Talk:Pornography addiction

Addition

Hi, please add, this sentence at the end of the prevalence section, the prevalence section is the right place, since in this case, as in the individual studies mentioned in the review (Table 3), coping affects the prevalence (greater levels of pornography use). But an own predictors section would also be fine for me:
Coping with negative emotions through pornography commonly predicts problematic pornography use. Never mind, journal fails MEDRS (Journal is not in the MEDLINE Index.) The Other Karma (talk) 13:26, 7 November 2025 (UTC)

Technically, there could be exceptions from MEDLINE indexation, but they have to be from very reputable journals. tgeorgescu (talk) 02:53, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Ah, thx for the information. The Other Karma (talk) 04:25, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

References

MEDRS

@RowanJ LP: According to WP:MEDRS, papers from MDPI are unusable for making medical claims. WP:PRIMARY medical studies are also unusable to that extent. tgeorgescu (talk) 02:53, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

Svedin et. al.

They say "repeated cross-sectional surveys...". How is that a WP:PRIMARY medical study? tgeorgescu (talk) 08:40, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Similar to “similarly, a scientific paper documenting a new experiment conducted by the author is a primary source for the outcome of that experiment.” Svedin et al conducted all those 3 surveys. ~2025-32511-35 (talk) 09:03, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Rewrite

That topic is a hard nut to crack.
Please update the Treatment section with that rewrite:

Treatment

Among the tested treatment methods are:

• ACT
• CBT
• CBT + Fluoxetine
• CBT + Paroxetine
• CBT + Desvenlafaxine
• CBT + Naltrexone
• CBT + Naltrexone + Fluvoxamine
• Naltrexone + Sertraline (Sertraline for psychiatric comorbiditys)
• Naltrexone
• Paroxetine and Naltrexone
• Paroxetine
• Citalopram
• Nalmefene
• Online self-help intervention, based on motivational interviewing, CBT, mindfulness and social psychological interventions
• Cognitive analytic therapy
• Mindfulness-based relapse prevention
• Meditation
• Psychotherapy (Non-blaming Chance and Action Approach)
• Structural family therapy
• Eclectic-integrative psychotherapy approach (combining cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic therapy)
• Person-centered mixed psychotherapy approach (individual and in group, combining CBT + psychodynamic psychotherapy)
• Couple therapy + individual therapy
• Brief internet-delivered intervention with the application of behavior change techniques (in line with the self-determination theory)
• rTMS + Propranolol (Propranolol for social anxiety symptoms) + Psychological counseling

All of them were able to reduce or stop consumption of pornography. Most treatments are based on case reports or quasi‑experimental studies; only online self‑help, Citalopram, Paroxetine, Naltrexone, and ACT were tested in RCTs. Evidence quality is generally low, focused mainly on cis‑heterosexual men, with limited reporting on side effects, among the reported ones are:

• CBT + Paroxetine (20 mg/day): temporary libido reduction and delayed ejaculation, resolved after ~10 weeks.
• Naltrexone: Treatment discontinued due to anhedonia
• Citalopram: frequent delayed ejaculation.
• Meditation: some participants found it unpleasant.
• ACT (self‑help book): only ~50% completed; often considered too long or redundant.
• Online self‑help (MI, CBT, mindfulness): 11% dropout, declining module completion, but overall positive evaluations.
• Paroxetine + Naltrexone: some discontinued due to adverse effects sedation (29% Paroxetine, 38% Naltrexone), weight gain (17%, 4%, 12% placebo), erectile dysfunction (13%, 0%, 8%), apathy (8% each), orgasmic dysfunction (3% Paroxetine). No serious medication‑related effects occurred.

Some clinicians and support organizations recommend voluntary use of Internet content-control software, internet monitoring, or both, to manage online pornography use.^[63][64][65] Sex researcher Alvin Cooper and colleagues suggested several reasons for using filters as a therapeutic measure, including curbing accessibility that facilitates problematic behavior and encouraging clients to develop coping and relapse prevention strategies.^[63] Cognitive therapist Mary Anne Layden suggested that filters may be useful in maintaining environmental control.^[65] Internet behavior researcher David Delmonico stated that, despite their limitations, filters may serve as a "frontline of protection."^[64]

