The findings of a new Australian study, led by Dr Gomathi Sitharthan at the University of Sydney’s Graduate Program in Sexual Health, have revealed that almost 70 percent of men and 30 percent of women are hooked to pornography online.

Noting that there are people who watch porn for up to 18 hours a day, Dr Sitharthan said: “Viewing porn online becomes a major problem only when people become so preoccupied that they spend 16 to 18 hours a day doing nothing else but watching porn, with serious impacts on relationships, work, studies, and finance.”

The researchers found that excessive viewing of porn, especially from an easily-accessible source like the Internet, can lead to family breakdowns, anxiety and depression. However, since the issue is highly sensitive in nature, most of the porn addicts find it very difficult to come clean about it.

Though the number of porn addicts – including students, teachers, lawyers, health practitioners and even priests - reaching counseling centres for help has increased considerably, most people confess about their addiction only after a couple of counseling sessions.

The survey, which was conducted with the aim of finding out more about the extent of online porn viewing in Australia, has found that, other than counseling, there is hardly any other form of help available for people who are addicted to porn.