In a research published in 2017, the Jo Cox Commission found that eight million men feel lonely every week. And in this year, the global pandemic lockdown has highlighted the problems we have and made it worse. Lot of stress, suicidal thoughts, financial issues and much more has made people move towards porn addiction.
The authors of the article, ‘How the porn industry capitalizes on the loneliness and depression of its consumers’ writes, “Porn offers consumers temporary relief from depression, anxiety and loneliness in exchange for making these same problems much worse in long term.”
“For both male and female porn consumers, their habit is often accompanied by problems with anxiety, body-image issues, poor self-image, relationship problems, insecurity, and depression.”
The author also wrote, “Porn in and of itself isn’t necessarily damaging to our mental health. But, if it is used 75% as a way to cope with boredom, loneliness or alleviate stress then as with any coping behavior, it can become a problem. When it is used to excess and becomes a primary way of dealing with overwhelming anxiety or stress it begins to interfere in our normal day and that is a problem.”
How You Know That You Have Porn Addiction
- Struggles to stop the urge to watch porn
- Feels guilty after watching so much porn
- Spending so much time watching porn that it affects your family time, relationship.
- Watching porn to escape the loneliness, depression, stress and even when you are free is a sign of addiction too.
- Watching porn to comfort yourself emotionally and physically.
Turning to porn to escape emotions and loneliness will harm you mentally in future. If the usage continues and causes you stress, talk to a therapist or join a support group. This can help with the addiction.
