Research

We are committed to using research in our treatment methods and dispelling biased claims that create unnecessary shame and panic.

Center for Overcoming Pornography

Our Research

All of the research depicted here has been independently conducted. We are dedicated to dispelling research that proves little empirical evidence. We are completely honest about what we do and do not know from a research standpoint.

Here's what we found:

Compulsive viewing of pornography is about escapism- the inability to sit with uncomfortable emotions.

That’s it.

Not addiction.

Not sexual deviance.

Not some hidden inner desires. It is simply a release of dopamine that can be habit forming.

Read our sources below in the drop down menus.

Experiential avoidance and problematic pornography use

(Borgogna & McDermott, 2019)

- Experiential avoidance and scrupulosity were found to be positive correlates of Problematic Pornography Viewing (PPV).

-Indirect effects suggested experiential avoidance was a positive mediator between

-Moderation analyses indicated these relationships only held for men.

-The present findings support the use of acceptance-based interventions for individuals struggling with PPV.

Our Summary: Experiential avoidance (defined below) and scrupulosity are related to greater problematic pornography use. Interventions that combine mindfulness and acceptance of thoughts (thought work) may decrease problematic pornography use the most.Experiential avoidance (EA) involves the unwillingness to remain in contact with aversive experiences such as painful feelings, thoughts, and emotions.

Read the study:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10720162.2020.1751361

Emotional regulation and problematic pornography use

(Cardoso et al., 2023) Pornography; Reasons.

- Difficulties in emotion regulation are positively correlated with PPU. Loneliness partially mediates the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and PPU.

Our Summary: Loneliness may explain the relationship between difficulties dealing with emotion and problematic pornography use. Men are more likely to know how to handle loneliness well.

Read the study:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19317611.2023.2224807

Pornography as a means of escape and validation

(Chasioti & Binnie, 2021) Pornography; Reasons.

-A sense of vulnerability rendered the use of pornography as a means of escape and validation.

-Furthermore, commitment to abstinence, framed by the notions of recovery and relapse, was found to be a major factor for maintaining distress.

Our Summary: More evidence that pornography is often used to escape negative emotions, and the goal of abstinence often makes the distress worse.

Read the study:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34143364/

Since the compulsive use of pornography is a form of escapism from uncomfortable emotions, shame around the issue will only make it worse. We understand that any approach to quitting pornography that produces more shame creates a spiral of pornography use that is especially hard to break out of.

These are band aid solutions for a much deeper issue that is not being addressed.

This includes:

Filters
Confessionals
Accountability groups
Willpower
Saying “Just Stop”
Distracting yourself

Moral disapproval of pornography and shame

(Droubay et al., 2021)

-Given that secrecy and deception about pornography viewing are linked with negative relationship outcomes, we sought to identify variables associated with persons’ endorsement of hiding it.

-Consumer moral disapproval of pornography and experiences of shame were associated with hiding behavior.

-Results from a path analysis suggest that the positive relationship between sexual conservatism and endorsement of hiding viewing from one’s committed partner is mediated by both moral incongruence (associated with viewing) and perception that pornography causes a host of harms.

-Persons with moral qualms related to their viewing were especially likely to endorse hiding it if they were shame-prone.Individuals who internalize messaging that pornography causes serious harms are more likely to keep their viewing secret.

-This suggests that practitioners, policymakers, and advocates need to be circumspect about their messaging, avoiding shame-inducing rhetoric, while keeping in mind the centrality of people’s values in informing attitudes and behaviors about pornography.

Our Summary: People who believe that pornography causes harm are more likely to hide their pornography viewing, and if they are shame-prone the hiding behavior is even worse. Hiding and secrecy creates relationship problems. Make sure the way we talk about pornography is not making the problem worse.

Read the Study:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2020.1822483

Thought suppression & Compulsive Sexual Behavior

(Efrati, 2018)

-The rebound effect of thought suppression refers to attempts to suppress thoughts that result in an increase of those thoughts.

