Porn Addiction In Active Duty Military And Veterans: Resources And More

Casual porn viewing can spiral, turning into a problem that has lasting effects on your mental health, relationships, and performance.

However, help is available, as is a porn-free life.

Prevalence of Porn Addiction in Active Duty Military and Veterans

Porn addiction, or problematic porn use (PPU), is typically classified as a compulsive sexual behavior. Research shows that active duty military personnel and veterans are at relatively high risk for porn addiction.

Some of the research on PPU in the military has found:

• In a study of 172 male veterans, problematic pornography use scale (PPUS) scores were higher in younger men and men with lower education. PPU was associated with depression, anxiety, insomnia, and impulsivity.
• A VA study surveyed 820 veterans with combat exposure (Iraq and Afghanistan). The study found that about 14% of men and 4% of women screened positive for symptoms of compulsive sexual behavior, which includes porn addiction.
• Another earlier study of veterans returning from combat found similar associations between CSB and trauma exposure or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Exact numbers for active duty personnel (current service members) are less well-documented.

However, active duty members share many of the same stressors as veterans, such as deployment, separation, and trauma. It’s feasible that similar porn addiction rates would be seen in active duty because of these similarities.

Signs of Porn Addiction in Military Personnel and Veterans

If you’re concerned about whether your pornography use has crossed into addiction or PPU, there are signs to watch for. These apply whether you’re on active duty or a veteran.

Signs of porn addiction for active duty personnel and veterans include:

• You find yourself unable to reduce or stop porn use even when it’s negatively impacting work, duties, relationships, or readiness.
• You spend increasing amounts of time viewing pornography or seeking more extreme content in order to get the same level of arousal.
• You feel distress, shame, guilt, or anxiety about your porn use, but still keep doing it.
• You experience negative consequences, including a decline in performance, sleep disturbance, and relationship conflict, but use porn to cope anyway.

Recognizing the signs of porn addiction is an important first step toward getting help.

Causes of Porn Addiction in Active Duty Military and Veterans

Before diving in, it helps to understand the difference between causes and risk factors:

• Causes of porn addiction are the underlying reasons porn addiction develops.
• Risk factors for porn addiction are characteristics that increase the likelihood of addiction happening.

Understanding the causes of porn addiction can help you make sense of what you’re experiencing.

Several causes that are common to military and veteran populations include:

• Trauma: Combat exposure, childhood trauma, or sexual trauma can lead to coping mechanisms that include porn use.
• Stress, isolation, and deployment: Being away from your family and support system, facing danger, and having disrupted sleep all increase stress levels. Porn may be used to escape or self-soothe.
• Mental health conditions: Depression, anxiety, insomnia, PTSD and other psychiatric comorbidities tend to co-occur with porn addiction.
• Brain reward pathways and impulsivity: Repeated porn use can cause changes in reward circuits, causing your brain to release dopamine when porn is playing. Impulsivity might also make it harder to resist urges.
• Easy access and technology: The use of the internet and smartphones makes porn more accessible, even in remote or deployed settings.

Risk Factors for Porn Addiction in Military Members and Veterans

While causes explain how porn addiction may develop, risk factors tell you who is more likely to be vulnerable.

Factors that may determine how susceptible you are to porn addiction include:

• Age: Younger service members or younger veterans tend to have a higher risk of PPU.
• Education: In some studies, less formal education correlated with higher scores on PPUS.
• Gender: Men are more likely than women to report symptoms of CSB or porn addiction.
• PTSD and other mental health conditions: If you have PTSD, anxiety, depression, or insomnia, your odds are higher of suffering from porn addiction.
• Isolation: When deployed, you’re pulled away from your family and support system, which can limit your social interactions.
• Deployment and combat exposure: Operational stress, exposure to violence, disrupted sleep, and moral injury are all factors that contribute to PPU for military personnel.

Link Between Veteran Mental Health and Problematic Porn Use

There’s a strong connection between veteran mental health issues and porn addiction or problematic pornography use.

