Internet Sex Addiction: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Internet sex addiction makes some people very dependent on new technologies.

New technologies have been completely changing the way we live. Not only has it changed the way we communicate, but also the way we enjoy our leisure time, and new types of problems have arisen.

Internet sex addiction is a psychological disorder that, although not yet included in the main diagnostic manuals, is emerging as a real mental health problem that requires intervention. Let's find out what it is.

What is Internet sex addiction?

We can define an Internet sex addiction as the problem suffered by someone who is unable to control the urge to consume sex-related material on the net.. It consists of frequently visiting pornographic pages, sharing intimate images with strangers through chats and video calls or abusively enjoying any type of erotic content through social networks and major Internet platforms.

Depending on the predominant type of behavior we can speak of two types of Internet sex addiction. On the one hand we have cybersex, which consists of exchanging messages with high sexual content with other people, and on the other we have the consumption of pornography on the network, that is, the viewing of porn videos among other behaviors. Both types of addiction can overlap, but what is certain is that they are addictive behaviors because, as with drug addictions, both tolerance and dependence can occur.

What is sex addiction in general as a psychological problem?

Internet sex addiction is a variant of sex addiction. In its most general sense, this type of addiction, which is also a form of addiction to sex, is also a form of dependence.This type of addiction, which is also known as hypersexuality, is considered a behavioral addiction.. That is to say, here the problem behavior does not involve the consumption of a substance, but the performance of the behavior itself, being in this case any behavior in which sex is performed, either with other people or alone.

One of the main and most striking problems of hypersexuality is that, in the long term, pleasure during sexual intercourse is reduced as a consequence of developing tolerance. As the individual performs sexual behaviors very frequently, over time the sexual relations lose intensity, which forces him to perform them even more frequently, increasing the behavior. As sex is such a frequent part of his life, the moment he does not have sex, he begins to feel discomfort (withdrawal syndrome), which is a sign of dependence.

All this shows that we are facing an addiction. The person addicted to sex, both with and without Internet, is as addicted to his or her problem behavior as a tobacco user is to cigarettes or a person with alcoholism to alcohol. In the case of tobacco, the person who consumes it has to smoke more cigarettes a day to feel good and, if he/she does not smoke, he/she begins to feel bad, just as it happens with the addiction to Internet sex, if he/she does not consume pornography or have an orgasm every so often begins to feel bad, irritated and nervous.

Symptoms of Internet sex addiction

Among the main symptoms of Internet sex addiction we have:

• Excessive use of the Internet to access pornographic pages.
• Use of the Internet to contact other people and have sex.
• Abandonment of other pleasurable activities because of the addiction.
• Economic problems associated with expenses derived from the addiction.
• Tension and discomfort when not consuming erotic material.
• Problems with partners, friends and relatives associated with the abuse of networks to obtain pleasure.

In addition to all this, in the addiction to Internet sex, we see that an escalation effect, directly related to tolerance, can occur.. What happens in many of the patients with this problem is that the addict seeks increasingly intense reinforcement.

In other words, as their addiction progresses, what used to give them pleasure eventually becomes boring and unstimulating, and they need new and more intense things to get aroused, even if this means paying to watch porn videos or consuming material that is not legitimate or legal.

For example, it may be the case that we have someone who initially only watched videos with a certain sexual meaning, but without nudity (e.g., on YouTube). Then, he started to climb up the ladder by entering porn sites and watching their free content but, over time, that no longer called him so he got a premium account to watch exclusive videos, longer and with better performance. After a few months he started to lose interest and decided to get an OnlyFans profile to consume videos with very specific fetishes, as well as the possibility of paying to have a personalized video made for him.

Whatever the path that has led the person to end up addicted to sex on the Internet, what should be clear is that it means losing a lot of time per week and also the risk of losing opportunities and money to pay for what they want to pay for.. A cybersex addict can consume more than eleven hours a week watching erotic material, subtracting it from important aspects of his or her life such as family, friends, work, studies and partner.