-The aim of this three-study research was to investigate the suppression of thoughts and its possible importance in the cognitive model of predicted compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) among Israeli Jewish religious and secular adolescents.

-Increased preoccupation with sexual behavior, a hallmark of adolescence, is further intensified by suppressing these thoughts, thus becoming an essential part of the development of CSB.

-More specifically, suppressing such sexual thoughts and the inability to control them increase sexual fantasies and preoccupation with sexual behaviors, thus increasing the negative emotions of shame and guilt, which are an outcome of one’s inability to control such thoughts.

-The analyses indicated that religious adolescents are higher in CSB than secular ones, and that sexual suppression and CSB mediate the link between religiosity and well-being.

Our Summary: Trying to fight off sexual thoughts can actually increase them. This may be why acceptance and commitment-type therapy (which includes acceptance, mindfulness, and non-judgement) may be more effective to help people choose behaviors aligned with their values.

Read the study:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2018.1461796

Self-acceptance and acceptance of pornography use

(Sniewski & Farvid, 2019)

-We report on six cases of men with SPPPU as they underwent a mindfulness-based intervention program. The aim of the article is to offer greater insights into the men’s individual, subjective, and reflective experiences during the intervention.

-Results suggest that self-acceptance and acceptance of pornography use may represent intervention goals that are more realistic, practical, and attainable than abstinence.

-Triggers often took the form of affective states that were difficult to manage and regulate and viewing pornography served as the mediator for these uncomfortable experiential states even though viewing created additional problematic consequences.

-All of the men also disclosed the helpfulness of the pre-study interview process. While the intention was solely to gather data for research purposes, these men reported feeling relief after being able to speak openly about their pornography in a nonjudgmental space. The pre-study interview also seemed to spark the first instances of self-reflection and self-awareness of pornography consumption.

-Participants seemed to use the daily pornography-viewing logging spreadsheet as a momentary pause for reflecting on their pornography use, considering alternative responses to their temptation to view pornography, visually assessing the amount of pornography viewing, or set-ting intentions and goals with regards to future viewing.

-Perry and Pablo experienced therapeutic benefits when they started becoming more accepting of themselves and their pornography use, consistent with mindfulness literature that has shown positive associations between practicing mindfulness with both self-acceptance (Carson &Langer, 2006; Birnie, Speca, & Carlson, 2010) and self-compassion (Baer, Lykins, & Peters, 2012). Consequently, both Perry’s and Pablo’s pornography use lowered, which could be because the accompanying feelings of shame and guilt after watching pornography would not be present to fuel continued use (Levin, Lillis, & Hayes, 2012).

-Research has shown that the feelings of connectedness, bonding, and being listened to help create an atmosphere of self-acceptance and are negatively correlated with hypersexual and sexually compulsive behavior (Hook et al., 2015).

-The primary tool for gathering quantitative data during the intervention study was the daily logging spreadsheet, which required participants to record their daily pornography use, both in terms of frequency and duration.

-An unexpected finding was that the logging sheet served as a potent intervention in and of itself. Indeed, all of the participants reported the helpfulness and usefulness of logging pornography use, with some of the participants perceiving the logging process to be more helpful and useful than the guided meditation intervention.

-Participants reported experiencing an increased level of awareness around the contextual factors that triggered their viewing once they began the logging process.

-Pornography represents a maladaptive coping strategy for unwanted thoughts or negative feelings, even though pornography viewing most often leads to additional harm and unintended negative consequences (Levin et al., 2012).

-Research indicates that experiential avoidance accounts for both frequent pornography viewing, as well as the negative consequences associated with viewing (Levin, Lee, & Twohig, 2018).

-As such, any intervention that shifts an individual’s coping strategy from one of experiential avoiding to one of experiential allowing should reasonably expect some level of perceived discomfort since the individual will likely experience the affective states (i.e., unwanted thoughts, negative emotions and affective states, or uncomfortable or unpleasant physical body sensations) that had been avoided via pornography use.

