Porn addiction
i have a very bad porn addiction, my bf isnt very into sex but i am. every time i am horny i watch porn. i know its getting bad i dont know if i should tell my bf or not. i need this addiction to go away. please help me.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT FIRST
- First, we would like to thank you for having the courage to reach out for help especially with such a sensitive issue. Reaching out for help can be hard at times and make people feel vulnerable but you had the bravery to do it! The TeenCentral community is here for you.
- There are some really important things to consider about your experience with pornography.
- If you bring this up to a friend or family member they are very likely to minimize this problem as a phase or something that is normal for your age or situation. Many people (no matter the age) engage in pornography and think the practice is okay. So, convincing another person of your feelings that you have an addiction may be difficult. But be assured – addictions in this area DO EXIST, and they can be very harmful to the individual and others in their life.
- Any kind of addiction can make you focus on the addiction more than other important things in your life. Examples of this could be school, work, friendships, family relationships, romantic relationships and other important goals you may have in your life that you abandoned because you become so focused on the addiction. Addictions can take over your life and you will give up anything to get your next “fix”. In the case of pornography just like other addictions, it can start to get expensive if you begin to want more intense experiences with the pornography.
- When you’re looking at pornography you have no idea what the age is of the person at which you’re looking or watching. Many women and men in photographs and videos are under the age of 18 believe it or not. If found on your phone or computer you could be charged with child pornography. This is an incredibly serious crime that you may not have thought of when you started to engage in pornography.
- Pornography definitely impacts your current relationship as you mentioned in your story. While you may have started looking at porn because your partner wasn’t interested in sex, the more you divert your romantic energy towards this fantasy world the less opportunity there will be for your relationship to improve in that area. So anyway you look at it, we agree with you that stepping away from porn would be a healthy thing for you to do.
- We recommend that you look at our substance abuse area of the website. Even though it doesn’t deal directly with porn addictions, it will give you information about addictions in general that you need. CLICK HERE
- Some hotlines that will give you someone directly to talk to about next steps in addressing your addiction are:
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Helpline
Call: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) - Crisis Textline – Text HELLO to 741741 and start a conversation
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Helpline
A COPING SKILL THAT MAY HELP
- Once you start working on your porn addiction you’re very likely to experience stress and anxiety when you’re not able to access the thing that made you feel better in the first place. You’ll need options for how to deal with that stress and anxiety and while TeenCentral could offer you many different coping skills to try, we would like to start you out with one solid skill that is very helpful to many people. Journaling you can help you really process the feelings you’re having from day to day when you’re working through difficult things. Need help getting started? Read this blog on TeenCentral for more information.
- Here are some journaling starter questions. We know that once you get started you won’t need questions anymore. You’ll just be able to write on your own.
- What makes you interested in porn?
- Why do you feel that porn is bad?
- How does your addiction put you in danger?
- How has your interest in porn impacted other parts of your life?
- How would you advise a friend that came to you with this issue?
