Pornography and pornography addiction

Pornography is a normal part of life for huge number of people, with one yougov.co.uk report finding that 76% of men and 53% of women had viewed pornography. Only a small number of people would be considered heavy users with only 13% of men and less than 1% of women accessing porn weekly. However, for some pornography use can become problematic or even addictive.

Are you a pornography addict ?

There is no single widely agreed upon definition of pornography addiction. Attempts to define it have generally focused upon frequency of pornography use. However, many authorities reject frequency of use as too simplistic preferring to let the person themselves decide if they have a problem based on the impact pornography use has on their life. Commonly, people who identify as having a pornography addition will highlighting the;

• Damage to relationships.
• Impact on their real sex life.
• Amount of time they spend viewing pornography each day.

However it is defined, it is clear that for some people there is a problem. So how can hypnotherapy help?

Hypnotherapy for pornography addiction

Hypnotherapy is the use of hypnosis to create beneficial change, either as a direct tool of to enhance or support the use of another therapy approach. It has been accepted as a therapeutic tool since the eighteen hundreds and has proven adaptable to the most modern of problems. There are a number of ways in which hypnotherapy can provide help to someone experiencing pornography addiction;

• Hypnotherapy may help pinpoint and reduce the triggers for pornography use. Triggers could be obvious, such as feeling sexually aroused after seeing a sexy picture whilst generally online. Or, they might be less obvious, such as feeling sad or bored. A hypnotherapist will help find these triggers and then give help to reducing their impact.
• They may help you to adjust thoughts and beliefs regarding desires. This would typically look to change the belief that a desire has to be acted upon to something which encourages coping with it and letting it pass.
• A hypnotherapist may develop, in collaboration with their client, ways of redirecting energy towards healthier outcomes. This could be paying more attention to a partner or filling life with more meaningful activities. They would then support these changes with hypnotherapeutic suggestions.
• They may help to reduce craving directly through the use of suggestion and systematic desensitisation.
• They may help identity and address underlying life problems which the pornography has been used to compensate for, such as problems in sex life, or unhappiness more generally.
• They may discuss life changes which support reduced pornography use, such as; leaving devices in public areas, dating or doing exercise. Where appropriate they may then support these changes with formal hypnosis work.

As can be seen there are many approaches in hypnotherapy to helping with pornography addiction.

The ACT approach to hypnotherapy for pornography addiction

As a hypnotherapist I tend to start out using an acceptance and commitment therapy model (ACT) approach. I use ACT as it was developed as an approach with addiction problems in mind, and evidence for its effectiveness(1).  ACT encourages;

• living in line with your values.
• Mindfulness in your life.
• Treating thoughts and feelings as pieces of information rather than imperative to be acted upon immediately.

Further, large elements of ACT adapt well to the hypnotherapy way of working.

Confidentiality in hypnotherapy for pornography addiction.

With such a sensitive subject for many people confidentiality is often a concern. Hypnotherapists, just like all psychological therapists, maintain confidentiality for their clients and patients information. This confidentiality is guided by the legal requirements of the region they work in such as the UK general data protection regulations (GDPR). Further, most therapist will adopt the spirit of confidentiality as much as the legal letter of it.

The limits of confidentiality.

Although this is irrelevant to the vast majority of pornography addicts it is important to flag up the limits of confidentiality. There are times when UK law not only allows, but requires, that confidentiality be broken. One of these areas is with the abuse of children. Any therapist receiving information about abusive and exploitative images of the under aged is obligated by law to report this and they will.

Hypnotherapy for pornography addiction – practical issues

Making substantial change in life can be hard work, even with the help of hypnotherapy, here are some of things to be aware of in advance.

• Think in terms of a minimum 6 sessions.
• Sessions can be either in-person or online.
• Look for a therapist who has experience and expertise in pornography addiction.
• Take a free consultation, this will allow you to find out if you are relaxed enough to do this kind of personal work with them.

Hopefully this has provided you with enough information to get you started, but if you have any questions please get in touch.

The author

Dr Matt Krouwel PhD is a hypnotherapist with over 25 years experience of working with addictions, anxiety and related conditions. he is a member of the both the BSCH and the NCH

1. Ghazanfarpour M, Babakhanian M, Keshtkar A, Kiani M. A systematic review and meta-analysis of three clinical trials with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for problematic pornography use. Alcoholism and Drug Addiction/Alkoholizm i Narkomania. 2020;33(3):275-82.

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• Helping you to identify your fundamental values.
• Develop the skills and mental tools to cope and thrive with your life challenge.

ACT can be broken down into several key elements;

Value driven living.

