he following are edited excerpts from a much larger article published by BRAIN HEART WORLD – FIGHT THE NEW DRUG. The entire article, which addresses other facets of the addiction may be found at ftnd.org or brainheartworld.org
HOW PORN AFFECTS THE BRAIN LIKE A DRUG
It may be surprising, but porn affects the brain in ways very similar to harmful substances, like tobacco. Studies have shown that porn stimulates the same areas of the brain as addictive drugs, making the brain release the same chemicals. And just like drugs, porn triggers pathways in the brain that cause craving, leading users back for more and more extreme “hits” to get high. On the surface, tobacco, and porn essentially, seem to have much in common. Both are extremely addictive. One can be purchased at the gas station or grocery store and quickly becomes a very expensive habit. The other comes free with an internet connection.
In case you’re not a neurosurgeon, here’s a crash course in how the brain works. Deep inside the brain, there’s something called a “reward center.” You’ve got one. Your dog’s got one. For mammals, it comes standard. The reward center’s job is to release “pleasure” chemicals into your brain whenever you do something healthy, like eating tasty food, doing a hard workout, or enjoying a kiss. The “high” you get from that chemical rush makes you want to repeat that behavior again and again. Thanks to your reward center, your brain is hardwired to motivate you to do things that will improve your health and chances of survival. It’s a great system… normally. The problem is, the brain can be tricked. When addictive substances are used, they give the brain a “false signal.” Since the brain can’t tell the difference between the drugs and a real, healthy reward, it goes ahead and activates the reward center. An important chemical called dopamine is released, which makes the brain start developing a craving for the fake reward. As long as there’s a lot of dopamine floating around in the brain, the cravings will keep getting stronger, and the consumer will feel super-motivation to keep things that aren’t healthy at all, and can even be dangerous.
Want to guess what else does that? Porn. Researchers have found that internet porn and addictive substances like tobacco have very similar effects on the brain, and they are significantly different from how the brain reacts to healthy, natural pleasures like food or sex. Think about it. When you’re munching a snack or enjoying a romantic encounter, eventually your cravings will drop and you’ll feel satisfied. Why? Because your brain has a built-in “off” switch for natural pleasures. “Dopamine cells stop firing after repeated consumption of a ‘natural reward’ (e.g. food or sex),” explains Nora Volkow, Director of The National Institute of Drug Abuse. But addictive drugs go right on increasing dopamine levels without giving the brain a break. The more hits drug users take, the more dopamine floods their brain, and the stronger their urges are to keep using. That’s why drug addicts find it so hard to stop once they take the first hit. “[O]ne hit may turn into many hits, or even a lost weekend.” What else has the power to keep pumping dopamine endlessly into the brain? You guessed it porn.
The brain responds to new sexual stimuli by pumping out more and more dopamine, and “new” is exactly what internet porn sites provide: an endless stream of fresh erotic images delivered at high speed, in vivid color, 24/7. Porn consumption follows a very predictable pattern that’s eerily similar to drug use. Over time, excessive levels of “pleasure” chemicals cause the porn consumer’s brain to develop tolerance, just like the brain of a drug user. It requires more and more porn to get a buzz or even feel normal, regular porn consumers will end up turning to porn more often or seeking out more extreme versions—or both—to feel excited again. And once the porn habit is established, quitting can even lead to withdrawal symptoms similar to drugs. But there’s good news too. Even those with serious porn habits can break away and reclaim their lives. Thousands have done it.
HOW PORN CAN BECOME ADDICTIVE
A lot of people are convinced that there’s no such thing as an addiction to porn. But science disproved the old belief that in order to have an addiction to something it has to involve a substance that is physically put into the body; like with cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. Excessive consumption of internet porn bears all of the signs, and dangers, of these addictions. Porn delivered to the brain comes by different means but the effect on the brain is the same. The brain changes.
Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the United States’ National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is convinced that porn addiction is real. She even suggested changing NIDA’s name in order to recognize “addictions such as pornography, gambling, and food.” In fact, research shows that of all of the forms of online entertainment—like gambling, gaming, surfing, and social networking—porn has the strongest tendency to be addictive. Doctors and scientists used to believe that in order to have an addiction to something it has to involve a substance that is physically put into the body; like with cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. But once scientists started to look inside the brain, it changed our understanding of how addictions work. What’s important, we now know, is not necessarily what gets inside the body or how it got there, but rather what reactions it triggers in the brain. Porn and other behavioral addictions, like gambling, on the other hand, bring no new chemicals or substances into the body that weren’t already there. But, these behaviors initiate strikingly similar processes inside the brain like substance addictions, and that’s what makes them potentially addictive. They hijack the brain’s reward pathways.
See, your brain comes equipped with something called a “reward center.” Its job is to motivate you to do things that protect and promote your survival—things like eating to stay alive or having sex to produce babies. The way it rewards you for doing those things is by flooding your brain with dopamine and a cocktail of other “pleasure” chemicals each time you do. But your brain doesn’t always reward you for the right things. For example, it produces higher levels of dopamine when you have chocolate cake than it does for whole wheat bread. Why? Because 3,000 years ago, high-calorie foods were really hard to come by, so when our ancestors found them, they needed to eat a whole bunch while they had the chance. These days, a bag of Oreos is only as far as the nearest supermarket. If we gorged on them every chance we got, we’d have heart disease and a lot of other health problems. Porn is basically sexual junk food. When a person is looking at porn, their brain is fooled into pumping out dopamine just as if they really were seeing a potential mate. Sure, filling your brain with feel-good chemicals might sound like a great idea at first, but just like with junk food, it’s more dangerous than it seems. When porn enters the brain, it triggers the reward center to start pumping out dopamine, which sets off a cascade of chemicals including a protein called DeltaFosB. DeltaFosB’s regular job is to build new nerve pathways to mentally connect what someone is doing (i.e. consuming porn) to the pleasure he or she feels. Those strong new memories outcompete other connections in the brain, making it easier and easier to return to porn. But DeltaFosB has another job, and this is why its nickname is “the molecular switch for addiction.”
If enough DeltaFosB builds up, it flips a genetic switch, causing lasting changes in the brain that leave the user more vulnerable to addiction. For teens, this risk is especially high because a teen’s reward center in the brain responds two to four times more powerfully than an adult’s brain, releases higher levels of dopamine and produces more DeltaFosB. Overloaded with dopamine, the brain will try to defend itself by releasing another chemical called CREB. CREB is like the brakes on a runaway reward center; it slows the pleasure response. With CREB onboard, porn that once excited a person stops having the same effect. Scientists believe that CREB is partly why consumers have to keep increasing their porn intake to get aroused. That numbed-out state is called “tolerance,” and it’s part of any kind of addiction. As porn consumers become desensitized from repeated overloads of dopamine, they often find they can’t feel normal without a dopamine high. Even other things that used to make them happy, like going out with friends or playing a favorite game, stop providing enjoyment because of the dulling effects of CREB. They experience strong cravings and often find themselves giving more of their time and attention to porn, sometimes to the detriment of relationships, school, or work. Some report feeling anxious or down until they can get back to their porn. As they delve deeper into the habit, their porn of choice often turns increasingly hardcore. And many who try to break their porn habits report finding it really difficult, if not impossible to stop.