Health Check Ep 49: Recognise addiction to porn; treatment options

16:20 mins

Synopsis: This is a fortnightly podcast series on Wednesdays by The Straits Times.

Online porn use has reportedly gone up during the Covid-19 pandemic, as reported by The Economist in May. However, there is a dark side to porn.

Excessive consumption of porn affects the viewer, his or her relationships and society. Viewing pornography can become a lifelong addiction.

In this episode, ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo hosts addictions psychotherapist Andrew da Roza, who specialises in sex addiction at Promises Healthcare.

They discuss how a predatory porn industry is out there trying to get to children, how harmful online porn addiction can be, and what you can do about it.

1. Why parents need to buy porn-blocking and activity-tracking software, with the most popular version used here being Net Nanny (3:45)

2. Parents should know how porn can be damaging for a child's brain development (5:23)

3. Why porn addiction is recognised in other countries as a serious mental health crisis; its impact on fear of real relationships and how scientifically, it hijacks healthy sexual development in youth (6:03)

4. Treatment options for youth and adults and the various types of patients with varying levels of porn addiction (9:39)

Produced by: Joyce Teo (joyceteo@sph.com.sg), Penelope Lee and Ernest Luis

Edited by: Penelope Lee

Subscribe to Health Check Podcast channel, hear the latest episodes fortnightly on Wednesdays and rate us on your favourite audio apps:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWaN

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWRX

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaQ

Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/J6Wv

Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg

Read her stories: https://str.sg/JbxN