Experts Call for More Treatment Options for Veterans With Pornography Addictions

More veterans may return home from military combat with a pornography addiction than experts previously believed. This has sparked national dialogue about how to provide compassionate treatment that can guide military personnel and their families out of the stronghold of this complex addiction.

The stresses of war and deployment are serious factors in alarming levels of pornography addictions among people in the military, say research reports. Some reports suggest the rate of pornography addiction among military recruits may be as high as 20 percent, and many experts are calling for more treatment options to help military personnel who may be bringing this destructive addiction home with them when they return from deployments.

Like addictions to alcohol or drugs, online pornography may be a way some military personnel manage the emotional toll of long spans of separation from loved ones and the high stress of combat. Internet pornography can be a way to "numb out" from negative emotions, providing a sense of escape rather than sexual pleasure. As the user engages in higher levels of pornography viewing, research suggests changes may occur within the brain’s reward system that create a powerful addiction – so powerful some sources have compared it to cocaine addiction.

When soldiers and veterans come home from combat, some may also experience high levels of stress during the adjustment period of returning to their roles with family and in the workplace. If they have developed a pornography addiction while on deployment, their likelihood of continuing the cycle of addiction can be even higher.

Some branches of military service have licensed addiction professionals available to help soldiers who are battling sex or pornography addiction, including Navy Lt. Michael Howard. In a 2010 article from the Army Times, Howard said as many as one out of five members of the military may struggle with the complex addiction.

Systems that block pornography viewing are in place in most military computer systems, but the materials are still believed to be highly available and accessible. What starts out as casual viewing may quickly turn into an all-consuming addiction, says Robert Weiss, an expert in the sexual addiction field and creator of the Los Angeles-based Sexual Recovery Institute.

Brain imagery shows a strong and marked response in the brain of people with pornography addictions, and a mix of endorphins and neurotransmitters associated with pleasure can make stopping the porn viewing almost impossible without professional help.

At the family level, dramatic increases in cybersex sites and hook-up sites, along with rising numbers of pornography addictions, are factors believed to be impacting the estimated 40 percent divorce rate for military families. Encounters for sex outside marriage may also be higher among people involved in military service. A Syracuse University study suggests that veterans may have a rate of sex beyond marriage that’s twice as high as people not involved in the military.

Weiss and other sexual addiction experts hope more attention, support and resources will become available to military personnel and their spouses to help families recover from increasing numbers of pornography and sexual addictions. Treatment includes counseling at both the individual and family levels, plus professionally guided work toward learning new ways to manage stressful situations that can trigger cravings for pornography.