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Should We Call It Porn Addiction or Something Else?

Last Updated: July 22, 2021

There’s a debate among medical professionals when it comes to the terms we use to describe problematic use of pornography. Should we call it porn addiction? Should we call it compulsive pornography use? Should we call it pornography dependence? Or something else?

The debate is actually a fairly old one, and it is bigger than just pornography, involving all kinds of addictions and compulsions. In medicine, there has been a long-standing debate about these terms. Sometimes the definitions have considerable overlap.

For instance, back when the DSM III was being edited, there was considerable debate among committee members between the words “addiction” and “dependence.”

  • Those who favored “dependence” felt it was less pejorative than “addiction”; it was a more neutral term that would not stigmatize substance abusers.
  • Some committee members favored the label “addiction” when it came to drugs and alcohol because it they thought the word more accurately portrayed the overwhelming habit of substance abuse as distinguished from “physical” dependence (which can occur in anyone who takes medications that affect the central nervous system).

In end the room was split, and the word “dependence” won over “addiction” by a single vote.

Arguments For Calling It Addiction

  • Some prefer the word “addiction” because it denotes a sense of proper seriousness—it is something oppressive and requires help from a Power greater than yourself.
  • Some prefer the term because, like it or not, it is a common term: let’s not fight it. Let’s just used it and then help people define it well.
  • Some prefer the term because it has a lot of utility for people who have these habits—it can really free people up to talk about their problem. When they see their problem as partially “medical,” regardless of what it actually is medically speaking, then the shame factor is reduced and then we can immerse people in communities of support where they can really take responsibility for their behavior.

Arguments Against Calling It Addiction

  • Some are okay with the term itself, but they just think it is overused. Not everyone who looks at porn is really addicted to it, they say, so don’t use it as a blanket label, which is the tendency we see happening.
  • Some reject the term altogether because they think the term denotes something of permanence: once and addict, always an addict. This unnecessarily seals a person’s fate where they never feel like they can ever fully recover, and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, make stay locked in patterns of behavior even though they don’t want to.
  • Some dislike the term because they hate this disease-model—they think if something is a disease, this makes it excusable.

Debating Labels

The primary concern here is over labels. Words can be defined different by different people, and words change meaning over time.

Over 100 years ago, the word addiction didn’t have a medical flavor at all, nor was it universally negative. It was just a way to talk about a compulsive sort of dedication and devotion to something. Today, the term has a real medical feel. For instance, the American Society of Addiction Medicine defines “addiction” as a chronic disease of brain circuitry.

I’m less concerned about the terms we used, and I’m more concerned about what we mean by those terms. Not everyone shares our definitions, so we have to be cognizant that the words we use often carry a lot of baggage.

Tell me your thoughts? Should habitual porn use be called an addiction, a compulsion, or something else altogether? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

  1. Anon

    As someone who has witnessed what this addiction can do to a family… YES… YES… YES… they should call it addiction!!! By not doing so, they make it impossible to medically codify or insure… forcing families to deal with it out of sometimes meager resources…. so, while they spend their life away on health insurance, they end up with little money to cope with cleaning up what ultimately becomes a health issue. If it affects a youth or teen, it can lead to crippling social problems later in life, and sometimes lead youth into [dare i say] dark or criminal alleyways. It boggles my mind that we live in a nation where infanticide is a right and a “health” issue, and crippling addictions like this are labeled as mere “obsessions” or “hey every guy loves the stuff it’s no big deal.” The stuff kids read in local high schools practically encourage the use of it.

    There are people, even when every avenue is taken away, will seek to find that stimulation in any way possible, even if it means breaking the family trust (or equally worse, the law). Some people can become incapable of functioning in a normal societal way. It is visual alcoholism. If many of the same docs encouraging trans-genderism and abortion would figure that out, it might be easier to get people treatment.

  2. Carol

    When’s the last time I heard a sermon about sin? Can’t remember… When did sin become cop out words – “mistakes”, “addiction”, “a bad habit”, “dependence”, etc., just so depraved human beings wouldn’t feel bad about themselves? What is so bad about shame??? Isn’t that what brings us to repentance? If it’s just a bad habit or an addiction, then it’s something that a person only has to work at & deal with at his/her own pace, giving him/her space then to fall again & again, “as long as you get back up again”. Meanwhile, the spouse loses dignity & sanity by being left hanging indefinitely, waiting for what??? Covenant Eyes is great, in that it controls my husband’s internet porn use for him, but what about the thousands of images in his head that he can access at any given moment & still have virtual sex with? If he can use the word “addiction”, etc., as an excuse instead of calling it the sin it is, followed by true repentance, I can’t see any hope for our 35 year marriage. After 5 months of feeling beaten up by all this, I’m not sure I will have any love left by the time the supposed 5 year recovery possibly takes place.

    • Kay Bruner

      Actually, scripture says that the kindness of God is what brings us to repentance (Romans 2:4). And I’ve found in my experience with my husband’s recovery that as long as shame was his primary emotion around sex and porn, then he kept hiding things and failing in recovery. It was only as love grew to be his primary experience–God’s love, my love–that he was able to move forward into true recovery. It was his choice to accept that–nothing I could do to make it happen. He chose.

      But we have to learn to hold Love and boundaries together. We can’t ever override someone else’s boundaries by manipulation or control; we have to allow them their free will and trust that God can heal them, even when we can’t be in a close relationship due to their continued rejection of God’s love and healing in their lives. And this is what a lot of men choose: they choose porn instead of God’s Love for them. When they do that repeatedly, we might need to just let them have the consequence of those choices with a separation or even divorce. We hate it when that happens! But sometimes they keep making that choice to turn away from Love, and we have to accept that. Here and here are some thoughts about boundaries.

      Whatever your husband chooses, though, you can choose to be healthy. Personal counseling, just for you, is a great step to take. Groups can be so helpful as well: Celebrate Recovery, S Anon, xxxChurch.

      Blessings, Kay

  3. Gary. Crosslin

    The labels can truly cause unnecesary stigma for the person with these habits. As a trained Substance abuse counselor nyself the greatest outcome I have witnessed for anybody with addictions or compulsions is that they can become part of a support group where they find fellowship in friends who think just like them. This creates an atmosphere of trust and healing while teaching beneficial life skills along the lines of seeking God and developing new habits.

    • Thanks for the comment, Gary. So, in your experience, is the label “addiction” helpful? Unhelpful? Both?

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