Porn addiction: how to stop watching porn, and where to get help

If you’ve found this page, you’ve probably tried to cut down or stop watching porn and found it harder than you expected. That is very common, and it doesn’t make you a bad person. For some people porn slips from something occasional into something that takes hours, gets hidden, and leaves them feeling flat or ashamed afterwards.

This page is about watching porn specifically. If your worries are wider, such as sexual behaviour with other people, affairs or paying for sex, my page on sex and porn addiction covers that too.

“Porn addiction” isn’t a formal diagnosis. The closest one is compulsive sexual behaviour disorder, code 6C72 in the World Health Organization’s classification (WHO ICD-11, 2024). It describes a lasting pattern of failing to control strong, repeated sexual urges, which carries on despite the harm it causes and leads to real distress or problems in daily life. Feeling bad about porn only because of your moral or religious views doesn’t count on its own.

Signs porn has become a problem

These are the patterns specialists look for. You don’t need all of them for it to be worth getting help.

• Watching for longer, or more often, than you meant to, again and again
• Trying to cut down or stop, and not managing it
• Porn taking up time you meant for sleep, work, friends or a partner
• Carrying on even though it’s causing problems in a relationship or at work
• Hiding it, and feeling ashamed or low afterwards
• Reaching for it mainly to cope with stress, boredom, loneliness or a bad day

Porn addiction help in the UK

• Your GP. A confidential place to start. Compulsive porn use often sits alongside anxiety, low mood or problems with sleep, and your GP can help with those and refer you on.
• NHS Talking Therapies. Free talking therapy for anxiety, depression and stress. In England you can refer yourself without seeing your GP first.
• ATSAC. The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity is a not-for-profit with information, anonymous self-assessments, a directory of therapists and support for partners.
• Support groups. Sex Addicts Anonymous runs free meetings every day, in person, online and by phone. There’s no registration and no fee.
• For couples and partners. Relate offers relationship counselling and sex therapy, and COSRT, the professional body for sex and relationship therapists, has a directory to help you find a qualified therapist near you.
• Stop It Now. Confidential help on 0808 1000 900 for anyone worried about their thoughts or behaviour involving under 18s, and for the people around them.

Where hypnotherapy fits

Hypnotherapy is not a treatment for compulsive sexual behaviour, and I don’t offer it as one. If your porn use has become compulsive, your GP, NHS Talking Therapies or a specialist therapist need to be part of your recovery.

Where I can help is alongside that care. Porn use often sits on top of stress, poor sleep, loneliness or low confidence, and it tends to run on very specific triggers: being alone late at night, a hard day at work, boredom with the phone in your hand. Sessions can help you lower the stress, sleep better, feel more confident and change the routines around those moments. It won’t make the change for you, but it can make the plan you’ve made easier to keep to.

Before we work together I’ll ask whether you’re getting support from your GP or a therapist. If I think you need that first, I’ll tell you honestly.

How to stop watching porn: things that help day to day

• Use your phone’s own settings. Screen Time on an iPhone can limit adult websites and set app limits. On Android, Google Family Link and SafeSearch can filter explicit results. If it helps, ask someone you trust to set the passcode.
• Switch on filters at home and on your network. UK broadband and mobile providers offer content filters, though you usually have to turn them on yourself. Add a blocker to every device, including the laptop.
• Change the setting, not just the rule. Charge your phone outside the bedroom and keep devices out of bed. A lot of porn use happens in the same place at the same time each night.
• Notice what comes before the urge. For a week, jot down the time, where you were and how you felt. Most people find a pattern, such as tiredness, stress or loneliness, and that pattern is what you plan around.
• Ride out the urge. Urges rise and then fall. Leave the room, take a shower, go for a walk or message a friend, and give it 15 minutes before you decide anything.
• Don’t let a slip become a binge. Shame tends to feed the next session. If you slip, notice what led to it, reset your blocks and carry on.

If it’s the phone itself that has a hold on you, my page on phone addiction has more ideas.

Common questions

Is porn addiction real?

It isn’t a formal diagnosis under that name. The World Health Organization recognises compulsive sexual behaviour disorder, which can include compulsive porn use. Whatever you call it, if you keep watching when you don’t want to and it’s costing you, it’s worth getting help.

How do I stop watching porn for good?

Nobody can honestly promise you a fixed result. What tends to help is a mix of practical blocks, a plan for the moments they usually slip, and support for whatever sits underneath, such as stress, loneliness or low mood. Your GP or a specialist therapist can help with that.

Is it confidential?

Yes. What you tell me stays between us. As with any therapist, the only exception is if I believed you or someone else were at serious risk of harm.

I’m worried about my partner’s porn use. What can I do?

Your partner’s choices are theirs to change, but you deserve support too. ATSAC has a section for partners, and Relate offers counselling for couples or for you on your own. If you are worried about a child’s safety, Stop It Now supports anyone with a concern, including family members.

Talk it through

If you’re already getting support and want help alongside it, book a £49 consultation call. We’ll talk about what’s going on and whether sessions would help with the stress, sleep and habits around it. Sessions are one to one over Zoom, and you can see full prices on my work with Adam page.

Written by Adam Cox, clinical hypnotherapist. Sources: WHO ICD-11, 6C72 compulsive sexual behaviour disorder, ATSAC, Stop It Now, NHS Talking Therapies and Internet Matters. Checked October 2026.