War zone anxiety leads to porn addiction, and lessons from Vietnam

Anxiety is one big reason why people numb themselves with pornography. It becomes their default coping mechanism; an altered state that temporarily numbs stress and panic. Such dependence on porn becomes habitual too, and leads to a whole tangle of compulsive behaviour issues.

I can't think of many more anxiety-inducing situations that fighting in the war zones of Afghanistan or Iraq.

According to Marine Corps Times, obsessive porn use in the military is even more commonplace than in civilian life. Navy Lt. Michael Howard estimates that given the largely young and male population, at least 20% of serving military personnel might be struggling with porn and other sexual addictions fuelled by the web.

A former Marine Force Recon specialist with multiple combat tours under his belt explains:

“I got into all kinds of stuff. Porn was my way of coping with the stress. It was my outlet, but it just kept escalating,” he says. “The Internet made it so easy. Eventually, there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t look at. I just needed my fix.”

Capt. Diana Colon, a therapist who heads an Army mental health clinic in Germany, highlights the relationship problems that develop when porn-addicted soldiers return home. Colon estimates that pornography plays a role in as many as 20 percent of the marital problems military counsellors face.

“In many cases, pornography becomes compulsive and so addictive that the individual can no longer have a healthy relationship,” Colon says. “Unfortunately, the women in these relationships pay the price.”

Reading this account, I'm reminded of how many US soldiers became addicted to narcotics in the harrowing conditions of Vietnam. US defence officials determined that 45% of all soldiers in Vietnam in 1970-71 tried heroin, and almost half of these became dependent. Overall, we see a similar 20% statistic of addiction.

But maybe the Vietnam findings offer a message of hope to modern day war veterans. Of all the men studied who were addicted in Vietnam, only 12% continued to be addicted (or became re-addicted) in the three years after their return. Very few men returning from Vietnam (around 2%) received any form of treatment for drug addiction.

One explanation might be based on availability; compared to the plentiful supplies in Vietnam, soldiers returning to the US had more difficulty obtaining heroin. But researcher Lee Robins reached an interesting conclusion: addiction was rare and brief after return even when men continued to use narcotics. Also, men with a history of drug use before Vietnam were particularly at risk.

Admittedly, the availability scenario is reversed for pornography. Internet porn is surely easier to access on return from military duty. But the same concept of escapism from anxiety may apply; when men are no longer exposed to the harrowing conditions of war, the majority are capable of overcoming addiction.

Of those that continue to struggle after return, many will have developed a compulsive relationship with porn earlier in their lives. Typically, the people I work with (and readers who contribute to this blog) tend to develop the habit in their early teens. Internet porn addiction is increasingly widespread, making another distinction from the Vietnam veteran experience. Fewer of those men will have experimented with heroin previously, or at such an early age.

The Marine Corps Times article concludes with positive advice from Robert Weiss, director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles. For those who try to work things out, there is hope: about 80% of the couples Weiss sees end up staying together. The biggest part of that, he says, involves restoring trust.

“I worry about the person who says they will never do it again,” Weiss says. “But the person who says, ‘I’ve got to watch out every single day’ — that’s the person who understands that this doesn’t go away. The behavior can go away, but the potential is always there.”

The full Marine Corps Times article can be read here