Core terms and their clinical status. Includes terms used by communities (e.g. "flatline") that have no formal clinical definition.
"Flatline" is a community term — not a clinical or medical term — used in recovery communities to describe a reported period, during abstinence from pornography, of low or absent sexual desire, reduced erections, flat mood, or low energy.
In addiction models, 'withdrawal' refers to distress or symptoms that occur when a person stops or reduces a behaviour or substance. Whether stopping pornography produces a genuine withdrawal syndrome is debated, and the evidence is limited.
Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Disorder (CSBD) is a diagnostic category in the WHO's ICD-11 (code 6C72). It describes a persistent pattern of failure to control intense, repetitive sexual impulses or urges, resulting in repetitive sexual behaviour that causes marked distress or significant impairment.
Problematic pornography use (PPU) describes pornography use that a person experiences as out of control, distressing, or harmful to their life. Unlike CSBD, PPU is a research and community term rather than a formal diagnosis, and there is no single agreed definition.