The Biological, Psychological and Social Effects of Pornography Use and the 12-­Step Treatment Intervention

Compulsive pornography use has become a significant problem for many men and women who have fallen prey to the accessibility, affordability, and anonymity of online sexual behaviors. However, despite the seeming recognition of this phenomenon, there still exists no definitive means of assessing or diagnosing one with an addiction in Internet pornography. This paper asserts that pronography use can be an addiction. This assertion will be established using the biopsychosocial model to describe the multifaceted effects of pornography use in relation to the individual's biological, psychological, and social function. This paper will discuss the 12-step program therapy used by most commonly for pornography addictions and explore whether this therapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of the multifaceted problems related to pornography use.