I'm someone who has struggled lifelong with anxiety both before and during my porn addiction. If you're looking for anxiety specifically related to porn usage, I can tell you that one form of anxiety that's incredibly common among porn users (myself included) is the obsessive inquiry about one's own sexuality. Porn rewires the brain to not only try and sexualize things we see, but also to change sexual tastes as the brain builds up a tolerance to the novelty of "vanilla" porn. People search different body types, scenarios, fantasies, positions, etc. that they never would have even considered absent of porn use. Some men are so addicted to porn that the novelty of straight sex wears off entirely and, despite being perfectly heterosexual, they can only get off to gay porn. This translates to outside the realm of porn since you obviously take your addicted brain anywhere you go. So, for example, the brain may, for a split second, produce a sexual impulse about a man you see on the street for whatever reason. This confuses you. You've never had any attraction to men, nor have you ever fantasized about having sex with one. It leaves you panicked and confused. For the rest of the day, this involuntary impulse leaves you anxious, upset, and confused. "Why did I feel this way? Am I secretly gay? Would I ever want to have sex with men? What caused this to happen?" These impulses are produced on a regular basis and the anxiety only builds up over time. I have had legitimate mental breakdowns over this sort of thing. It's awful beyond description. Then I eventually wised up and took the time to research what was happening to me. My brain, drenched in dopamine and rewired to be hypersexualized, was producing impulses that were not my own. Worse still, porn addiction tends to heighten anxiety and obsessive thoughts/behaviors. The deeper into the addiction you go, the more intense and irrational these thoughts are until they become crippling. The worst part is that you tend to fight a losing battle with your brain. You know with every iota of logic you can calculate that what you're feeling isn't rational or coming to you naturally. It's an illusion. The trouble is, like with all anxieties, the rest of the brain doesn't care. Knowing that your feelings are an illusion produced by porn addiction doesn't provide any comfort while you're being consumed by them. It's a horrible feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I hope this helps. Any other questions, let me know.
