An Internet Pornography Addict Walks Into A Clinic...

High-speed Internet Pornography Addiction (HIPA) is a unique phenomenon because it is a process addiction that is associated with the booming of broadband (c. 2000). Ever since the new millennium, both have been (and still are) growing into wider and wider usage around the world. The broadband factor distinguishes Internet Pornography (IP) from traditional pornography in several ways; namely, accessibility, affordability, and anonymity. Because of these differences in addition to many other factors that will be discussed in the following paper, some researchers believe that IP can have more severe effects on its users as some of the studies show. Other researchers, however, do not take HIPA seriously, and see it more of a media circus, particularly since there is a lack of consistency across the research on IP over the last 14 years.  Nevertheless, many clients struggling with HIPA report to their therapists about their struggles with said phenomenon, with accounts of IP having detrimental personal and interpersonal consequences. Clearly, HIPA is a controversial topic, with ethical and political dimensions; some researchers conceive it to be as serious as substance addiction, while others regard it as a compulsion at most if nothing more than high sexual desire. Through surveying some of the prominent articles on HIPA, this literature review should give its readers a deeper and wider understanding of the complexity of this phenomenon. So far, the only process addiction listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) is pathological gambling (PG). Will HIPA be listed as an addiction disorder in future DSM publications? If yes, what are the consequences of such an inclusion? If not, should it be considered for inclusion in future DSMs? Why or why not?