Our Summary: Acceptance of self and acceptance of pornography viewing may actually lessen pornography viewing more effectively than efforts at abstinence. Triggers to view porn are often negative emotions that are hard to manage. Mindfulness allows self-acceptance and self-compassion while experiencing a negative emotion, rather than using pornography to avoid the negative emotion. In this study, having a safe, non-judgmental place to share feelings was relieving and helped to spark self-awareness and self-reflection. Additionally, a daily logging spreadsheet where participants recorded the frequency and duration of their porn viewing increased the participants awareness of their triggers to viewing.

Read the Study:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10720162.2019.1645058

Our Approach

This deeper issue is a lack of emotional resilience and processing skills that research has found to not only be good for overcoming pornography but essential.

This is why we take a completely different approach to quitting pornography that is:

Shame free
Sex positive
Research based
Result focused
Trauma Informed

This revolutionary approach doesn’t only sound great, but it really works. Hundreds of clients have reported not only quitting porn but no longer having a desire to view porn at all after going through our program.

90.4 % of program members report feeling more in control in their lives since joining Overcome Pornography for Good.

Our podcast teaches these skills and resonates true with over 1 Million listeners. We regularly receive reviews like this:

Get to the Root Model

Through years of analyzing research and coaching, the Center for Overcoming Pornography has developed a “get to the root” model.

We acknowledge that unethical pornography use is a symptom of a much larger issue- a societal issue founded in homogenized masculine tendencies which has created an unbalanced system. This system is focused on symptoms, dressing bullet holes with bandaids leaving individuals feeling that their body is inherently un-trustworthy.

In contrast, our center strives to bring awareness to abusive behaviors, control tactics, and power dynamics that make it difficult to quit porn. We also make porn consumers aware of emotionally abusive behaviors they might be playing out in their own relationships. We don’t blame the porn for these behaviors, as you'll see in the research. We ensure that we are a safe place for people to land. We never ostracize pornography consumers. People are not the villains, legal and ethical pornography is not the villain, harmful beliefs and systems are.

Benefits of the "getting to the root" model:

- Study explaining operant conditioning (how people use porn to escape emotion)

https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/lumenpsychology/chapter/operant-conditioning/#:~:text=Positive%20reinforcement%20is%20a%20process,by%20removing%20an%20undesirable%20consequence.

(Borgogna et al., 2020a)

-Few studies have examined how culturally constructed masculine role norms relate to pornography problems and how [self-esteem] may moderate [change] these associations.

-Power over women and playboy norms [traditional masculinity] was associated with increased problematic pornography viewing, whereas emotional control and winning norms were negatively related to problematic pornography viewing.

-Findings suggest that men’s pornography viewing may be tied to their expressions of traditional masculinity.

-In addition, men with low self-esteem may be especially drawn to pornography, potentially as a way of over-conforming to and performing certain male role norms.

-Implications for practice include exploring masculinity ideology with male clients struggling with pornography viewing problems and integrating masculinity as an important cultural consideration within established treatment modalities for pornography addiction.

Our Summary: Men with low-self esteem may struggle more with problematic pornography viewing. Debunking old, homogeneously masculine traditions and helping raise self-esteem may help male clients who struggle with pornography consumption.

Read the study:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-25331-001

(Horvath, 2022)

-The full expression of the contemporary CBT approach (for any problem, and for addiction specifically) is founded on the fundamental human learning processes, including respondent conditioning, operant conditioning, modeling, and cognitive mediation.

-Respondent conditioning occurs when a stimulus that elicits an automatic response (e.g., food eliciting salivation) is paired closely in time with a neutral stimulus (e.g., a bell). With enough pairings where the bell rings and the food quickly arrives, the bell alone can elicit salivation.

-Operant conditioning occurs when a positive or negative experience quickly follows a specific behavior. If the experience is positive, the behavior increases; if negative, it decreases. If I earn money for a behavior it tends to increase, but if I get fined it tends to decrease.

