How Parents Can Help Overcome Teen Porn Addiction

The onset of adolescence ushers in a phase of curiosity where teens’ urge to explore their sexuality and sexual identity surges. While this is a reality of life we cannot casually ignore, the greatest concern is the high-risk behaviors, including pornography addiction, that come with it.

Addiction to porn among teenagers is a serious mental health problem. It affects children’s health by causing poor sexual relationships and sometimes adverse mental illness.

Adolescents are uncontrollably exposed to potentially harmful pornographic materials through technology use. Even with their moral guard up, kids can easily stumble upon porn content accidentally at home or at a friend’s house. Consequently, many teens continue to fall into this trap, yet there is a skeptical attitude among parents when it comes to confronting teenage pornography addiction and treatment.

As much as porn appears to be deep-rooted in society, its impacts on young adults can still be managed through parental intervention.

Is It Normal For Teens to Have A Pornography Addiction?

It is quite normal for teens to be highly obsessed with sex, but it is not normal for them to develop porn addiction. This is because the appetite for sex comes naturally as teens experience hormonal changes that trigger their sexual desires at the puberty stage.

However, addiction to pornography is a whole different story. Porn addiction emanates from sexual behaviors rather than natural forces. In other words, it is a result of the inability to control the uptake of porn material even amid negative effects on the victim. Teens are said to be addicted to porn when their consumption of the same interferes with their ability to function well socially and emotionally. Therefore, it is possible that young people can consume porn but not be addicts.

What Does Porn do to A Teenage Mind?

Excessive exposure to pornography causes untold damage to the mental health of teenagers. Pornography preys on the brain and causes it to release dopamine, a powerful hormone that controls memory and motivations for pleasure. Once the brain records this memory as pleasurable, watching sexual content will always stimulate the release of dopamine. And the brain will have the motivation to experience more of it. This means that porn has a way of making children yearn for more.

As teens interact with pornographic content, the experience remains in their brains and triggers the desire to repeat watching similar content. What follows is that the brain will put porn ahead of everything else in life, resulting in mental health problems.

What Does Pornography do to Teenagers?

Pornography may lead to sexual abuse because it makes unwanted sexual behaviors look normal. Teens may be unable to forge healthy intimate relationships in real life when they rely too much on porn. It is also known to cause mental health issues among addicts.

What to do When Your Teen is Addicted to Porn

Most parents become confused about what to do when they discover their teenage child is a porn addict. Although the situation is tough, observing the following recommendations may prove fruitful in helping the child overcome porn addiction at the family level.

Create Healthy Boundaries

Before embarking on helping your teen to overcome porn addiction, you must first break the barrier of fear and embarrassment associated with porn use. In many instances, children who are porn addicts do not share it with anyone. And for those who think of talking to someone, their parents are mostly at the bottom of the list.

As a parent, try to create a healthy relationship with your child by sharing your experiences, especially those that occurred when you were their age. Talk about the good and the ugly and how they shaped you to be a better person. Your child may eventually find it worth opening up to you or a family member about their experiences as well.

Avoid Judgmental Tone

Since children rarely admit by themselves, there must be pointers that lead you to believe that your child is a porn addict. These pointers should be your starting point to make your child conquer fear and be willing to speak out. Address the odd behaviors you’ve noticed in the child while showing empathy instead of accusing or judging the child. This will prevent them from becoming defensive and hiding the truth.

Take Responsibility for the Kid’s Sexual Behavior

As a parent, the first step to helping a child overcome porn addiction is taking responsibility for the situation. It simply implies being accountable for the kid’s behavior. Parents should be responsible for raising children the right way, correcting them whenever they go wrong, and creating healthy relationships with them. Having your child suffer from sex addiction could mean you have failed somewhere as a parent.

Parents need to establish if their nurturing practices were right. For instance, did they engage in age-appropriate conversation about sex with the kid? Or did they provide an environment that enabled kids to have easy access to explicit material? Did they set limits on the type of music listened to, tv programs watched, or games played?

If the addiction results from lack of time limits in access to media and the internet and without proper sex education, the priority should be to reconsider the parental controls.

Why Are Teenage Boys Addicted to Internet Pornography?

Overall, pornography use is more rampant among boys than girls of the same age. Teenage girls are less outgoing and more guilty of watching pornographic material. For boys, it’s the opposite. Furthermore, peer pressure coupled with the desire for young men to act like grown men makes them sexually active at a young age. Most of them turn to online pornography to satisfy their sexual fantasies.

Sadly, they do this at a time when they are not mature enough to have the self-control to deal with sexual matters on their own. Thus, they develop an addiction to porn and an accompanying difficulty in seeking help.

Can Teen Porn Addiction Cause Anxiety Disorders?

The symptoms of porn addiction resemble those of drug addiction. And there is strong evidence that drug abuse and anxiety exist in a cyclic correlation whereby drugs are used to cope with anxiety leading to substance abuse. Porn is also used to cope with anxiety in the same way. This is one of the bases for linking porn to anxiety.

Additionally, addiction makes one constantly think of doing something, whether it’s beneficial or destructive. People whose moral beliefs condemn pornography and yet they are addicts are highly likely to experience anxiety and depression.

Exposure to porn at an early age may cause trauma to the developing mind. Studies have shown that childhood sexual trauma can result in anxiety at later stages of life.

What to Expect as You Help Your Teen

Conversations surrounding sex and pornography between parents and children are generally uncomfortable. When seeking help, many parents admit that being honest with their kids about sex talk is challenging. Similarly, most teens find it awkward and nervous to have such conversations with their parents and family members.

Hence, parents should expect some resistance in form of denial, unwillingness to talk, or even aggressiveness. However, this is not to say that resistance is all you should expect. Some teens may be open and willing to get help.

How To Approach Your Teenager

How you approach your child to discuss this issue could be the difference between achieving addiction treatment and complicating the situation further.

While approaching porn addicts, parents need to avoid shaming or embarrassing the victim. Reassure your teen that nothing will make you mad however ugly it may appear. Being empathetic and understanding when talking to the kid can help them open up to you.

When To Seek Professional Help

Dealing with pornography addiction is a struggle. If the problem persists even after trying the above therapeutic options, it could be time to consider visiting a psychotherapist or any treatment centers for further treatment.

Remember, porn addiction is not like alcohol abuse because sexual feelings will always be there.