The question of whether any amount of porn use is acceptable is a divisive topic in our culture. It’s difficult to answer with any level of certainty. How much porn use is “safe” or “healthy” depends largely on a person’s individual circumstances, beliefs, and choices.

A question that we can answer with some certainty, however, is whether people – generally speaking – watch a lot of pornography. The answer is a resounding, “Yes.” In 2016, people spent more than 4 billion hours watching porn on just one website alone.

A group of researchers in Canada recently set out to determine how often all of this porn-viewing proved to be problematic. They found that there are basically three different types of porn users: recreational, compulsive, and distressed.

According to an article about the study published in New York Magazine’s “Science of Us” blog:

“After doing cluster analysis — where participants are, true to the term, clustered into groups — the researchers found some interesting breakdowns. A full 75 percent of participants fell under the recreational grouping, with low scores on all porn use dimensions, an average of 24 minutes of viewing per week. Women and people in relationships were overrepresented in this group.

The “highly distressed non-compulsive” profile (12.7 percent of the sample) had low compulsivity and intensity scores, but lots of emotional distress, and watched for an average of 17 minutes a week.

The “compulsive” profile fit 11.8 percent of participants, marked by high scores on intensity and compulsivity, and moderate scores on distress. They averaged 110 minutes a week.”

If you feel that your use of pornography falls within either the “highly distressed non-compulsive” profile or the “compulsive” profile, you should consider talking to a counselor or Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (C-SAT) about it. In fact, if you find that you are regularly engaging in any sexual behaviors that cause you shame or distress, or have brought on some adverse consequences in your life, it’s important that you reach out for help. There’s no reason why you couldn’t or shouldn’t be able to discover and define a healthy, nurturing, and relational sex life for yourself.

Help is Available

At The Meadows, we offer several opportunities for interested individuals to explore the root cause of their problematic sexual behaviors and make a positive change in their lives.

Sexual Recovery Workshops

For individuals seeking personal growth and understanding of their sexuality, we have two 5-day workshops available. Men’s Sexual Recovery helps men address sexual obsession and compulsive sexuality, and to learn how to build a sex life that is fun, fulfilling, and deeply meaningful.

Inpatient and Outpatient Sexual Recovery

For those who need more intensive, long-term care The Meadows offers two gender-specific inpatient treatment programs for sex addiction as well as a comprehensive outpatient program.

Gentle Path at The Meadows provides an intensive, experientially-based 45-day treatment program for men struggling with sexual addiction, love addiction, intimacy disorders, or sexual anorexia and concurrently addresses complex addiction, disordered attachment, and trauma.

Similarly, Willow House at The Meadows offers to help women with relationship and intimacy disorders, including sex and love addiction, in a nurturing environment where they can rebuild their confidence and develop relationships that will empower their recovery.

The Gentle Path Outpatient Program offers the same high quality of care that exists on our main campuses in a comprehensive outpatient program setting where individuals can start or continue their recovery from sexual addiction and intimacy conditions with a flexible schedule that accommodates work and school whenever possible.