-Modeling occurs when we observe someone (a model) engage in a behavior new to us and we learn about the behavior by observing it. This process is also called observational learning.

-Cognitive mediation occurs when the “facts” of a situation are appraised (and possibly changed substantially) by the observer. [Sounds like thought work!] The interpretation or behavior that follows is based on the appraisal rather than immediately on the facts. You may appraise someone’s behavior as kind, but I may appraise it as manipulative. My appraisal may be based on my experience with that person, or with others who previously engaged in that behavior, or with others whom that person reminds me of, or on other aspects of my learning history.

-Because we can cognitively mediate our own cognitive mediations, we can change them. Mediation of mediation is at the heart of CBT.

-A functional analysis connects the antecedents of a behavior, the behavior itself, and the consequences of the behavior (ABC) in an effort to understand how specific situations lead the client to expect that the addictive behavior will be reinforced in them.

- In some cases, the answer to the question “What do you like about it?” will be sufficient as a functional analysis.

-CBT is approximately as effective as any other treatment for addiction. Clinicians can confidently use CBT for addiction but should refrain from stating that it is better than other approaches.

Our Summary: A discussion about CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or thought-work), including conditioning (Pavlov’s dogs’ style and reinforcement style), and cognitive mediation, which is like thought work, in evaluating whether your thoughts are accurate, etc. Additionally, thinking about functional analysis (the ABCs described above) can prove useful to understand the WHY behind the behavior. Previous articles in this document would suggest that these elements of CBT, combined with mindfulness, is an effective way to approach problematic pornography use.

Read the study:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-23706-006

(Twohig & Crosby, 2010)

-An emerging treatment approach, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), holds promise as a treatment for Internet pornography viewing because of its focus on processes hypothesized to underlie this maladaptive behavior.

-Time viewing pornography as the dependent variable. [This was the outcome they measured]

-Treatment resulted in an 85% reduction in viewing at post-treatment with results being maintained at 3-month follow-up (83% reduction). Increases were seen on measures of quality of life, and reductions were seen on measures of OCD and scrupulosity.

Our Summary: This was one of the first studies to evaluate ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) with reduction of pornography viewing, and showed the first evidence that ACT is an appropriate treatment.

Read the study:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27157029/

(Hallberg et al., 2019)

-Aim: To investigate the efficiancy of group-administered CBT for hypersexual disorder [using a randomized controlled study].

-Methods: Male participants (n = 137) diagnosed with HD, were randomized between 7 weeks of group-administered CBT (n = 70) and a waitlist control receiving the intervention after 8 weeks (n = 67). Measurements were administered at pre-, mid-, and post-treatment, with follow-up after 3 and 6 months.

-Results: A significantly greater decrease in HD symptoms and sexual compulsivity, as well as significantly greater improvements in psychiatric well-being, were found for the treatment condition compared with the waitlist. These effects remained stable at 3 and 6 months after treatment.

-The long-term treatment effects are vague due to the low response rate on follow-up measurements, and the efficacy of this program for hypersexual women remains unknown.

Our Summary: More evidence that CBT works well to treat hypersexuality and compulsivity, as well as good research design to show effectiveness over time.

Read the study:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1743609519304308?via%3Dihub

Harm of homogenized masculine societies

(Borgogna et al., 2019b)

-Men’s restrictive emotionality and heterosexist ideologies predicted control difficulties with pornography use and using pornography to escape negative emotions.

-Additionally, men’s avoidance of femininity ideology predicted excessive pornography use and control difficulties.

Our Summary: Men often need more help with regulating their emotions and in valuing women and minorities as equal, rather than in believing homogenized masculinity is best.

Read the study:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-25331-001

(Borgogna et al., 2020a)

-Few studies have examined how culturally constructed masculine role norms relate to pornography problems and how [self-esteem] may moderate [change] these associations.

-Findings suggest that men’s pornography viewing may be tied to their expressions of traditional masculinity.

