YNOT EUROPE – British healthcare workers estimate 1.2 million pornography addicts live in the country. Although rehabilitation centers and counseling services abound for substance abusers, no one has attempted to address the needs of porn addicts.

Until now.

In May, British firm HeLPAddictions.org launched a 24-hour, for-pay porn addiction hotline. The service, which is anonymous, comprises a web-based self-help process consisting of five steps. The developers say they hope the program will go worldwide and serve as a model for other agencies devoted to remediating “the unspoken and often damaging effects of pornography,” especially those in the U.S., where experts estimate that between 3 and 5 percent of the population suffer from some sort of “sexual compulsion disorder.”

“It’s obvious to us that Internet-based addiction has become increasingly prevalent over the years,” Faye Blackwell, one of the site’s three resident counseling experts, told ABC News. “This addiction carries extra baggage. People are embarrassed and guilt-ridden, and there aren’t many places that they can go to talk about it.”

Blackwell said the site receives 200 to 300 inquiries per week, though she did not reveal how many go on to purchase one of the “treatment packages” that range from $145 to $565. The basic package includes downloadable PDFs and audio files plus access to online forums where program users may find support among the similarly afflicted. More expensive packages include online or in-person therapy sessions and “accountability software” that monitors the program participants web use and reports his or her behavior to a counselor.

Blackwell said the program is based on sound counseling principles and education, much like addiction-recovery programs designed to help alcoholics and drug abusers. And just like alcohol and drugs, pornography can affect behavior in detrimental ways. Pornography may be an even more insidious problem though, she said, because it’s so readily available online.

“The nature of the internet makes [pornography] so easy and cheap and anonymous,” she told ABC. “But people need to know they’re not alone in dealing with this, and this addiction is becoming an ever-increasing problem.

“We’re not here to knock pornography,” she added. “There are many people who use it safely and healthily. We’re not asking for censorship or prohibition. We just want to acknowledge those who find themselves getting in deeper and deeper than they want to be.”