Studies of veteran mental health and PPU have found:

• PTSD severity in veterans is associated with higher rates of compulsive sexual behavior and porn addiction.
• Mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and insomnia also appear to be correlated. Impulsivity has been linked to higher PPUS scores.
• Many veterans who report problematic porn use also have co-occurring disorders, such as substance use disorders, mood disorders, or sleep disorders.
• Porn addiction can become a vicious cycle that worsens existing mental health challenges.

Violence in Porn and Sexual Violence in Military Culture

An important aspect to consider is how exposure to violence in porn and sexual violence within military settings can intersect and exacerbate porn addiction.

The data below helps to ground that connection in what is known so far:

• A study of 304 porn scenes found a high percentage contained aggression. Approximately 88.2% contained physical aggression (such as spanking, gagging, or slapping) and 48.7% included verbal aggression (such as name-calling or threats).
• When porn includes these aggressive or coercive elements, repeated exposure can distort your perceptions of consent, intimacy, or what “normal” sexual behavior looks like.
• Meta-analysis data reveal that about 15.7% of military personnel and veterans report military sexual trauma (MST) in the form of assault and/or harassment. Breaking down by gender, 3.9% of men and 38.4% of women report MST under these broader criteria.
• A 2023 study reported that 67.2% of veterans experienced military sexual harassment and 42.5% of veterans experienced military sexual assault.

Many in the military or veteran community have already endured trauma, harassment, or assault. As a result, viewing porn with violent or coercive content can trigger or worsen symptoms of shame, guilt, and PTSD.

Porn Addiction and Substance Use Disorder

Porn addiction often does not occur in isolation. In military and veteran populations, there’s a significant overlap with porn addiction and substance use disorder (SUD) or other addictions.

Similar brain reward systems are at play in both SUD and PPU. Both addictions involve dopamine, cravings, tolerance, and compulsive behaviors. Using porn can therefore become another way to self-medicate or escape negative mood states.

When these disorders co-occur, it complicates treatment. Treatment needs to address both issues if they’re present. Otherwise, the risk of relapse for one may undermine recovery from the other.

Side Effects of Porn Addiction in Active Duty Military and Vets

If you’re living with porn addiction, you may experience a range of side effects. Some are obvious, some less so. However, all of them can affect your military duty, personal life, and well-being.

Some common side effects of porn addiction that military personnel face include:

• Mental health strain: increased anxiety, depression, guilt, shame, and low self-esteem that can negatively impact job performance
• Sleep disruption and fatigue: using porn late at night, staying up to view porn, and being unable to sleep without watching porn
• Relationship difficulties: harming relationships with intimate partners through intimacy issues, distrust, conflict, and decreased sexual satisfaction
• Performance issues: experiencing concentration lapses, distraction, and decreased motivation at work and on assignments
• Physical side effects: potential associations with problematic sexual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction, or other sexual health issues

Porn addiction isn’t just a private issue. As the spiral worsens, it can begin to negatively impact every area of your life.

Porn Addiction Treatment for Active Duty Military and Veterans

Inpatient Treatment Programs

If you have severe co-occurring mental health or substance use disorders, inpatient or residential treatment may be appropriate. Veterans can find inpatient care with mental or behavioral health issues as the primary disorder.

In these programs, porn addiction would be treated alongside SUD or the mental health issue.

Treatment programs often include detox or stabilization if substances are involved, and transition into outpatient care.

Outpatient Treatment Programs

Outpatient programs let you live at home, on base, or in the barracks while attending therapy sessions, groups, and check-ins. This is a less disruptive model that lets you continue work, duties, or school.

These programs often include individual therapy, group therapy, and relapse prevention. They can also utilize remote or telehealth components if you’re deployed or moving frequently.

Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment

Many veterans or active duty members with porn addiction also have other disorders, including PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, or insomnia. Treatment should address all of these disorders at the same time.

Integrated treatment models that treat porn addiction and mental health conditions together tend to give better outcomes.

Trauma-Informed Therapy

Given the strong link between trauma and porn addiction in military populations, trauma-informed care is essential. This means your therapist recognizes the impact of trauma, avoids retraumatization, uses safe environments, and gives you control over pacing.

