Is Porn Actually Addictive? Key Findings

There is a general lack of awareness among psychologists, teachers, many health care providers as well as the general public, of some of the recent brain science that has important implications for porn users.

The core of the brain’s reward circuitry is a portion of the brain called the limbic system, shared with other mammals. It has been around for more than 100 million years. This is covered in any basic science course and is fundamental to understanding the process of learning, addiction and brain plasticity.

See:

• “Pathways of sexual desire,” G. Pfaus, J Sex Med. 2009 Jun;6(6):1506-33. Epub 2009 Apr 30.

o “Brain dopamine systems (incertohypothalamic and mesolimbic) that link the hypothalamus and limbic system [old brain] appear to form the core of the excitatory system [reward circuitry].”

• The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, MD

o “The same surge of dopamine that thrills us also consolidates the neuronal connections responsible for the behaviors that led us to accomplish our goal. … Dopamine is also released in sexual excitement, increasing the sex drive in both sexes, facilitating orgasm, and activating the brain's pleasure centers. Hence the addictive power of pornography.” (p. 107)

• “Conditioned preferences induced by sex and drugs: a comparison of the neural bases,” Coria-Avila GA, Pfaus JG, Miquel M, Pacheco P, Manzo J. Rev Neurol. 2008 Feb 16-29;46(4):213-8.

o “Sex and drug reward can induce the development of new preferences, leading to the idea that the partner preferences that develop after sexual encounters and drug consumption are, in part, consequences of classical conditioning.”

• “Internet sex addiction treated with naltrexone,” Bostwick JM, Bucci JA., Mayo Clin Proc. 2008 Feb;83(2):226-30.

o “Dopamine is the neurotransmitter driving both normal and addictive behavior. Other neurotransmitters modulate the amount of dopamine released in response to a stimulus, with the salience determined by the intensity of the dopamine pulse. Opiates (either endogenous or exogenous) exemplify such modulators. Prescribed for treating alcoholism, naltrexone blocks opiates' capacity to augment dopamine release. This article reviews naltrexone's mechanism of action in the reward center and describes a novel use for naltrexone in suppressing a euphorically compulsive and interpersonally devastating addiction to Internet pornography.” [This indicates the porn user treated successfully had an addiction, and that it was going on in the limbic system (old brain).]

o [From the full study] As neuroscience further elucidates addiction's neural underpinnings, it becomes increasingly clear that a malfunctioning reward center is common to all compulsive behaviors, whether drug abuse, overeating, gambling, or excessive sexual activity. Although impulsive-compulsive sexual behavior has been little studied, it makes intuitive sense that pharmacotherapies effective against one type of addictive behavior would also combat other types. Each behavior has specific triggers and manifestations, yet the final common pathway for all involves neurochemical modulation of dopaminergic activity via receptors in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) [deep in the limbic system].

• “Drug Addiction as a Pathology of Staged Neuroplasticity,” Peter W Kalivas and Charles O'Brien, Neuropsychopharmacology (2008) 33, 166–180; doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301564

o “The Nac [“nucleus accumbens” in the limbic system] has a well-established role in mediating the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse and natural rewards such as food and sexual behaviour.

Recent brain research reveals that unrestricted access to junk food (highly stimulating food) can dysregulate brains and appetites. (http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v13/n5/pdf/nn.2519.pdf)

IMPLICATIONS

Why do we need to know this?

Proper in depth research on porn's effects on the brain (at a neurochemical level) simply hasn't been done, but the research on unrestricted access to super-stimulating food (on the same part of the reward circuitry that drives sex - i.e., D2 receptors in the striatum) suggests that lingering changes may be dampening users' pleasure response and driving bingeing. This appears to be leading to erectile dysfunction in men in their 20s, at least vis-a-vis real partners.

Most men experiencing this have been using Internet porn for years. Pointing this out isn’t about fostering guilt; but rather that too much synthetic sexual stimulation can dysregulate brains and appetites. What people do with the information is a personal choice, but failing to understand it and educate young people about the risk seems as unwise as failing to elucidate the risks of junk food.

The brain evolved to drive eating and mating, not, for example, golf. Entire civilizations have survived without golf. Since genetic success drives evolution, the human brain is at risk for overvaluing super-stimulating food and sexual stimuli, not sports. Consider that 64% of Americans are overweight, and half of those obese. Britain is close behind. And no “porn virgins” could be found for a recent study to serve as a control group.

Psychiatrists developing the upcoming DSM V include a hypersexuality diagnosis, which includes porn use: http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=415