Four decades of healing history, the top experts in an often-misunderstood field, and the most advanced approaches to address a wide range sexual addiction and behavioral disorders.
Our comprehensive program addresses sexual addictions, unresolved trauma, and co-occurring issues, going beyond symptoms to explore root issues and lay the groundwork for lasting healing.
Group and one-on-one therapy are just the beginning. We employ a wide range of methods and modalities, including valuable peer support, to address each person’s unique needs.
Let us help you determine if our program is right for your situation, discuss insurance coverage, payment options, and let you know what to expect upon arriving at treatment.
Change takes work, but it can’t be harder than living with unresolved addiction, trauma, and other disorders. If you or someone you love needs help, we’re ready and waiting.
Pornography has become nearly impossible to avoid, with the internet providing easy access anytime, anywhere. The American Psychological Association (APA) attributes this to the web’s accessibility, affordability, and anonymity, making it easier than ever to consume porn. As a result, many people struggle to distinguish between recreational viewing and problematic consumption, leading to porn addiction.
If you’re finding it hard to control your porn use, you’re not alone — but learning how to stop porn addiction is vital before it ruins your relationships and your life.
Watching porn itself doesn’t automatically mean you have an addiction. Some people use porn recreationally, watching it out of curiosity or for educational and exploratory purposes. However, problematic porn consumption is rising globally — up to 16.6%, according to Addiction journal. Across countries, genders, and sexual orientations, many face an uncontrollable urge to watch porn, causing distress and impairing daily functioning, shares PsyPost.org.
When you can’t control your porn consumption, you might be struggling with porn addiction. This condition involves compulsively watching porn to the point that it negatively affects your relationships and overall well-being. It’s no longer an occasional, leisure activity; instead, your life begins to revolve around porn. You feel unable to function without it, even if you want to quit. This is due to the underlying effects porn addiction has on your brain.
Over time, watching porn can slowly rewire your brain. Each time you consume porn, your brain releases a surge of dopamine — a feel-good chemical that signals pleasure and reward. This can make porn a go-to coping mechanism for stress, difficult emotions, or underlying trauma. However, the more you watch, the more your brain builds a tolerance to this dopamine rush. As a result, the pleasure porn once provided isn’t as intense, leading you to watch it more frequently or seek out more extreme content to achieve the same feel-good effects.
Over time, watching porn can slowly rewire your brain.
Eventually, your brain can develop a dependency on this constant dopamine supply. When this happens, porn addiction begins to take control of your life. In fact, a University of Cambridge study found that the brain activity triggered by pornography mirrors the brain activity seen in drug addicts. Yet, unlike drug addiction, porn addiction often goes unnoticed and untreated, leading to harmful consequences over time.
Because porn addiction is often a private, personal struggle, you might believe it’s something you can live with. It’s only affecting me, right? But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
For starters, your porn addiction can negatively impact those you love most, including your partner. Consider these research findings shared by the APA:
Your porn addiction can negatively impact those you love most, including your partner.
Porn addiction can become so compulsive that it interferes with your ability to manage daily responsibilities at work, school, or home. This often causes tension, hurt, and conflict with loved ones — and in some cases, it can even cost you your job, leading to financial difficulties for you and your family.
Porn addiction can also cause serious personal consequences. Not only can it make real sex less satisfying (as mentioned above), but it may also lead to erectile dysfunction. In addition, porn addiction can negatively impact your mental health, as it’s been linked to anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse, according to Verywell Mind.
As porn addiction takes its toll, it can drive you into social isolation and loneliness as you say no to friends and family — along with your favorite activities and hobbies — in favor of your porn fix. Yet the guilt and shame you feel from your addiction can also reduce your self-esteem and self-confidence, further derailing your overall well-being.
With the rise of internet-based pornography, porn addiction isn’t just affecting men — women and children are being caught in its grip, too. Because this addiction can happen to anyone, it’s essential to recognize the signs and symptoms in yourself or those you love. After all, what starts as a recreational habit can spiral into an addiction with the long-term consequences mentioned above. Taking action at the first signs of porn addiction is crucial.
Potential symptoms of porn addiction include:
At this point, you may be wondering how to stop porn addiction in your own life — or how to help someone else with a porn addiction. Simply put, the best next step you or your loved one can take is to seek professional help, especially if you identify with three or more of the porn addiction symptoms listed above.
While you might believe you can handle it on your own, it’s important to remember that porn addiction is a form of compulsive sexual behavior. It falls under the umbrella of hypersexual disorder, or sex addiction, which means you can’t overcome it with behavior modification or willpower alone. Your dopamine-dependent brain will convince you otherwise, pulling you back to porn time and time again.
However, by seeking professional help — especially from a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) — you can address the root causes of your porn addiction, not just the symptoms. This puts you in the best position to achieve long-term healing from both your past trauma and the addiction itself. As a result, you can make positive, lasting changes in your relationships and your life, finally taking back control of what porn stole for so long.
Recognizing the signs of porn addiction in your life is an important first step toward lasting recovery. At Gentle Path at The Meadows, our CSAT team is here to offer the support you need to break free from porn addiction for good. If you’re ready to take the next step, contact our team today to discuss your treatment options. It’s time to change your story.
© 2025 All Rights Reserved
