M = Mental health issues
Porn use may be associated with some negative mental health experiences.
Mental health issues are complex and can be related to multiple factors, and in some cases, be exacerbated by the way a young person engages with porn and the beliefs they hold around porn.

Porn-related variables include the young person’s frequency of porn usage, age, existing mental health and/or body image issues, critical thinking around porn, trauma history, beliefs around porn, and other safe or healthy relationships.

Potential negative issues include:
  • Feeling uncomfortable with something seen in porn. For example: Viewing very sexually aggressive content, or the tension of being disturbed and aroused by porn at the same time.
  • Feelings of shame, distress, and anxiety related to usage, especially when porn is viewed as taboo.
  • Feeling triggered by porn, experiencing intrusive images, or being preoccupied with porn, especially with a history of sexual trauma or early negative porn exposure.
  • Struggling to cut down on viewing porn.
  • Using porn to manage stress or negative emotions, or to help with sleep, but developing problematic usage.
  • Negative body image, feelings of physical and sexual inferiority related to comparing body and/or performance to porn actors.
  • Problematic porn usage (presenting as impaired control, real life impacts, narrowing of interests and risky use despite harm to self or others). See 3.4 Problematic Porn Usage resource.

See Resource 1.4: Youth and Porn – The Research
(Mental health) for references.

“I think you’d really struggle to find people where porn has positively impacted mental health. I mean, for most young people, sexuality is such a huge part of your life. Right? And when some of the only exposures you have to that is through porn, and you’re going to compare yourself, compare your body, compare your skills, then it’s bound to have a negative effect.”
Gay Male, 20 years