In ACT a value is a direction to move your life in. This could be summarized as something like ‘health’, or ‘family’. The client is then encouraged to identify whatever steps they can taken, from where they are currently in life, to improve their engagement with this value. This means that the value of ‘health’ does not mean being a certain weight, or eating 5 portions of fruit and veg, these are goals and are different. For example, the value of ‘health’ means doing more healthy things than you currently do, so if you currently average 1 portion of fruit and veg a day, how can you increase this to more than 1 portion a day?

The key with values is improvement, not specific attainment. By being aware of your life values you can start making daily decisions based on them, leading to a more meaningful life.

Acceptance of experience.

This can also be characterized as openness to experience or willingness to experience. This includes both negative and positive experience.  Acceptance is there to counter the tendency to avoid difficult experience. Avoiding difficult experience often results in us being stuck in patterns of behavior. Choosing to experience the difficulty to get through to a better place is important to help us through to freedom. To give an example, for the addicted this can mean allowing themselves to experience the sensation of craving whilst not acting upon it.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a meditative practice which encourages contact with the the present moment, within ACT this has a twofold use;

1. Encouraging contact with the present. It is thought that a preoccupation with the past or future locks us into pathways of behavior. To counter this ACT encourages spending more time actively in the present moment and with your experience. This enables you to be aware of that experience, without judging it, defining or categorizing it. Within ACT it is argued that all experience can be coped with on a moment by moment basis.
2. De-fusion and observer self. Within ACT it is argued that we tend to believe we are our thoughts and feelings. The practice of mindfulness allows us to adopt an ‘observer’ position. From the observer position we can perceive the information from our thoughts, feelings and body as information not as who we are, this is called de-fusion.

What does Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) help with?

ACT has demonstrable effectiveness with; depression, anxiety, substance abuse(1), social anxiety(2) and has been seen to benefit those with serious physical issues in their psychological reaction to those issues(3). All of which has led some to suggestion that it could be an alternative to the ubiquitous cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in mainstream mental health services(4). As an alternative to CBT it has a lot to recommend it as the exercises within it feel quite different to CBT and thus it offers a different approach for those who don’t fit the CBT mold.

As a practitioner of ACT I have used it in different ways. Sometimes I use it in full, sometimes using elements of it within a wider intervention. It has proven useful with; coaching clients, supporting the neurodivergent with coping with life challenges, with substance abuse clients (mostly alcohol and cocaine users), pornography addictions, survivors of life changing accidents and people with chronic pain.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and hypnosis

Many hypnotherapists have found that ACT fits well into hypnotherapy. Some of the mindful exercises make excellent hypnotic inductions. In addition, ACT contains within it a number of visual metaphors designed to illustrate points. These metaphors can be delivered as immersive visualizations in hypnosis to deepen the learning. Further, as the mind appears to be more open to learning in hypnosis all the ways of thinking introduced as part of an ACT intervention appear to be more deeply engaged with.

If you are considering Acceptance and commitment therapy or hypnotherapy for issues such as;

• Pornography addiction.
• Sex addiction.
• Substance abuse.
• Anxiety.
• depression.
• Living with chronic conditions.

You may wish to contact Dr Matt, an experienced hypnotherapist and Diplomat member of the BSCH to arrange a free consultation.

References

1. Gloster AT, Walder N, Levin ME, Twohig MP, Karekla M. The empirical status of acceptance and commitment therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Journal of contextual behavioral science. 2020;18:181-92.
2. Mattikoppa NV, Harshitha G, Yahiya GKM, Paluru MS. Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatry Spectrum. 2025;4(1):111-20.
3. Fattahi A, Mazini F, Jaberghaderi N, Rajabi F, Derakhshani M, Laki M. Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy for distress, emotion regulation, and self-compassion in patients with cardiovascular disease: a randomized clinical trial. Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. 2025;47:e20230685.
4. López-Pinar C, Lara-Merín L, Macías J. Process of change and efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescents: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2025;368:633-44.

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Several years ago, I was checking out of one of central London’s many shabby hotels. As I did so, the twenty-something man working on the desk was casually flicking through nude images on his phone. Clearly a guy who might benefit from therapy for pornography addiction. Two things came from this

1) I started to use better hotels

2) I began to think more about treating pornography addiction.

In this blog I am going to explore what we currently know about compulsive pornography use, its associated effects and therapy for pornography addiction.

Therapy for pornography addiction – What is pornography addiction?

There is currently no agreed upon definition of pornography addiction. This is no surprise as some people dispute the use of the word ‘addiction’ for it (Ley, Prause, & Finn 2014) . However, diagnostic tools have been describes, such as the 8 questions, but no level has yet been set to give a clinical definition. Essentially, it is the client who defines the condition by stating they have it.

Therapy for pornography addiction – is pornography addiction bad?

