← Research library · All studies

Guideline on the Treatment of Pornography Use Disorder

R. Stark, M. Brand, Peer Briken, A. Bischof, Hans-Jürgen Rumpf, T. Krüger, J. Engel, S. Antons

SUCHT — via Consensus · April 1, 2025

Abstract: Background: Men consume more pornography than women and are more likely to lose control of their pornography consumption. This can lead to pornography use disorder, which can be diagnosed under either compulsive sexual behavior disorder or behavioral addictions (other specified disorders due to addictive behaviours, 6C5Y) in ICD-11. Aim: This article summarizes the recommendations for the treatment of pornography use disorder. Methods: For the recommendations, a systematic review was conducted in which all articles published between 2000 and 2021 were analyzed in which variants of the keyword “pornography use disorder” and variants of the keyword “treatment” occurred. “Treatment” included both psychotherapeutic and pharmacological interventions. The search was conducted in the literature databases Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and PsycInfo. Of the 5165 articles originally identified, only 24 articles proved to be valid. Results: It was found that cognitive behavioral therapy approaches are the methods of first choice. Psychoeducational self-help programs can be used online if face-to-face therapy is not possible. Cognitive-behavioral group therapy proved to be a possible alternative to individual psychotherapy. If psychotherapeutic measures do not work, opioid antagonists or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be used. Conclusions: In general, it was shown that there is an urgent need for further high-quality therapy studies in order to further empirically substantiate the treatment recommendations.

Abstract as published by the authors. Sanatio indexes the published record and links to the source.
Looking for clinical support?

Find a clinician in the Sanatio provider directory.

Sanatio Research