-In addition, men with low self-esteem may be especially drawn to pornography, potentially as a way of over-conforming to and performing certain male role norms.

-Implications for practice include exploring masculinity ideology with male clients struggling with pornography viewing problems and integrating masculinity as an important cultural consideration within established treatment modalities for pornography addiction.

Read the study:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-25331-001

Center for Overcoming Pornography

Our Mission is to completely revolutionize the way that our society addresses pornography.

We see so many men and women who feel trapped, broken, and lost from their inability to stop watching porn and we desperately want to help them understand that there is nothing wrong with them- they are just using the wrong tools to heal their problem.

We encourage everyone to gather as a community to support these individuals in building new and healthier habits. This is done through a radical shift in mindset about how porn affects us.

Disclaimer: The Center for Overcoming Pornography defines pornography as explicit representation of sexual activity performed by consenting adults in images or in writing.

This does not include explicit sexual representation of anyone under the age of 18 or anyone unable to consent to sexual acts. We consider this material not as pornography but as Sexual Exploitation Material (SEM). As we discuss research on pornography, we want it to be clear that we are not discussing SEM. The Center for Overcoming Pornography does not condone illegal material such as SEM. If you have come across SEM we encourage you to report this material to the United States Justice Division (For US residents) or your local Criminal Division.

We are a Porn-Neutral Organization.

While our current culture has divisive ideas about pornography, the research is quite definitive.

It’s no secret that historically, porn has been taboo. There have been unfounded claims about pornography that have very little empirical evidence making research on porn difficult to sift through.

Examples include: porn is addictive, watching porn makes you a violent person, or porn consumption damages your brain. Each of these claims and many more have been debunked (see drop downs below). These claims perpetuate shame towards those who consume pornography and make it so much more difficult to quit.

Why are there so many untrue claims around pornography?

Pornography can be classified as a "moral panic". Dr. Marty Klein explains this in depth in his book, His Porn, Her Pain. He teaches that moral panics are not new to society. In the 1980’s, Dungeons and Dragons, a popular board game, was thought to cause mental illness and lead to immoral behavior. In the 1950’s comic books were feared. Amateur “research” concluded that comic books led to antisocial behavior among young readers. There were public burnings of comic books, censorship, and bans on words like "zombies" or "vampires." Likewise, “moral panic” was used to create “porn panic” in the early 2000’s. Incomplete studies were conducted on assumptions of immorality creating many of the sources that are regularly quoted today by anti-pornography campaigns.

We do not teach that legal pornography (consensual adult material) has moral value, but that it can be a symptom other issues underneath the surface.

We simultaneously acknowledge that there can be very genuine pain around pornography.

It is normal to experience relationship pain, self identity pain, or “feeling out of control” pain. Pornography is sometimes used by abusers against their victims which can cause a very poignant pain for this topic. We promise to address your pain-point wherever you may be with pornography without villainizing porn as the problem.

There are many great reasons to quit porn that have nothing to do with the moral character of porn.
For many of our clients, pornography use has become a form of escapism preventing them from progressing. It is the escapism that we are work to eliminate, not the medium one chooses to escape with.

Additional Myths in Research on Pornography Consumption:

Neuroscience proves that watching porn can damage the brain (especially in the young) and cause porn addiction.

-Neuroscience evidence is mixed on the effect that pornography may or may not have on the brain.

-The area of the brain that goes off with porn is related to the same area that goes off with cuddling puppies, eating sugar, drugs, watching sunsets, anything that triggers desire and dopamine.

-“No data have demonstrated that porn is different from any other ‘liked’ activity or object”

- Georgiadis and M.L> Kringelbach. “The Human Sexual Response Cycle: Brain Imaging Evidence Linking Sex to Other Pleasures”, Prog Neurobiol. 2012; 98(1):49-81. doi:10.1016/j.p-neurobio.2012.05.004

-Bruce Carpenter, researcher at BYU “There is no evidence, not a single study of pornography use showing brain damage or brain change”

What to look out for in research claims that neuroscience proves porn damages the brain:

-Claiming certainty

-Studies on tiny populations

-Misunderstanding of the complexities of neuroscience

-No explanation for people who watch a medium or large amount of porn WITHOUT becoming addicted, compulsive, self-destructive, or sexually dysfunctional

-Catch 22's - If brain activity goes up, it means addiction, if it goes down, it’s called “reduced sensitivity” because of pornography.

