A top psychosexual therapist is warning about a surge in the number of young men suffering sexual health problems because of online pornography, according to a report by BBC.
Angela Gregory of Nottingham University Hospital says more and more males in their late teens and early 20s are suffering from erectile dysfunction. She puts the blame on people becoming addicted to consuming online porn.
“What I’ve seen over the last 16 years, particularly the last five years, is an increase in the amount of younger men being referred,” Gregory told BBC.
“Our experience is that historically men that were referred to our clinic with problems with erectile dysfunction were older men whose issues were related to diabetes, MS, cardiovascular disease. These younger men do not have an organic disease, they’ve already been tested by their GP and everything is fine. So one of the first assessment questions I’d always ask now is about pornography and masturbatory habit because that can be the cause of their issues about maintaining an erection with a partner.”
Related: My Husband Has Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction and Refuses To Have Sex With Me
Nick (name has been changed) started consuming porn when he got his first laptop aged 15.
“It quickly escalated and it was every day. What I was watching, it definitely got more extreme over a short period of time in my case. There was nothing that would give me a kick. Normal stuff didn’t do aanymoreany more, so I had to get more and more extreme material.
“[It was] disturbing stuff that disturbed me that, in normal life, I wouldn’t dream of doing.”
It wasn’t long before Nick’s own sexual health began to suffer.
Related: Porn Binge – A Day in the Life of a 20-Something Porn Addict
“I found that when I was lying next to a girl a lot that I just wouldn’t be horny at all, despite being really attracted to the girl and wanting to have sex with her, [because] my sexuality was completely wired towards porn.
At my peak, I was probably consuming up to two hours of porn every day.”
Related: Mark’s Story – I Was Addicted To Porn At Age 12
Once Nick realized he had a problem he tried to get help.
“At first I went to a doctor and she said, ‘I don’t think there’s enough evidence to suggest it’s a thing, however, I do have a lot of young men coming to me with this problem.'”
In the end, Nick went 100 days without consuming porn and was relieved when things got back to normal.
“My libido came back with a vengeance and I met this girl and it was great. For the first time in ages I was able to flirt and within quite a short time I was able to have normal sex. I was feeling so balanced and happy.”
Related: 4 Reasons Why People Who Don’t Look At Porn Are Happier
He also has advice for anyone suffering from a similar problem.
“Once I recovered I spent a lot of time on online forums trying to help others do the same. There’s a lot more information online than when I had problems. You should tell your friends, tell people who are close to you or just a couple of people you trust. And don’t worry, there are many of us in the same boat.”
Originally posted on BBC: “Easy access to online porn is ‘damaging’ men’s health, says NHS therapist.” Click here for full article.
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