Treatment should also incorporate modalities that address trauma. Some examples may include trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).

Behavioral Therapy

Evidence supports behavioral therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness-based relapse prevention.

In veteran studies of PPU, changing unhealthy thoughts and behaviors, building self-regulation, coping skills, and managing cravings and triggers are central parts of therapy.

Mental Health Medications

There are currently no medications specifically approved for porn addiction. However, some SSRIs have been used in sex addiction and CSB contexts. Using medications in conjunction with therapy can improve outcomes.

Medications can also help with co-occurring mental health issues (e.g. antidepressants for depression or anxiety, sleep aids for insomnia, or medications for PTSD).

Porn Addiction & Sex Addiction Support Groups

Support groups like Sex Addicts Anonymous (SAA) and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) offer shared experience, accountability, coping strategies, and community.

In veteran and military culture, peer support can reduce stigma and provide trust through shared background. If you find treatment through a VA clinic, you may be able to find group support that is military- or veteran-focused.

VA and Porn Addiction Treatment

If you’re a veteran, the VA is a primary resource for behavioral health, including porn addiction treatment for veterans.

As part of its broader compulsive sexual behavior or other behavioral addiction resources, the VA offers:

• The VA’s Behavioral Addictions Clinic (BAC) treats compulsive sexual behavior (including PPU), gambling disorders, and internet use disorders among veterans.
• VA mental health services, Vet Centers, and other behavioral health clinics can include therapy for porn addiction as part of mental health treatment. This is especially beneficial when it’s co-occurring with PTSD, depression, or substance use.
• VA research, such as the study of 820 combat veterans from Iraq/Afghanistan, shows that the VA is aware of CSB as a problem and is working to assess and treat it.

If you reach out to VA mental health providers, be explicit that you believe you have PPU or compulsive sexual behavior. It helps to mention symptoms, distress, frequency, and how it impacts your work, sleep, or relationships.

TRICARE Insurance Coverage for Porn Addiction Treatment

If you’re on active duty or a military family member, TRICARE is the health care coverage system that may help you pay for treatment.

TRICARE can offer insurance coverage if certain factors are met:

• While porn addiction treatment may not always be explicitly covered, services for CSB and co-occurring disorders, such as PTSD and depression, often are.
• Outpatient therapy, inpatient mental health programs, and medications prescribed as part of mental health treatment are often covered under TRICARE.
• The more clearly the provider documents how porn addiction is interfering with duties, your health, or other conditions, the more likely TRICARE will cover it.

If you’re unsure whether a given treatment or clinic is covered, contact TRICARE directly, check in with your base’s or mental health office, or talk to a TRICARE network provider.

Tips for Supporting Military Members and Veterans with Porn Addiction

Veterans and active duty military alike deserve support and understanding when battling an addiction to porn.

This issue is steeped in self-shame and stigma, so offering empathy and a show of support can go a long way toward helping your veteran loved one recover.

Here are some practical tips for supporting a loved on with an addiction to porn:

• Encourage open, non-judgmental conversations: Shame and stigma are big barriers. Let them know you see them, you care, and that seeking help is a sign of strength.
• Help with access to care: Assist in finding mental health resources that specialize in military and veteran trauma, making appointments, and navigating VA or TRICARE paperwork.
• Support healthy routines: Promote sleep, exercise, and proper nutrition to reduce impulses and improve mood and mental resilience.
• Self-care for supporters: Supporting someone with porn addiction can be taxing. Don’t neglect your own mental health.

Porn Recovery Resources for Veterans and Active Duty Military

When you’re ready to replace porn use with healthier habits, you have a number of options as a veteran or active duty military member to help you achieve your goals.

You don’t have to navigate recovery alone.

Here are some trusted resources for veterans and active duty military:

• VA Behavioral Health and Mental Health Services
• VA Vet Centers (for veterans), which provide counseling and support
• TRICARE network mental health providers
• Support groups and non-profit groups, such as SAA and SLAA, as well as online peer forums oriented to veterans and military culture

Written by the Porn Addiction Editorial Staff