PORN IS HEALTHY
HOW PORNOGRAPHY AFFECTS THE BRAIN
CONTENTS 4. REWARD CENTER 8. HOW PORN IS SIMILAR TO A DRUG 10. PORN ALTERS SEXUAL TASTES 14. EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL HEALTH 16. REWIRING THE BRAIN
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THE REWARD CENTER The brain is like one huge computer only much more powerful. It is constantly taking in information from our surroundings and then sends messages back out to our body to carry out necessary functions. Your brain also contains something called the “reward center”. To steer us toward things that will help us: the reward center uses two different pleasure systems, one that excites and another that satisfies. The first system motivates us to go after things; it is largely fueled by dopamine. The second system makes us feel satisfied and happy after accomplishing something. It’s run by endorphins1. Dopamine encourages us to seek out things that bring us pleasure2 and rewires the brain so that we can remember the things we need to survive.3 Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself, New York: Viking, 2007. John D. Salamone and Mercè Correa, “The Mysterious Motivational Functions of Mesolimbic Dopamine,” Neuron 76, no. 3 (2012): 470–85.. 3 Cathleen Genova, “Learning Addiction: Dopamine Reinforces Drug Associated Memories,” Research Press Release, September 9, 2009, http://www.eurekalert. org/pub_releases/2009 09/cp lad090309.php. 1
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PORN’S EFFECT
ON THE REWARD CENTER CHRONIC OVERSTIMULATION TO DOPAMINE RECEPTORS CAUSES THEM TO SHRINK OVER TIME. With shrunken dopamine receptors a person is not able to feel dopamine’s effects as well. As a result, the porn they’ve been using can stop producing the same excitement they used to feel about it. Subsequently, many go in search of more hardcore material to get a bigger dopamine burst.1
Angres, D. H., and Bettinardi-Angres, K. “The Disease of Addiction: Origins, Treatment, and Recovery.” Disease-a-Month 54 (2008): 696– 721 1
When researchers compared brain scans of porn users to scans of non users, they found that the more porn the person had used, the less their reward center activated when porn images were flashed on a screen.1
Kühn, Simone and Jürgen Gallinat. “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated with Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn.” JAMA Psychiatry (2014): 827–34. 1
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PORN IS SIMILAR TO A DRUG It can be compared to a drug. Over time a certain dosage of a drug or alcohol will stop having effect. This leads to the user having to seek out more of it in order to get the same reaction as before. Similar to addictive substances, porn hijacks the brain’s dopamine system.1 Dopamine is integral in plastic change in the brain because it consolidates the neuronal connections that led to the behavior that earned the dopamine burst. Dopamine is released in sexual excitement (ups the sex drive in men and women, facilitates orgasm, and activates the brain’s pleasure centers), “hence the addictive power of pornography.”2
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Norman Doidge, The Brain that Changes Itself. New York: Viking, 2007.
SEX 10
PORN ALTERS SEXUAL TASTES Various studies have shown that porn can alter sexual tastes. This is not referring to sexual orientation but rather what a person finds arousing. Sexual tastes can change over time. When viewing porn the brain begins to connect feelings of arousal with what they are seeing in porn. This changes what they believe to be sexy and also what they expect from their partner.1 Viewing of porn can also cause sexual tastes to become “extreme” or “deviant”.2
James G. Pfaus, et al., “Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41 (2012): 31–62. 2 NoFap Survey results, http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap, April 2012, https://docs. google.com/file/d/0B7q3tr4EV02wbkpTTVk4R2VGbm8/ edit?pli=1 1
Researchers in England... recently published a study on anal sex practices among heterosexual 16 to 18 -year-olds. They found that while few of the young men or women thought anal sex was enjoyable and they overwhelmingly expected it to be painful for women, still about a quarter of them had done it. When researchers asked why, one of the top responses was that the “men wanted to copy what they saw in pornography.” The researchers also reported that it seemed to be taken for granted by many of the study’s participants that men would try to persuade or coerce their partners into having anal sex, even though they expected it to be painful for women. “Even in otherwise seemingly communicative and caring partnerships, some men seemed to push to have anal sex with their reluctant partner despite believing it likely to hurt her,” their paper states. “Women seemed to take for granted that they would either acquiesce to or resist their partners’ repeated requests, rather than being equal partners in sexual decision making.” Marston, C. and R. Lewis. “Anal Heterosex Among Young People and Implications for Health Promotion: A Qualitative Study in the UK.” BMJ Open 4, no. 8 (2014). 1
Pornography gives the false expectation that all sex is pleasurable. Porn depicts unrealistic and often times abusive sex.
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EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL HEALTH Pornography use can effect dopamine signaling over time. Lowered dopamine levels have been correlated with: • An inablity to focus • Increased anxiety • Increased likelihood of angry overreactions • Lack of motivation • Depression • Stress • Social problems Dopamine is an important part of where our motivation to pursue goals and build relationships comes from, so once the brain can’t feel its effects as well, our interest in doing those things can start to slide.1 Depue, R. A. and P. F. Collins. “Neurobiology of the Structure of Personality: Dopamine, Facilitation of Incentive Motivation and Extraversion.” Behavior and Brain Science 22, no. 3 (1999): 491–517. 1
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REWIRING THE BRAIN FROM PORNOGRAPHY EXPOSURE Pornography does rewire the brain but the brain has the ability to reorganize synaptic connections. This process is called neuroplasticity. It’s the brain’s way of going back to normal following some sort of injury. When a brain that has become accustomed to chronic overstimulation stops getting that overstimulation, neurochemical changes in the brain start happening.1
Avena, N. M. and P. V. Rada. “Cholinergic modulation of Food and Drug Satiety and Withdrawal.” Physiology & Behavior 106, no. 3 (2012): 332– 36. 1
Once porn is left behind, the brain pathways it created will start to fade1 and sensitivity to healthy, everyday activities is regained.2
Doidge, Norman. The Brain that Changes Itself. New York: Viking, 2007. Lisle, Douglas and Alan Goldhamer. The Pleasure Trap. Summertown, TN: Healthy Living Publications 1
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Information and citations come from Fight the New Drug Reference Guide as well as TruthAboutPorn.org. For more facts on how pornography effects the brain visit: fightthenewdrug.org truthaboutporn.org