Porn addiction can be `unlearned`

Indian origin researchers have shed light on the severe impact of porn addiction on users and their families. In the first study of its kind in Australia, researchers Professor Raj Sitharthan of the University of Sydney's Department of Psychiatry and Dr Gomathi Sitharthan from the Faculty of Health Sciences, revealed that the addiction could be "unlearned" through changing one's behaviour. The study, which was conducted through internet surveys and was not funded by any organisation, found that nearly 20 per cent of the 800 participants "preferred the excitement of watching porn to being sexually intimate with their partner'. It also found that around 43 per cent of participants said they started viewing porn when they were between 11 to 13 years old, about 47 per cent of participants spent between 30 minutes and three hours a day watching pornography, about 14 per cent formed a relationship with other online users, about 30 per cent acknowledged their work performance suffered due to excessive viewing and almost 18 per cent were preoccupied with fantasising when they were not online Professor Sitharthan asserted that he came across a range of extreme behaviour by porn addicts in his clinical practice. In one case, one boy refused to go to school, ignored his friends and would watch porn till the early hours of the morning. "Sooner or later, this takes over their lives and it becomes the only thing that can give them satisfaction," Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying. Professor Sitharthan insisted that the easy availability of porn through the internet implied it was "here to stay". However, he said the addicts were not a lost cause and could learn to reduce their viewing habits to the level where it did not devastate their lives or the lives of their loved ones. "Some people view it as a moral disease. We are taking the view that it's not a disease, and certainly not a moral disease. It's a normal part of the growing," Professor Sitharthan said. "Some people overdo it and they can learn to cut down if they want and reduce it to a level that does not impact on their relationships, finances or studies." He said that porn addiction was like alcohol addiction, and previous studies he and Dr Sitharthan published divulged that people who drank excessive amounts of alcohol daily were able to reduce their drinking habits. "If you take a very moralistic stance, then I think you are basically turning people away from seeking treatment," Professor Sitharthan said. He added that in his clinical practice, clients reduced their porn intake through being denied money used for buying porn, or to computers for viewing videos and images.