Porn addiction is a real and growing problem being observed among children as young as 9 or 10 and frequently overlooked among teens whose parents are unaware of how they spend their time online. The consequence of allowing children to spend endless hours online, to use the Internet behind closed doors from a young age and just the fact that parents have lost control of the content that their children are exposed to has led to an epidemic. The problem can become so bad that professional treatment may be required and like any substance addiction, sometimes treatment in a residential addiction facility is required.

Most people are not aware that the problem is becoming so common that full-fledged pornography addiction treatment programs have been developed and are being offered in facilities around the country. Find the nearest porn addiction program here:

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Not on the map? Email us at sheryl@internet-addiction-guide.com to have your US pornography addiction program added.

Most people are not incredibly interested to know how a porn filter actually works. When someone starts looking for a porn filter to install on their computer, they are usually looking for a good price and something that instinctively looks credible. Porn filter developers tend to place a lot of information on their websites, but truthfully, most of it is not so useful.

To know if a porn filter is going to be effective for your needs, there are a few key issues you need to know to help you choose the best porn filter.

1. Does the porn filter use a database?
Most porn filter vendors do not mention how the filter actually works. Why? Because it may not be a terrifically impressive story to tell. The majority of porn filters filter based on a URL database. That means that they have gathered or purchased a database of pornography websites that they know should be blocked due to the type of content they include. This means that there will always be a significant volume of sites that get through the filter since they are not updated in the database. Further, it can mean that many sites that are not porn sites, but contain porn-like content on pages within the site, are likely to get through the filter.

2. Does the porn filter use technology to block pornography?
A true filter, has the capability to work on-the-fly. This means that any page requested with pornography content, no matter when it was created or whether it has been previously reviewed, will be caught by the filter. How? A Few porn filters are using a type of artificial intelligence that allows the filter to work on-the-fly and scan each incoming request.

3. Does the porn filter use both a database and technology to filter content?
Since scanning each and every request can be cumbersome and time consuming, in order to reduce the likelihood of browsing delays, filter engines may have a mechanism to streamline the process. Furthermore, these sophisticated engines can be self taught and the more users the filter has, the more it learns and can add to it’s own database. A streamlined process may look something like this:

-User makes a request to view a web page.

-Filter checks its database to see if it should be blocked. If yes, it is blocked and this is a very short process (undetectable by the user)

-If the page is not in the database, the filter deploys its scanning engine to review the page for the parameters it knows to be common to pornographic content. That could include language, percentage of page taken up by images, specific colors, layout and many other parameters not noticed by the naked eye.

Today, even with this process added to the browsing time, it should be negligible and completely undetectable by the user.

Even nice guys can be pornography addicts. But they can also recover! Watch Seth tell his story.

Seth’s Story: Overcoming an Addiction to Pornography from Fight the New Drug on Vimeo.

Masturbation is a part of healthy sexual behavior (See table below). However, for some, masturbation can become compulsive and disruptive to a person’s daily life. it can even cause physical problems

So when does masturbation turn into masturbating too much? How many times is too many times? When should you seek out help to stop a masturbation habit?

The answers to these questions are not black and white. If you think you may be masturbating too much, it is safe to say you have a problem – because you feel like it is a problem. If masturbating takes preference over social activities or you consistently prefer masturbating to sex, it is interfering with leading a normal life. An obsession with masturbation indicates compulsive behavior.

Noted CBT psychotherapist, Noam Gordon has shared these 5 tips with us on how to stop masturbating too much. He helps many patients overcome obsessive compulsive behavior and in the case of the compulsive need to masturbate, identifies these 5 steps as the first steps towards recovery.

Tip 1 Recognition

As is common with addicts, you may be denying you have a problem. After all, masturbating is normal sexual behavior. But denying you have an excessive masturbation problem will only prolong and deepen the problem. You need to accept that there is a problem and recognize that the habit has a real and negative impact on your life.

Tip 2 Education

Educate yourself. Read, find information and literature about compulsive masturbation. You will quickly find that you are not alone and many others are suffering. But you will also learn that there are ways to overcome the problem.

