a higher consumption of pornography. The regular experiences no longer bring pleasure so people start to look at other things and this is what is destroying the brain.

Symptoms of porn addiction overflows to real life – suddenly ever day life seems boring in comparison. A relationship will become dull, intimacy starts to lack and then suddenly everything will seem not in control. Relationship issues is one of the most common reasons our students seek treatment. Treatment for porn addiction is crucial for you to be able to regain control. 

The real trigger for problematic pornography and sex addiction

It is in human nature to crave human connection. Loneliness and lack of connection can often trigger a sexual addiction. The way around this is to work towards establishing healthy intimate relationships with other people. When someone has friends and family and other healthy relationships in their life, the risk for a sexual addiction decreases. Part of our program here at CSPMA is focusing on social connections. And this isn’t easy especially if you have toxic family or friends in your life or maybe your professional relationships aren’t very strong. Either way, fixing relationships helps with loneliness. 

Most common advice about porn addiction does not work long term

You may read about internet pornography addiction advice. When it comes to sexual disorders, one popular approach to porn addiction treatment is nofap. No fap was established by someone on Reddit who had an unhealthy relationship with porn and the idea is to not masturbate as a way to cure excessive pornography usage. There is no scientific evidence that this approach works. I do think it may be beneficial short term to help the body and brain return back to its baseline but long term, to never masturbate is very unreasonable and sets people up to fail. Not masturbating can reduce semen retention in males which can cause issues for pro-creating. Also, a healthy masturbation routine can help with sex addiction.

How to overcome masturbation and/or porn addiction

Recovering from a sexual addiction or hypersexual disorder should be unique to your situation. Some people search online for answers. Some people go to 12-step groups like Sex Addicts Anonymous and or take online courses. Others may need therapy or a mental health professional. But most of the time, it’s a combination of many different things. 

Here at CPSMA we offer online courses for those who struggle with sex, porn and masturbation but part of our course is having you recognize areas in your life that you may need extra support. In the beginning it’s focusing on short term such as withdrawal symptoms and getting through the first 30 days. Some of our students struggle with a mental health disorder, past sexual abuse, impulse control disorder, sexual behavior disorder, or drug and alcohol addiction, so we encourage them to try things like counselling or commitment therapy alongside the program we offer.

Some of our students also crave peer support while others prefer to keep their recovery progress private. We always encourage our students to seek a medical professional’s advice if they feel they are struggling physically. Either way, CSPMA acknowledges that and knows that this isn’t a one size fits all approach. 

Sometimes our students come to us because their experience with traditional therapy didn’t work and they need more. Whatever your situation is, we’re here for you. 

You do not need an official diagnosis to seek help. Our students and users of our program often will say they never knew the impact their addiction was having on not only themselves but everyone around them. Your quality of life will increase once you start to work on yourself. You will no longer feel a loss of control and your mental health conditions will start to also improve over time.