Whatever your personal opinions about the use of pornography, it seems pretty clear that it is a part of our world and it’s here to stay. There is a long standing debate regarding the pro’s and con’s of pornography which we will not engage in depth with here. Suffice to say that some studies have found that it is associated with a number of positives, (Watson 2012) such as;

• Greater sexual adventurousness (Häggström-Nordin, Hanson & Tydén  2005 & Štulhofer, Buško  2010),
• Greater open-mindedness on social issues (Diamond 2009) .

The idea that pornography use leads to abusive behaviour has never been demonstrated. There is some evidence suggesting the opposite to be true. (Baron 1977 & Kutchinsky 1973, Brannigan, Kapardis 1985). This chimes with my experience of clients for pornography addiction, who I generally find to be more sedate than aggressive.

The consequences which most often affect clients and drive them to therapy in my experience are;

• Erectile dysfunction and associated issues with sexual performance, which come from over masturbation. Often, they find they are avoiding sex or their partner so that they never have to risk being a failure in bed.
• Relationship issues. These most commonly arise when the partner is offended or insulted by the pornography use, seeing it as either a criticism (“am I not enough for you!”) or they feel in competition with the porn-stars. Relationship issues can also occur when the constant exposure to adventurous sexual behaviour or highly attractive people stimulates a dissatisfaction in the user with their current life.
• Religious and spiritual issues. The deeply spiritual are not immune to the temptations of pornography, indeed the thrill of ‘breaking the rules’ may even be part of the attraction. Such people tend to present for therapy when they fear the rejection or chastisement of their community, or when their own spiritual or moral compass will no longer tolerate the lack of integrity.
• Time issues. A lot of people use pornography for long periods, jumping from scene to scene without ever reaching climax. The result of which is that hours of otherwise useful time are lost to them.
• Relationship substitution. This is where the client is aware that they are using pornography instead of pursuing a relationship. Often they will be aware that a real relationship will be more fulfilling but have little drive to get a partner, their sexual desires being sated.

Therapy for pornography addiction – Treatment

My personal preferred approach is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Although, it is unwise to be wedded to any one therapy approach, I use the ACT model as a starting point. ACT had one of the best evidence basis for treating pornography addiction at the time I wanted to learn how to treat it, (Twohig, Crosby & Cox 2009, Twohig, & Crosby 2010) but others have proven effective. The basic’ of this treatment involve

• Focusing the client on the things of emotional value to them over the long term.
• Helping the client to change their relationship with pornographic thoughts and feeling. This may be done through mindfulness exercises, desensitisation work or metaphors.
• Lifestyle changes which seek to reduce the problem behaviours or focus energy into ‘healthy’ environments.

There is far more to this kind of work than this, rapport is essential. The therapist needs to be comfortable conversing in crude terms and acknowledging the human desires which drive pornography use as valid. As with all therapy the creation of a non-judgmental environment is essential. The techniques themselves may be quite straightforward but it is only in rapport that you will be able to effectively deploy them.

Because rapport is so important to this kind of work I offer potential clients a free consultation so we can get to know each other before they decide if they wish to go forward. If you would like to begin your journey to a healthier relationship with pornography feel free to get in touch.

The author – Dr Matt Krouwel PhD is a hypnotherapist in Birmingham (UK). He has extensive experience working with sex and pornography addictions and has taught the use of hypnotically enhanced ACT and CBT. He works both in-person and online with clients in Europe, Africa, Asia and America.

Therapy for pornography addiction – references

Baron RA, Bell PA. Sexual arousal and aggression by males: effects of type of erotic stimuli and prior provocation. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1977;35(2):79–87. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.35.2.79.

Brannigan, Kapardis. The controversy over pornography and sex crimes: the criminological evidence and beyond. Aust N Z J Criminol. 1986;19(4):259–84. doi:10.1177/ 000486588601900406.

Diamond M. Pornography, public acceptance and sex related crime: a review. Int J Law Psychiatry. 2009;32(5):304–14. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.06.004.

Häggström-Nordin E, Hanson U, Tydén T. Associations between pornography consumption and sexual practices among adolescents in Sweden. Int J STD AIDS. 2005;16(2):102–7.

Kutchinsky B. The effect of easy availability of pornography on the incidence of sex crimes: the Danish experience. J Soc Issues. 1973;29(3):163–81. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1973.tb00094.x.

Ley, D., Prause, N., & Finn, P. (2014). The emperor has no clothes: a review of the ‘pornography addiction’model. Current Sexual Health Reports, 6(2), 94-105.

Štulhofer A, Buško V, LandripetI. Pornography, sexualsocialization, and satisfaction among young men. Arch Sex Behav. 2010;39(1):168–78. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9387-0

Twohig, M. P., Crosby, J. M., & Cox, J. M. (2009). Viewing Internet pornography: For whom is it problematic, how, and why?. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 16(4), 253-266.