Tip 3 Identify the trigger

Make a list of all of the stimulations that trigger your compulsive masturbation behavior. For many people, easy access to Internet porn, chat rooms like Chatroulette or Youtube videos can trigger the desire to masturbate. If it happens every time you are alone online, make a note of it. If it happens at the end of a long day, write it down. These and other situations are common triggers.

Tip 4 Create an avoidance Strategy

Create an avoidance strategy. Install a web filter on your computers and block pornography content. You can use advanced filtering setting to manage time online and avoid being online when you’re alone. Avoid the pitfalls and stay a master of your own domain.

Tip 5 Get Help

If you are having trouble managing the problem with self control, as happens with most addicts, seek help from a friend or significant other. Ask them to be your sponsor. Use an Internet filter software to help avoid the situations that trigger masturbation and can even allow your sponsor to monitor your internet use. If you feel uncomfortable with the sponsor approach, then seek professional help to cope with your addiction to masturbation.

This question was recently posted on Yahoo Answers.

Me and my husband are currently seperated and will be divorcing after i give birth to our second child. I have proof that he meets random pple online for sex. I went onto his email and found that he had a profile on xxxcupid.com and it had his username and password so i went to it and found him handing out his phone number to numerous women to meet up for sex. I printed ALL of the messages out and also an email where a woman sent him naked pictures. I knew he had a porn addiction, Continue reading “Divorce, Custody and Porn Addiction” »

It seems like everyday, medical professionals, school counselors, the media or someone is talking about another addiction epidemic related to the new era of technology we have entered in the last decade. Whether these are addictions, compulsive behaviors or dependencies, the fact is that we are undergoing a major shift in how we communicate with each other, how we learn, how we gather information, how we play, and more. And we seem to be lost without many of the things we could not even have dreamed of having just a decade ago.
Here are some of the new addictions that could not have been fathomed just a few years ago:
1. Cell Phone Addiction
Cell phones are a great invention that seem to have made life so much easier. Yet they also gave people a way to be in constant touch and some people get addicted to that– constantly sending text messages, calling people to update them about everything they are doing. Cell phone addiction has often identified among tweens and teens and is becoming a global phenomena. In some cases, teens and young adults spend hours each day using their phones.

2. E-mail Addiction
Some people are so dependent on email and the feeling they get when mail arrives to their Inbox, they may send themselves mail or register for newsletters just to ensure a constant flow. If a person is constantly checking their email – before they eat, while they, after they eat, on the way to the bathroom, just before heading out of the house, first thing they do when they get home . . . they may have developed a compulsive behavior. With that said and given how many people work today using email to communicate throughout the day, it may be hard to differentiate between compulsive email use and healthy email behavior.

3. eBay Addiction
I only bought one item on eBay and it was 10 years ago. It just did not do it for me. But thre are many people who are spending time on eBay all day and it becomes about more than just hunting for bargains for things they need. It becomes an addiction to the hunt itself. The thrill of finding something , the thrill of ordering it and the thrill of receiving it by mail make for an experience that can be very addictive and is always available. Many people get a rush from winning the bidding on eBay items similar to the rush gambler get. For some, it interferes with work, leads to overspending and causes tension within families.

4. Online Gambling Addiction
Online gambling can be an enjoyable alternative to visiting casinos but for those for whom it becomes a frequent activity, it usually ends up badly. Internet gambling has led to an overall increase in the number of people who gamble and consequently in the number of compulsive gamblers. People who would have never considered taking a trip to a casino or playing poker with friends are accessing bingo sites, betting sites and getting hooked. The Internet gambling sites are built to attract first time gamblers with irresistible temptations and even provide free money to get started.

5. Internet Addiction
Just being online can be addictive. More and more people are finding it too easy to spend hours each day online. They shop, read, play, communicate, etc. all from the comfort of their home. It can be convenient and seemingly enhance our lifestyle but when overused, it is an addiction with serious consequences – from back pain to weight gain to loss of friends to depression.

6. Internet Porn Addiction
From sex talk via chat to viewing online porn, the porn industry has succeeded to enter many more homes via the Internet than was ever possible. Pornography is highly addictive content and many people, once exposed, find themselves seeking more porn images and videos and spending more and more time seeking porn online. A porn habit can effect a person’s ability to be intimate, it can be hurtful to the person’s partner, and it can interfere with daily life. Divorce lawyers mention pornography as being the cause of a growing number of divorces.

