If you compulsively consume pornographic material, you may struggle with porn addiction. This can lead to several symptoms, including: ¹

• Cravings
• Deprecating behavior
• Impulsivity
• Interference in your personal, social, and professional life
• Mental and physical pain

Since porn is so easily accessible and free to watch, it’s one of the most threatening types of addiction out there. Furthermore, you may find that over time, you frequent porn more often.

If you struggle with porn addiction, help is available. Here are several porn addiction treatment options:

Psychotherapy

Want to get to the root cause of your pornography addiction? This supportive talk therapy is a great for porn addiction treatment as it allows you understand your relationship to pornography. ²

Psychotherapy can take several approaches, including:

• Individual
• Group
• Family

Through a mental health professional, you will learn that your maladaptive behaviors are a product of unmet needs. Your therapist will help you develop coping mechanisms and strategies to overcome your porn addiction and develop healthier habits. ³

Psychotherapy is a great option if you also struggle with another mental health condition, such as depression or a substance use disorder.

Behavior Modification

This type of treatment allows you to replace bad habits with healthier ones. Behavior modification is a psychotherapeutic approach grounded in operant conditioning principles. It’s an extremely useful tactic if you find pornography use inhibits your long-term goals. ⁴

The most popular behavior modification treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). However, research shows this therapy type is most effective when applied with medication and other psychotherapies. Still, this research looks into substance abuse rather than sexual addiction. ⁵

Support Groups

Through peer meetings, you have the opportunity to meet others who also want to know how to cure porn addiction. These new perspectives can offer fresh insight, experiences, and encouragement.

Groups are usually led by nonprofessional assistance. They create a community effort with the idea of long-term recovery for everyone involved.

Since humans are social creatures, it’s no surprise that those who participate in peer groups show more significant improvement in recovery. More specifically, people in these groups are less like to have: ⁶

• Need for interventions
• Risky behavior patterns
• Self-harm (or suicidal ideation)

When it comes to porn addiction, you have options such as Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) and Porn Addicts Anonymous (PAA).

Medication

In some instances, porn addiction is a product of an underlying condition. In fact, it’s common for those with compulsive porn tendencies to have co-existing disorders.

As such, your health-care provide may offer you medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Simply put, MAT combines FDA-approved prescription medicines with psychotherapy.

However, it’s important to note that medication alone will not be a recovery solution. Furthermore, there is no FDA-approved medication for porn addiction specifically.

Natural Remedies

Some prefer to take an all-natural route when they want a cure for porn. These combine traditional treatment options with alternative medicines (i.e. herbs and supplements).

Holistic healing wants to improve health and wellness by viewing you as a whole rather than someone with a disease. As such, you may be recommended the following techniques:

• Acupuncture
• Homeopathy
• Hypnosis
• Lifestyle changes
• Massage therapy
• Naturopathy
• Personal training
• Spiritual counseling

Natural healing reinforces your need to take responsibility of your own well-being. This is a great tool to achieve long-term recovery while also maintaining it when psychotherapy ends.

How to Find Pornography Addiction Treatment

While porn addiction is not a recognized medical condition, your healthcare provider can still provide you with the tools for porn addiction treatment. More specifically, they can identify a nearby therapist to help you with your needs and diagnose any underlying conditions you may also struggle with.

References

¹ de Alarcón R, de la Iglesia JI, Casado NM, Montejo AL. Online Porn Addiction: What We Know and What We Don’t-A Systematic Review. J Clin Med. 2019 Jan 15;8(1):91. doi: 10.3390/jcm8010091. PMID: 30650522; PMCID: PMC6352245.

² George M, Maheshwari S, Chandran S, Rao SS, Shivanand MJ, Sathyanarayana Rao TS. Psychosocial intervention for sexual addiction. Indian J Psychiatry. 2018 Feb;60(Suppl 4):S510-S513. doi: 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_38_18. PMID: 29540923; PMCID: PMC5844164.

³ Chaimowitz G, Weerasekera P, Ravitz P. Psychotherapy in Psychiatry. Can J Psychiatry. 2021 Nov;66(11):999-1004. doi: 10.1177/07067437211040958. PMID: 34871512; PMCID: PMC8652312.

⁴ Espinosa-Salas S, Gonzalez-Arias M. Behavior Modification for Lifestyle Improvement. 2023 Apr 23. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan–. PMID: 37276296.

⁵ Ray LA, Meredith LR, Kiluk BD, Walthers J, Carroll KM, Magill M. Combined Pharmacotherapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adults With Alcohol or Substance Use Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jun 1;3(6):e208279. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.8279. PMID: 32558914; PMCID: PMC7305524.

⁶ Joo JH, Bone L, Forte J, Kirley E, Lynch T, Aboumatar H. The benefits and challenges of established peer support programmes for patients, informal caregivers, and healthcare providers. Fam Pract. 2022 Sep 24;39(5):903-912. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmac004. PMID: 35104847; PMCID: PMC9508871.