Is Pornography Addiction Real? What the Research Actually Says

If you’ve grown up in an LDS or religious household, you’ve likely heard pornography described as an addiction — something that hijacks the brain like heroin, something shameful and progressive, something that destroys marriages and souls. For many people, this framing creates enormous suffering. But is “pornography addiction” actually real? The answer is more complicated — and more hopeful — than you might think.

What Does “Pornography Addiction” Actually Mean?

The term “pornography addiction” is widely used in religious and popular culture — but it does not appear in the DSM-5 (the official diagnostic manual used by mental health professionals in the United States) or the ICD-11 (the international diagnostic manual). Neither the American Psychological Association nor the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) recognizes pornography addiction as a clinical diagnosis.

This doesn’t mean pornography use never causes problems — it absolutely can. But the “addiction” label carries specific implications that research doesn’t always support, and applying it indiscriminately can cause significant harm.

The Shame Variable: Why Religious Context Changes Everything

One of the most important — and least discussed — findings in pornography research is the role of moral incongruence. Studies by researcher Joshua Grubbs and colleagues have found that the distress people experience around pornography use is more strongly predicted by whether the person believes pornography is morally wrong than by how much they actually use it.

In other words: for many people, the problem isn’t how much pornography they’re using — it’s the shame cycle that viewing pornography creates within their belief system. This is especially true for LDS individuals and couples, where the moral and spiritual stakes around sexuality are high, and where the shame of pornography use can feel crushing and unending.

Research also shows that shame doesn’t reduce pornography use — it often increases it. The shame-guilt-relief cycle, where someone feels deeply ashamed, temporarily abstains, and then returns to pornography for relief from that very shame, is well documented. The label “addict” can lock people into this cycle by creating a fixed, catastrophic identity rather than treating the underlying emotional dynamics.

What This Means for LDS Couples

When a spouse discovers their partner’s pornography use in an LDS marriage, the impact is real and significant. It can feel like betrayal, it can trigger questions about faithfulness and worthiness, and it can damage trust in profound ways. These responses deserve to be taken seriously — the pain is not “just shame.”

But the “addiction” framework can sometimes make healing harder, not easier. When a spouse identifies their partner as a “porn addict,” it can create a fixed, catastrophic narrative that makes recovery feel impossible and rebuilding trust feel futile. When the person using pornography labels themselves an “addict,” it can increase shame in ways that make change harder, not easier.

What helps most — for both partners — is understanding the specific emotional functions pornography is serving, building genuine intimacy in the relationship, and working with the shame itself rather than trying to suppress it through willpower alone.

Getting Help: A Shame-Free Approach

Whether or not your pornography use meets criteria for any clinical label, if it’s causing distress in your life or relationship, you deserve support that takes your whole experience seriously — including your faith, your values, and your desire for genuine connection.

Research shows that approaches focused on shame, willpower, and “white-knuckling” abstinence rarely lead to lasting change. More effective approaches focus on understanding the underlying emotional drivers, building genuine intimacy in relationships, developing self-compassion, and releasing the shame cycle that perpetuates compulsive behavior.

This is why Daniel Burgess, LMFT takes a sex-positive, shame-informed approach to working with LDS couples and individuals around pornography. Rather than labeling the person as an “addict” — a label that often increases shame and worsens behavior — therapy focuses on understanding the whole person, the relationship context, and the specific messages that have been internalized about sexuality.

Daniel Burgess, LMFT works with LDS individuals and couples in Utah — both in-person and online — using a shame-informed, sex-positive approach to pornography concerns. If you’re ready to move beyond the shame cycle, schedule a free consultation to learn more.