Porn contributes to rape culture.

Let's be clear: harming and hurting women or other people? Wrong. Non-consensual sexual activity? Wrong. Hard line.

And the research shows little to no evidence that viewing porn increases rape culture.

(Borgogna et al., 2022b)

-Neither pornography viewing, nor hardcore pornography viewing, were related to rape myth acceptance when controlling for sexist attitudes among men.

-Indicated hostile sexism to be a significantly stronger predictor of all rape myths examined compared to pornography viewing or hardcore pornography viewing in men and women.

-Suggested hardcore pornography viewing as a significant exacerbating factor for the relationship between hostile sexism and “she asked for it” rape myths across genders.

Our Summary: Men who are sexist are more likely to believe rape myths like “she was asking for it,” compared to men who are not sexist but view pornography. AKA, watching pornography does not make men more likely to believe in rape myths; being sexist does.

Read the study:

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-25331-001

One case of rape is too many.

-We still have a lot to do to combat sexual crime.

-Research shows little to no correlation between people who view porn and people who contribute to rape and aggression. Instead of blaming porn, let’s get deeper to the real causes.

-Lack of sex education

-Sexist beliefs

-Systems that favor men over women in court

-Believing rape myths (e.g. she was asking for it, what was she wearing?) https://risenow.us/impact/what-were-you-wearing/

-Trivializing sexual violence

-Policing sexuality

-Lack of accountability/covering up abuse

-Sexist power advantages in work environments, church environments, etc.

-Cultures that believe men over women.

Another interesting study:

More egalitarian views towards women in porn users:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499.2015.1023427

Pornography is addictive and leads to a sex addiction.

Research suggests that addiction models may not be effective for treating problematic pornography use, whereas mindfulness based programs have shown a lot of success.

Pornography addiction is not a classified disorder in the DSM-5 or the ICD-11

-Thousands of professionals from the most prestigious body of psychiatrists in the world reviewed decades of data, opinions, and clinical charts and came to this conclusion: “There is insufficient peer-reviewed evidence to establish the diagnostic criteria and course descriptions needed” to include sex addiction or porn addiction as actual disorders.

-This does NOT mean that you are making your experience up. This does not mean there is not pain and even compulsions around your porn use.

-What this does mean:

-There is little to no evidence that addiction models for quitting pornography work in the long term, whereas the mindfulness-based models shows a lot of efficacy (as seen in above sections of this page)

-It’s not your fault you haven’t been able to quit, it’s like you’ve been fixing the microwave with the manual for the fridge.

-There is a lot of hope

-Your experiences, your hopelessness and feelings of out of control are very real.

Our Approach:

-Labels are powerful.

-Use the labels that help you the most.

-If the addiction label helps you, use it.

-If it doesn't, drop it.

Additional Studies to Read on this Topic:

Addiction and Mindfulness; Pornography Addiction and Mindfulness-Based Therapy ACT: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10720162.2019.1576560

Self-reported addiction to pornography in a nationally representative sample: The roles of use habits, religiousness, and moral incongruence: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30632378/

Addictions: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-23706-006

Watching adult porn leads to watching child porn.

-Again - we do not use the term "Child P*rn", we use SEM, Sexual Exploitation Material. SEM is wrong and we hard line.

-We do not condone illegal material such as SEM. If you have come across SEM, please report to the United States Justice Division (For US residents) or your local Criminal Division.

-There is no evidence to back up ted talk claims of legal porn use turning into SEM.

-It's like sex - someone who really enjoys adult sex and has a lot of adult sex does not turn into a pedophile.