How the brain is affected by porn – Dysfunctions and the return to “a childish state”

THE pornography existed throughout the recorded history of mankind taking another form with the discovery and introduction into our lives of every new means of communication. For example, there were hundreds of sexual murals and sculptures found in the ruins of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. Either in representations of murals or in drawings on amphorae from ancient Greece. The same goes for ancient finds from Asia to Latin America and Africa. Sexuality is ubiquitous.

Since the advent of the internet, the viewing (essentially) consumption of porn has skyrocketed. Pornhub, the largest free porn site in the world, received over 33.5 billion hits in 2018 alone.

Science is just beginning to reveal the neurological effects of consuming porn. But it is already clear that the mental health and sex life of the public are suffering catastrophic consequences. AFrom Depression to Erectile Dysfunction, Porn Seems to Violate Our Neurons With Terrible Consequences according to an article in The Conversation.

Effects of porn consumption – How it affects the brain

In the long run, pornography seems to create sexual dysfunction, especially the inability to achieve an erection or orgasm with a real life partner.

To try to explain these results, some scientists have made parallels between porn consumption and substance abuse. Through evolutionary design, the brain is programmed to respond to sexual arousal with increased dopamine. This neurotransmitter, most commonly associated with reward prediction, also acts in the programming of memories and information in the brain. This adaptation means that when the body requires something, such as food or sex, the brain remembers where to return to experience the same pleasure. Many times the brain rewinds to a more “immature and childish state”.

Instead of turning to a romantic partner for sexual gratification or fulfillment, ordinary porn users instinctively piano their phones and laptops. In addition, abnormally powerful outbursts of reward and pleasure cause abnormally strong levels of habit in the brain.

Below is the BBC video on porn addiction

Psychiatrist Norman Doidge explains:

“Pornographic scenes, like addictive substances, are overstimulating activators that lead to abnormally high levels of dopamine secretion. This can damage the dopamine reward system and prevent it from responding to natural sources of pleasure. “This is why users begin to have difficulty achieving arousal with a natural partner.”

Beyond malfunction

The desensitization of our reward circuit lays the foundation for the development of sexual dysfunction, but the effects do not end there. Studies show that changes in dopamine transmission can alleviate depression and anxiety. Consistent with this observation, porn consumers report greater depressive symptoms, lower quality of life, and poorer mental health compared to those who do not watch porn.

The other fascinating finding in this study is that porn addicts find that they want and need more porn, even though they do not necessarily like it. This disconnect between will and sympathy is a feature of reward circuit malfunction.

In a similar study, researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany, found that higher porn use was associated with less brain activation in response to conventional pornographic images.

Analytical data from Pornhub reveal that casual sex is becoming less and less interesting to users and is being replaced by topics such as incest and violence.