“Porn gives you what you want, but also makes you want things you didn’t start out wanting.” These are words we hear often in our counsel­ing with porn users. Sometimes people are referring to the extreme types of pornography they became interested in, and other times they are talk­ing about sexual interests they act out […]

Perhaps the most difficult negative consequence of porn to “see” is the toll that it can take on our self-esteem. Your self-esteem has to do with your self-respect and integrity, and how good you feel about your ac­tions and relationships with others. If you find yourself thinking “I don’t know who I am anymore,” “I […]

When thirty-five-year-old Chuck was single, he estimates he spent one to two hours a day looking at pornography in magazines and on the Internet. His favorite sites were the amateur porn sites that featured pic­tures of normal-looking naked women. Chuck says, “I wanted women a little bit older, a little bit heavier—more real—like ones on […]

It is disconcerting when porn users discover that a product promoted as an effective and harmless way to enhance sexuality ends up causing seri­ous sexual problems. A fifty-seven-year-old man recently e-mailed our HealthySex. com Web site: “I have this sex problem,” he wrote. “I have been masturbating to porn for so long that when I […]

Consuming porn may start out as an exciting form of entertainment or a way to facilitate and enhance masturbation, but over time it can shift from being something extra you do on the side, to an activity that sig­nificantly interferes with other pursuits in your life. Many porn users tell us that they have become […]

“I am looking at you right now in a sexual way whether you like it or not. Never mind the fact that I don’t know your name, care to know your name, or have any idea who you are. I don’t really care about you. You serve as an object for my sexual pleasure. I […]

While regular porn use doesn’t require you to live your life in a cave, away from other people, on some level it can feel a lot like that. Many porn users tell us that one of the worst side effects of porn is how lonely and isolated from the important people in their lives they […]

Whenever we do something privately that we feel bad about, it has an impact on our emotions, even if we’re not aware of why we’re feeling what we’re feeling. Becoming easily irritated at even little things and eventually becoming depressed are common occurrences for regular porn users. No matter how much pleasure they may be […]

People who are involved with pornography may be basking in the sun­shine of instant pleasure, but like storm clouds, problems are brewing just over the horizon. In the words of people who have struggled to move beyond the porn trap, the nine most common serious negative conse­quences of using porn are: 1. “I’m easily irritated […]

hen I was in law school, I invited a really smart, good­looking woman from one of my classes up to my apartment to listen to some music,” Brent, a twenty — seven-year-old attorney, recalled. “As she made her way into the living room to have a seat, I slipped into the kitchen to get us […]