Twohig, M. P., & Crosby, J. M. (2010). Acceptance and commitment therapy as a treatment for problematic internet pornography viewing. Behavior Therapy, 41(3), 285-295.

Watson, M. A., & Smith, R. D. (2012). Positive porn: educational, medical, and clinical uses. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 7(2), 122-145.

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3 Behaviours to adopt to limit the effects of pornography addiction

1) Fasterbation

For many people with  a pornography addiction a major part of the problem is the amount of time spent viewing. Many addicts will spend hours online. Often underlying this behaviour is a desire to find fresh stimulation or to find an ideal image. In most cases a simple behaviour change is to decide in advance how long to spend viewing, or how much.  A typical target might be;

• To orgasm within ten minutes
• On the second video viewed.

2) Dumb phone

3) Synchronised sleep

For a lot of the Pornography addiction patients I see the main motivation for coming is their partner, often their partner will be sick of their porn use because they find it offensive or because they feel that they are being forgotten. Someone who is committed to making a change can endeavour to get more in tune with their partners daily rhythm, such as ;

• Getting up in the morning with them.
• Watching TV with them.
• Eating meals together.
• Going to bed with them at night.

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Considering porn addiction therapy? In this article we take a look at 3 of the most well researched porn addiction therapy approaches (What is porn addiction?) . 

Porn addiction therapy

1. Family based therapies

How it works?  – Family based therapies seek to explore the family dynamics and assumptions. The therapist will often ‘become a member’ of the family in order to understand its workings and  then they will look to help the family to challenge unhelpful behaviours and unspoken rules which may create or sustaining the problem.

Does it work? – Family based therapies has enjoyed some success as a porn addiction therapy (Ford, Durtschi, Franklin 2012, Wonder 2013), however a lot of people presenting for porn addiction therapy are embarrassed by their behaviour (Chrisholman 2015) and are not ready to challenge this in an open family setting. 

    2.  Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

How it works? – ACT works as a porn addiction therapy by helping a person to accept their desires without having to act upon them. Practical behaviour changes and desensitizing exercises are often used to reduce temptations and the therapist helps the person to identify their values in life so they can direct more energy towards what they want. The aim of therapy is flexible and often will look to reduce porn usage to ‘normal’ levels rather than completely stop, although this can be considered.

Does it work?  – Although it is early days there is a growing body of evidence that ACT is effective as a porn addiction therapy (Twohig 2010, Wetterneck et al 2012, Twine 2015) 

    3. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

How it works? –  CBT works by challenging assumptions and beliefs and then adopting new beliefs, which are then reality tested. As a porn addiction therapy CBT will often concentrate on assumptions around the ability to control biological impulses and the strength of those impulses. As with ACT practical lifestyle changes are likely to be part of the therapy.

Does it work?  – Although currently there appears to be little direct evidence for CBT’s efficacy as a porn addiction therapy it is looking promising (Fjerkenstad 2012, Twine 2015). 

Hopefully this article will help you to decide for yourself which therapy approach is right for you.

The author – Matt Krouwel is a hypnotherapist in Birmingham (UK). He has extensive experience working with sex and pornography addictions and has taught the use of hypnotically enhanced ACT and CBT.

 References – Porn addiction therapy 

Chisholm, M., & Gall, T. L. (2015). Shame and the X-rated Addiction: The Role of Spirituality in Treating Male Pornography Addicition. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 22(4), 259-272.

Ford, J. J., Durtschi, J. A., & Franklin, D. L. (2012). Structural therapy with a couple battling pornography addiction. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 40(4), 336-348.

Fjerkenstad, J. (2012). In my opinion: Treatment that mirrors the dark world.Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 19(1-2), 156-160. 

Twine, S. L. (2015). ANCOVA Study of Psychotherapy Treatment of Internet Pornography Addiction in Heterosexual Men. Fidei et Veritatis: The Liberty University Journal of Graduate Research, 1(1), 3.

Twohig, M. P., Hayes, S. C., Plumb, J. C., Pruitt, L. D., Collins, A. B., Hazlett-Stevens, H., & Woidneck, M. R. (2010). A randomized clinical trial of acceptance and commitment therapy versus progressive relaxation training for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 78(5), 705.

Wonder, N. (2013). TREATING PORNOGRAPHY ADDICTION WITH IFS.Internal Family Systems Therapy: New Dimensions, 159.

Wetterneck, C. T., Burgess, A. J., Short, M. B., Smith, A. H., & Cervantes, M. E. (2012). The role of sexual compulsivity, impulsivity, and experiential avoidance in internet pornography use. The Psychological Record, 62(1), 3.

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