Porn addiction

Sex and orgasm top the list in being one of the greatest rewards the brain can experience. As societal norms and rules become ever more imposing, humans are constantly looking for acceptable, alternate ways of experiencing sexual pleasure. By the age of 13-14 both human sexes have attained sexual maturity and are capable of procreation. Any expression of this is strictly restricted in the current scenario. The young, novelty seeking human brain thus turns to the available options, masturbation being the most obvious. Masturbation is definitely not human exclusive, a number of other species also indulge in masturbation. 

Any activity that gives intense pleasure over a short period of time can become addictive (orgasm, sex, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, heroin etc). Porn is often used as a stimulus to enhance the masturbatory experience. Watching porn and masturbation have potential to become addictive and disrupting. Imagine eating vanilla ice cream for breakfast everyday, the first few days are awesome, but then 20 days later ? You need something novel to elicit the same initial pleasure right ? Are you going to stop eating ice cream altogether or are you going to move to a new flavor?  This explains the gradual progression in the amount of time spent and the changing genres of the porn consumed. As one video looses its arousal potential, one looks for more novel (extreme) material.

All our learning is encoded in the brain as synapses or connections between neurons. As we continue to associate sexual pleasure with porn and masturbation. Pathways in the brain change in a way that one begins to prefer porn and masturbation to intercourse. These changes in the brain, often change priorities and increase porn seeking behavior. This roughly translates to “masturbation=sex” and sometimes “masturbation>sex”. Further, porn films cannot be farther from what actually happens in the bedroom, this leads to expectations that can never be fulfilled. This is already leading to broken relationships. At the touch of a screen, one is able to satisfy urges that in the past might have taken a lot more effort. Porn and masturbation become problematic when they begin interfering with day to day life, when one skips class to watch porn or when one neglects his partners needs in favor of porn/masturbation.

Most humans watch porn/ masturbate and in recent times people with problematic porn use has been on the increase. Despite extensive research suggesting “addiction to porn” has a strong biological substrate, awareness remains poor. Sex education programs in teens and adolescents should ideally include information about masturbation and porn.

Here are a few signs of porn addiction.

• Difficulty in refraining from porn despite trying.
• Anger when confronted about problematic use
• Looking for extreme/unnatural forms of porn, as the usual ones aren’t pleasurable anymore.
• Continuing the behavior despite negative consequences, such as relationship issues
• Difficulty in controlling the time spent in porn use or in terminating use.

If you think you are addicted to porn, there are a number of groups online that can help you out, try googling “no fap”. Reach out to us, we would be glad to help you.