12 Damaging Porn Addiction Symptoms: An Guide By Desert Solace

1. Obsessive thoughts

Some porn addiction symptoms are less obvious than others. It’s impossible for a spouse to know what’s going on in their partner’s mind at all times. But if you are the one struggling with compulsive porn usage, then you have most likely experienced this symptom before. 

Do you ever find yourself obsessing over the next opportunity to look at porn? Or creating fantasies in your mind even when you aren’t looking at porn? 

This is one of the ways that porn can distort your mind, is by creating thoughts that pop up frequently that give you a small shot of excitement and anticipation for the next pornography viewing session. 

2. Chaos in life

People who are addicted to porn have a way of creating chaos in their lives, even without trying. 

3. Poor work performance

This symptom goes hand in hand with the previous two symptoms, where the addiction can create chaos at home and at work. Since porn addicts have a hard time focusing on their work due to the obsessive thoughts associated with the addiction, and potentially hours wasted acting out while they should be doing work, it creates a lot of issues on the job. 

4. Disconnection from loved ones

In order to act out with porn, it’s necessary to isolate yourself from the people you love.

The biggest lie that porn addicts tell themselves is that the addiction only hurts them. At Desert Solace, we see families all the time who have been damaged by this addiction and it can take a long time for those wounds to heal.

5. Disconnection from self

Not only do you have to disconnect from your loved ones while acting out, but you also have to disconnect from your sense of self. 

6. Constant anxiety or depression

Using pornography as a mood changer or as a way to avoid unpleasant feelings — such as anxiety or depression — is another sign that someone might be facing a pornography addiction. If watching porn is a release from stressful situations or the highlight of the day, then a person may have an addiction to porn. Most addictions begin as an escape from stress and progress until the person with the addiction believes that the only way to relieve their stress is by performing that behavior, in this case watching porn.

7. Lack of Motivation

8. Neglect of hygiene and health

9. Living in extremes

10. Mood swings and irritability

11. Loss of Interest in Sex

Another porn addiction symptom is a loss of interest in sex. Pornography often gives unrealistic impressions of beauty and sex. When you surround yourself with these unrealistic standards, it’s easy to get lost in them and project them onto those around you. Because of this, those with porn addictions often lose sexual interest in their partners as they don’t meet the new false beauty standards. Those with porn addiction may also lose interest in sex because they’ve become frustrated that their partner doesn’t want to try new sexual fantasies that were discovered in porn.

11. Negative consequences in your life

Compulsive porn usage can cause a whole host of negative consequences in the life of a porn addict. We’ve had clients who have lost jobs, spent fortunes on porn and sex, gone through divorce, been separated from children, undergone criminal charges and been put on the sex offender registry. 

The crazy thing is that in spite of all of these negative porn addiction symptoms, there are men who still choose to stay in their addiction because they think that the pain of recovery is greater than the pain and consequences that their addiction is causing. 

Recovery doesn’t have to be that hard or painful! That’s why porn addiction treatment centers like Desert Solace exist!