Millions and millions of people are pornography addicts spending billions of dollars a month on their addiction of choice — pornography. However, most people trying to find help do not know how severe their pornography addiction is or what to do about it.

Porn addiction, plain and simple, is a form of sex addiction. Porn is sexually explicit or arousing images, written works, or other materials which are based on sexual content or subject matter. Similar to sex addiction, the addictive component of porn addiction occurs when it is used to medicate past trauma, seek chemical highs, escape from reality, and other similar circumstances.

In an article titled, “Can Watching Porn Turn Someone Into a Cheater in Reality?”, Fight the New Drug writes:

“If you are married or in a committed relationship, finding out that your spouse or partner has been watching porn definitely feels like being cheated on.” Naturally, this begs the question, “Is consuming porn a form of marital cheating?”

“Admittedly, answering the question may depend on your personal definition of cheating. Does cheating need to involve direct physical contact with someone, or can it be a mental or emotional event? By the numbers, 41% of marriages reportedly suffer from “physical or emotional infidelity,” but what exactly does that mean? That line is what makes things tricky. For every individual and every unique couple, that line can be different, and what’s acceptable or understandable to some people might be considered over the line by others.”

Based on some studies, 40 million U.S. adults regularly visit porn sites, and 35% of all internet downloads are porn-related. The SexAddict.com website suggests there are five types of porn addicts. As outlined on their website, the five types of porn addicts include:

Type #1: Brain Buzz Porn Addicts

This type of porn addict is taking the highest level of endorphins and opiates that sex gives and attaching them to the object of pornography instead of an actual person. These endorphins and opiates give your brain a release of chemicals that make you feel good and block your pain receptors.

The highest chemical release your body produces is an orgasm. You attach to what you look at during your orgasm. Simple right? Remember Pavlov’s dog? Ring the bell, feed the dog. Porn is the bell and you are the dog. You taught your brain to salivate, hunger for, and desire porn. You did this and the good news is you can stop it as well. I have stopped being Pavlov’s dog for over thirty years.

Type #2: Brain Balancer Porn Addicts

This type of porn addict has a chemical imbalance in their brain. It can be a chemically based depression, manic depression, bipolar disorder, or cyclothymic disorder.

A person with this type of porn addiction has a brain imbalance. They don’t know it. They find porn and masturbation. The chemical release of an orgasm makes them feel balanced, better, or able to sleep. They found a medicine for their brain problem. Then wham! They become Pavlov’s porn dog and the medicine becomes the addiction. The addiction becomes the problem.

Type #3: Escape Porn Addicts

This type of porn addict may have been abandoned, abused, neglected, raped, sexually used, bullied, felt unworthy, unloved, and/or experienced other negative events like their parents divorcing growing up. These experiences create legitimate soul pain. When the soul is in pain, it’s no different than a toothache. This emotional toothache wants medicine. This adolescent person finds the fantasy world of being wanted, desired, powerful, adopted, and loved by the fantasy world and pornography.

In this case. pornography makes love to your soul. Your soul feels safe, secure, loved, and wanted. This escape through the portal of porn is desired. You not only become Pavlov’s porn dog salivating but sedated repeatedly, calm in your soul. Porn becomes your lover, friend, confidant, and your “safe place.” Again your soul “medicine” becomes an addiction and the addiction becomes the problem.

Type #4: Re-enactment Porn Addicts

This type of porn addict is more difficult. You may have never told anyone that you were sexually abused or used as a sex object by someone multiple times. This sexual trauma set up some serious issues in your life. However, all sex feels good, and you still give chemically to the perpetration or acts of the perpetration.

Your porn themes will generally revolve around the same themes of your sexual abuse. If the perpetrator was older, you will want older porn. Your porn re-engagement is the way you avoid addressing and medicating the sexual abuse. The porn is a part of your addiction. Again, the medicine becomes the problem.

Type #5: Avoidance Porn Addicts

This type of porn addict has challenges in near relationships of the romantic or marriage type. They are closed off emotionally to their spouse or significant others.

They are too busy for the other person and blame them for problems in the relationship. They can also withhold love, praise, sexuality, and even sex or are disconnected during sex. They can also be controlling, angry, or silent in the relationship. They usually can’t accept they are wrong and their spouse or significant other feels like a roommate. If this sounds like you, you struggle with intimacy anorexia.

Here the porn addict is so attached to the other world of porn and fantasy that their intimacy with a real person who doesn’t worship them 24/7 is a challenge. The avoidance of the real and preference for the unreal is at the core of the avoidance porn addiction.

(For more information about the five different types of pornography addicts, visit Sex Addict. The website and resources are made available by Douglas Weiss, Ph.D. an internationally recognized licensed psychologist, therapist, and sex addiction expert. Dr. Weiss has over 30 years of experience in counseling.)

Recovering From Infidelity

If you have experienced infidelity-induced trauma caused by the emotional and sexual betrayal of your spouse, there is hope! If you are a child affected by parental infidelity, there is hope! If you are a spouse who has betrayed the trust, love, and fidelity of your marriage, there is hope! We recommend that you seek support through professional counseling and therapy as well as through groups dedicated to supporting you through this traumatic journey. You are not alone and recovery and healing are possible!

Share Your Story

The CHADIE Foundation shares personal stories of spouses and children impacted by infidelity and affairs. If you have a story you would like to share and have published, please use the contact information below to share your story with The CHADIE Foundation. Our mission is to help educate everyone about the damage infidelity, affairs, and adultery cause families and how to minimize the impact.

About CHADIE Foundation

The CHADIE Foundation (Children are Harmed by Adultery, Divorce, Infidelity, and related Emotional trauma), helps spouses, partners, and children who adultery, affairs, and infidelity have negatively impacted. To learn more about CHADIE and how you can help, please email us at support@chadie.org or visit us at CHADIE.org.