The seven red flags that prove you are addicted to pornography - and how to get ... trends now

Could you be one of the one-in-20 Brits caught in the grips of a porn addiction?

While thousands of British men and women watch and enjoy pornography without issue experts say they are seeing a rise in people experiencing problems with porn usage that are having serious ramifications. 

With the advent of smartphones, a massive library of online X-rated content is just a few taps of a screen away 24-hours a day. 

Dr Paula Hall, of not-for-profit online therapy programme Pivotal Recovery, said in the same way cannabis can act as a gateway for harder drugs, a porn obsession might be the stepping stone to other dysfunctional behaviours.

These, she explained, can cost addicts not only thousands of pounds but their relationships as well. 

'Many people start with online porn but then progress to chat, webcam, adult hook up sites and offline real-life encounters,' she told MailOnline.

Nathan Jones, clinical director of the London Centre for Addictions, said addictions to explicit content can 'rewrite' the user's brain and skew what they find arousing with potentially devastating results. 

'Internet porn conditions the sexual arousal template to violent, degrading content, and genres of porn that go against the user's innate erotic tastes and orientation,' he said.

And unlike other, more commonly known addictions, there is no stopping point.

'The alcoholic will eventually black out, the drug addict will overdose, the gambling addict will lose all their money and be forced to stop,' Mr Jones said.

'But the porn addict can literally continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week.'

In some of the most extreme cases, experts have treated patients who watch X-rated content for up to 14 hours a day.

While estimates put problematic porn usage in Britain at one in 20. The actual truth of how many are suffering from the addiction is unknow. 

Many suffers understandably avoid seeking professional help out of shame and embarrassment for their affliction or fear of exposure. 

Here MailOnline explains the seven key signs that you or someone you love is potentially in the grip of a porn addiction and what to do about it. 

Reduced interest in sexual activity with a real-life partner

Porn, used to fulfil sexual desire, can ironically act as dampener to the real thing in cases of addiction.

Dr Hall said a lower libido was a classic sign shared among many porn addicts she has treated.

Mr Jones added chronic porn use can impede men's ability to get an erection by rewiring their brain to change what sexually arouses them.

'The brain is trained to be aroused under specific circumstances: being alone, multiple tabs open, various genres of porn – being a voyeur and constant novelty,' he said.

'The person can then only gain an erection watching pornography and not be aroused with a real-life partner.'

Mr Jones even recalled how far this warping can go, with one of his clients stating: 'real women are essentially bad porn – why would I bother with a real person?'. 

Spending more time alone with devices and becoming protective over them

The advent of smartphones and tablets means an endless catalogue of explicit images and videos can be yours in seconds.

As such, Dr Hall said if people start behaving differently around their phone or tablets, it could be another sign that they're addicted.

'Tell-tale signs are spending more time alone with devices, taking their phone into the bathroom or using the laptop in the study, rather than on the sofa with you,' she said.

Other behaviours to watch out for include people 'becoming unusually twitchy if you pick up their device' and changing devices' passwords to something you don't know.

Avoiding events and work to feed the addiction

Is your partner constantly flaking social events or blaming insane work deadlines for being unable to meet you?

It might be another sign they're a porn addict, said Dr Hall.

People gripped by their love of extreme content often make excuses to avoid social gatherings with their partner to instead spend time feeding their obsession.

She added one of the most common excuses for such behaviour in porn addicts is work commitments.

'People often hide behind stress at work for spending more time online and not being interested in sex,' she said.

Using porn to 'anaesthetise' stress, anxiety and loneliness

Undoubtedly millions of Brits enjoy porn regularly and suffer no issues as a result.

But a potential sign you are, or at risk of becoming, an addict is what motivates you to look at explicit content.

Mr Jones said a key sign of a problematic relationship with X-rated content was if you are using it as an 'escape' from other problems. 

'The behaviour is used to anaesthetise negative

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