If you or someone you love appear to be developing an Internet related addiction, consider a web filter as the first line of defense. In the case that the addiction has become out of control, you may require professional therapy or self help type course to recover.

It has become commonly understood among mental health professionals that positive reinforcement is far more effective a technique than negative reinforcement. However, in practice, this can be a very significant challenge. In the case of porn addiction, those involved are at a highly emotionally charged state. The addict is embarassed, frustrated and maybe even physically weakened (i.e. from lack of sleep). The spouse or significant other is insulted, hurt, perhaps feeling betrayed, and usually, there has been a lot of fighting and hurting going on within the relationship around the issue of pornography and using it for sexual satisfaction.

Recovery systems have been defined by therapists and mental health professional to provide people with a framework from which to motivate addicts into treatment. Being nice and using positive reinforcement is more effective and healthier for all involved. Consider, for example, making a list of the REWARDS that will motivate the addict -that are not detrimental in any way to his health — and find ways to introduce those things at the right moments. Unlike insulting and shaming him, the likelihood of getting his agreement to seek help is far greater, when using positive reinforcement.

Research shows that family members can learn techniques to get their  loved ones into addiction treatment and help the treatment succeed. Consider that it is easier to get someone to listen to kind and encouraging words than to harsh words and criticism. Threatening can be counter productive and only make the addict more resistant to you and your eagerness to help.

Once in a recovery program, family and friends who are aware of the situation should be briefed on how to provide positive reinforcement and act as motivators. This can make a world of a difference in achieving success and a cure.

Addiction to pornography may be one of the most problematic addictions to treat. Usually, when someone has a porn addiction, they hide it well. Unlike an alcoholic who the family may actually see drink, by the sheer nature of the addiction, the porn addict is compelled to try to hide his problem.
He may surf porn at work in the privacy of his office, he may wait until everyone goes to bed and sit at the computer late at night, he may live alone and simply avoid social interaction to stay home and view porn.

So when someone does recognize the problem, it can be severely embarrassing and a natural reaction is to deny the pornography habit rather than to admit to something that the addict knows he will be harshly judged for.
People with untreated addictions commonly argue that nothing is wrong with them. Most men with a porn habit will explain that they are not do anything any healthy man does not do. Many will be able to convince their partners or family that they are exaggerating their concerns. The pain of being found out is just too much for them to handle. They may believe that they can control their porn use and often will try to use willpower to stay away from porn from some period. But relapse is usually inevitable. Willpower is not a cure. And unfortunately, failing to keep their self promise can lead to shame, guilt and increased stress – which may only exacerbate the porn addition.
It may be tempting for loved ones, who suspect their is a problem and are themselves offended and hurt by the porn habit, to take a hands-off approach to the problem and pretend they don’t notice or do not care. But hoping that the porn problem will just go away on its own or because he loves you so much is just not likely to happen. It is not about how much the addict loves his family and friends. Even if you believe that the porn addict is not willing to try to change, treatment can still help and the sooner, the better.

Porn addiction is a progressive disorder -it gets worse over time. The sooner a person receives treatment for addiction, the greater the chances for recovery.In fact, if we could manage to address the problem at the very start, simply by installing a porn filter and blocking access to pornography online, chances are we would not have the porn addiction epidemic we have today.Many people receive treatment for porn addiction  because they were forced into it by family or friends.

If you want to get your loved one into treatment for a pornography problem, try to get the advice of an addiction treatment specialist. The way you go about approaching the addict can make a very significant difference in his willingness to enter treatment and his attitude toward the treatment.

By examining where particular terms are searched most, we can learn a lot about a region. For example,  a search for “Islam” reveals that it is most searched in Indonesia and Malaysia. While a search for “baptist church” reveals most searches are in the US, in English. This is not surprising. But we were surprised when it comes to terms that indicate a potential problem with porn addiction Continue reading “Is Porn Addiction a Problem in Muslim Countries?” »