Porn: the help that exists

This page is not a judgement about your search. Porn is legal for adults in most countries, and most people use it without it becoming a problem. But it does not stay harmless for everyone: for some people it becomes compulsive, what they look for escalates, and it turns into something they need help to stop. If that is where you are, help exists, it is free or cheap in most countries, and it is confidential.

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If you want to stop or cut down

You do not have to call yourself an addict to want to stop, and you do not need a special kind of problem to ask for help. In most countries you can make an appointment with a doctor and say what is happening, and treatment is covered in many of them. Nothing has to be decided today: the first step is one appointment or one call.

If your use feels out of control

What usually shows that this has gone past a habit is not the amount but what it costs you: time, sleep, work, money, relationships, or the feeling that you cannot stop even when you want to. Many people find that what they watch moves towards things they never expected to look for. That is frightening, it is one of the most common reasons people ask for help, and it is a good reason to ask rather than an embarrassing one.

What helps is not willpower. It is a method you can follow, and a person you can talk to.

Counselling and therapy

The treatment with evidence behind it is talking-based: counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy, or a structured programme for compulsive sexual behaviour, sometimes with a support group alongside it. In most countries you can ask for it yourself, without a referral, and you can talk to a doctor confidentially. Coming back after a relapse is a normal part of how this goes for many people, not a reason to give up.

If your use has moved towards children

Material that shows anyone under 18 is child sexual abuse material. Searching for it, keeping it or sharing it is a crime in most countries, we do not index it, and nothing on this page can change that. The help for this is separate from everything above, and it exists: Free and anonymous help

If this has become a reason to give up

Shame about what you look at is its own kind of crisis, and some people do not survive it. If you are thinking about ending your life, talk to someone first. Crisis lines answer in complete confidence, they have heard this before, and they want to hear from you: Find a crisis line near you

Where to get help

These services are run by independent organisations. They are not part of this search engine and we receive nothing from them.

  • EasyPeasy: a free self-help method
    A free, open-source book that has been read by millions of people who wanted to stop using porn. It asks for no registration, it argues that stopping does not have to take willpower, and it is published in about twenty languages, among them German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
    Read the method
  • The Reward Foundation (United Kingdom)
    A charity that explains what compulsive porn use does to sleep, mood, relationships and motivation, and how to talk to a doctor or a therapist about it. It is written for adults and for parents.
    Open the Reward Foundation

If you find it in our results anyway

Nothing described on this page is supposed to be in our results. If you find it there, send us a message and we will look at it. It goes through the same contact form as any other message, and you do not have to give your name. Tell us about it

If you are in immediate danger, call the emergency number in your country. Neither this page nor the services it links to can answer an emergency.