Comments about the current text:
The sentence, "Cognitive behavioural therapy has been suggested as a possible effective treatment for pornography addiction based on its success with internet addicts, though no clinical trials have been performed to assess effectiveness among pornography addicts as of 2012." can be removed as it my text has that implicitly, and it doesn't provide any meaningful information. The sentence "Studies of those with non-paraphilic expressions of hypersexuality have hypothesized that various mood disorders, as defined in the DSM, may occur more frequently in sexually compulsive men." isn't related to porn, and the sentence "Compulsive sexual behaviour has been treated with antidepressants including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), naltrexone (a medication used to inhibit reward mechanisms in opioid or alcohol addictions), mood stabilizers, and antiandrogens." is unsourced, and can therefore be deleted. The Other Karma (talk) 14:19, 5 December 2025 (UTC)

From your source all interventions, with the exception of ACT (which received a “low” grade), were rated as presenting “very low” quality of the evidence. that being said I think the most appropriate way of writting this would be "the most commonly researched interventions are CBT such as ..." and mention that some medications have been tried but that the evidence is low. Dedicating this much detail to treatment when there is not much evidence is undue weight. IntentionallyDense ^(Contribs) 03:37, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Agree with you ID. I am unsure about the 'treatment' section already. The idea of 'treating' one with medication because they have religious beliefs discordant with pornography viewing, which is then turned into some shame 'addiction' belief, feels a bit... off. Zenomonoz (talk) 09:49, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Ah, thank you, I overlooked undue weight. I thought I said that implicitly, by noting CBT and the variants multiple times (List 1). Regarding Zenomonoz's feedback, something similar has been noted in another review, that I haven't incoperated so far, but the treatment here are mainly about reducing use not shame. And that topic has been researched by Grubbs, same issue here. I'll prepare a new version of the text, thank you for the feedback! The Other Karma (talk) 13:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

PPU does exist, pornography addiction doesn't. And it is okay to treat PPU. tgeorgescu (talk) 14:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

References

Rewritte New Version

The most commonly researched interventions are psychological treatments, including ACT, ACT self-help intervention based on the book “Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life”, CBT, Mindfulness-based relapse prevention, meditation, couple interventions, Cognitive analytic therapy, Non-blaming Chance and Action Approach, Structural family therapy, Couple therapy + individual therapy as well as mixed psychological approaches namely Brief internet-delivered intervention with the application of behavior change techniques, rTMS + Propranolol for social anxiety symptoms + Psychological counseling, Person-centered mixed psychotherapy approach (individual and in group, combining CBT + psychodynamic psychotherapy), Online self-help intervention, based on motivational interviewing, CBT, mindfulness and social psychological interventions, Eclectic-integrative psychotherapy. Pharmacological treatments included naltrexone, nalmefene, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Several studies reported the use of a combination of psychological and pharmacological strategies (CBT with Fluoxentine/ Paroxentine/Devenlafaxine/Naltrexone and Naltrexone with Fluvoxamine).

All of them were able to reduce or stop consumption of pornography. Most treatments are based on case reports or quasi‑experimental studies, and are based on CBT; only online self‑help, Citalopram, Paroxetine, Naltrexone, and ACT were tested in RCTs. Evidence quality is generally low, focused mainly on cis‑heterosexual men, with limited reporting on side effects, among the reported ones are:

• CBT + Paroxetine (20 mg/day): temporary libido reduction and delayed ejaculation, resolved after ~10 weeks.
• Naltrexone: Treatment discontinued due to anhedonia
• Citalopram: frequent delayed ejaculation.
• Meditation: some participants found it unpleasant.
• ACT (self‑help book): only ~50% completed; often considered too long or redundant.
• Online self‑help (MI, CBT, mindfulness): 11% dropout, declining module completion, but overall positive evaluations.
• Paroxetine + Naltrexone: some discontinued due to adverse effects sedation (29% Paroxetine, 38% Naltrexone), weight gain (17%, 4%, 12% placebo), erectile dysfunction (13%, 0%, 8%), apathy (8% each), orgasmic dysfunction (3% Paroxetine). No serious medication‑related effects occurred.

The Other Karma (talk) 14:47, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please detail the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Theeverywhereperson talk here 11:01, 25 January 2026 (UTC)

I am far from an expert, but why would propranolol be helpful in this case? It is a frequently-used performance-enhancing substance, commonly used by sportspeople in high-accuracy related sports (archery, shooting, golf, and snooker), musicians, actors, and public speakers. Dimadick (talk) 11:00, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

It got used against social axiety, not against PPU. For why dont know, it not my job in Wikipedia. You might want to read the underlying study for more details. The Other Karma (talk) 13:26, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

References