While a large body of clinical research and validated diagnostic screening tools treat problematic pornography use as a behavioral addiction or compulsive disorder, ongoing debate remains regarding whether it meets strict addiction criteria or merely reflects overpathologized habits.
Evidence for · 8
Problematic pornography use across countries, genders, and sexual orientations: Insights from the International Sex Survey and comparison of different assessment tools.
2024 · cited by 97
The study validates measures for problematic pornography use (PPU) and establishes that a notable percentage of the population exhibits risk for compulsive pornography consumption.
Evidence against · 3
Should Hypersexual Disorder be Classified as an Addiction?
2013 · cited by 176
The authors conclude that research on hypersexual and problematic sexual behavior is still in its infancy, making it premature to definitively classify it as an addiction.
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More for · 7
Internet and Pornography Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Presumed Impact and What Can Be Done
2021 · cited by 63
This review highlights increases in problematic online pornography use during the pandemic and discusses its neurobiological similarities to substance addiction.
Problematic pornography use and psychological distress: A longitudinal study in a large US sample.
2025 · cited by 12
Longitudinal data show that problematic pornography use is time-consistent and robustly associated with psychological distress over time.
Psychotherapy for problematic pornography use: A comprehensive meta-analysis
2025 · cited by 11
A comprehensive meta-analysis demonstrates that psychotherapy effectively treats problematic pornography use, supporting its classification as a clinically significant condition.
Sex differences in problematic pornography use among adolescents: a network analysis
2025 · cited by 10
Network analysis in adolescents identifies addiction-like clusters such as conflict, mood modification, relapse, and withdrawal associated with problematic pornography use.
Differences in cross-sectional and daily diary problematic pornography use correlates
2025 · cited by 6
Daily diary assessments indicate that pornography consumption amount is a robust correlate of problems with control over use.
Expanding the Lens: A Systematic Review of the Latest Research on Compulsive Sexual Behavior and Problematic Pornography Use among Women
2025 · cited by 6
Research on women demonstrates that problematic pornography use can cause significant distress and functional impairment, mirroring addictive patterns.
Debate
2019 · cited by 1
The review notes that compulsive sexual behavior shares key addiction characteristics such as salience, tolerance, withdrawal, and reward mechanism activation.
More against · 2
Salience and tolerance are not indicators of problematic social media use: Evidence from the Social Media Disorder Scale and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale
2025 · cited by 11
This study argues that criteria like salience and tolerance reflect non-problematic involvement rather than true addiction, warning against overdiagnosis.
The Harmful Dysfunction Analysis applied to the concept of behavioral addiction: toward a new theoretical framework
2025 · cited by 5
The application of the Harmful Dysfunction Analysis suggests that standard substance-use-based diagnostic models may produce high rates of false positives for behavioral overinvolvement.