Is it incorporated in diagnostic manuals?

Although the Internet no longer seems new to us, it must be said that it is still too new a phenomenon. it is still too new a phenomenon and its effects on health are still being studied. To this day, there is still debate as to which problems associated with the misuse of social networks can be considered as real disorders. New addictions or technological addictions are not recognized as disorders in any of the major psychiatric manuals, but it is expected that as more information is gathered they will be introduced in the DSM and ICD.

It is a fact that Internet sex addiction is widespread and can pose serious problems for the health of the affected person and his or her social environment. A proof of how we could be talking about a problem of important proportions in society is the fact that if we consult the statistics provided by Google itself, porn pages are among the most searched websites.

As we mentioned in the introduction, Internet sex addiction manifests itself in two main modalities: porn addiction and cybersex. Although both can overlap, porn addiction consists of searching for audiovisual material with erotic content, while cybersex involves interacting with other people to obtain sexual pleasure, and may or may not involve masturbation.

Cybersex is nothing new. It appeared with the first virtual contact pages and also with the first programs to make video calls such as Messenger. Now, with the rise of social networks and the improvement of video calling systems, the phenomenon has spread even more, and there is also the search for casual contacts through networks such as Omegle.

Porn addiction is not just about looking at pornographic sites.. There are countless profiles on social networks easily accessible to children under 12 where pornographic content is posted or, at least, uploaded. In social networks such as Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook we can easily find sexual profiles, with some kind of censorship although in many occasions their material is easily accessible.

Sexting (from the English "sex" and "texting", "texting") or virtual dirty talk is one of the most recent types of cybersex but that has grown thanks to instant messaging services such as Whatsapp, Telegram or any other chat. It consists of exchanging messages with sexual connotations. Not only words are exchanged, but also intimate photographs can be shared, a rather risky practice if done with someone you do not know or do not trust enough to know if they will not share the images they have received with third parties.

Is there a risk profile?

There is a risk profile for falling into an Internet sex addiction. The profile of the pornography addict is usually male, aged between 20 and 40 years old, with self-esteem problems, with self-esteem problems, and with a high risk of becoming addicted to sex on the Internet.with self-esteem problems, very introverted and with low social skills. These traits together are considered risk factors for falling into an abuse of virtual erotic material. It is believed that between 20 and 25% of the population could have this risk profile, since that is the percentage of the population that consumes porn beyond the sporadic. If it increases its use or is not used responsibly, it could degenerate into an addiction.

Likewise, experts in Internet sex addiction consider that this problem would be that this problem is found in between 1 and 2% of the population.. It would be these people who present a serious clinical problem, consuming online pornography for more than eleven hours a week, negatively affecting their personal, work and social life as well as running the risk of going to sleep later than appropriate to watch porn videos, subtracting hours of sleep.

Is it possible to treat this addiction?

Like any other addiction, Internet sex addiction is treated in the same way as substance addictions. The therapy to quit cybersex is usually based on knowing what factors precipitate the addict to perform the behavior (e.g. stress, depression, boredom...) keeping him/her hooked to this habit and being able to teach him/her new tools with which to replace his/her behavior with a healthier and more functional one.

Some of the pillars of psychotherapy applied to Internet sex addiction are the following:

• Work on improving self-esteem.
• Training in the control of sexual impulse.
• Concentration exercises to avoid falling into the distractions associated with sex.
• Work on relaxation techniques so as not to try to cover up stress with sexual self-stimulation.
• Training in social skills.
• Psychoeducation and training in the field of sexology to also seek sexual pleasure in physical contact with others.

These fronts of therapeutic intervention depend on each case and are adapted to the needs of the patient.

The problem with this addiction is that those affected are quite resistant to treatment.. Among the reasons behind this we have the embarrassment of acknowledging having this problem or social stigma or, directly, not seeing it as a reason to go to the doctor because as it is not a drug dependence nor does it harm other people, the addict does not consider it a problem but rather a hobby or a private matter.