Research finds porn addicts brain activity mirrors that of drug addicts.
Society and the media often portray addiction as a behavioral choice that a person could change if they really wanted to. This reinforces the commonly held view that quitting an addiction is simply a matter of willpower alone.
If you are suffering with addiction you may also judge or view your behaviour through such a lens. This can raise feelings of shame, anger or self-blame. You may even avoid or deny the extent of your problems due to feeling addiction is a sign of weakness.
The field of neuroscience is changing our understanding of addiction and how we view it. This exciting field of research now identifies addiction as a chronic disease that affects brain activity, circuitry and function. Neuroscience understands addiction as a maladaptive form of learning that overtime changes the hard wiring of our brain.
If you are coping or struggling with compulsive use of porn you will have tried to control and limit your behavior. Yet despite repeated attempts to stop you continue to come back to it. You can’t control it. You obsess over it. Some of you may find your thoughts and fantasies around porn, your triggers, cues and routines around watching porn generate a lot of excitement, desire and pleasure but you don’t feel like you enjoy it. You may be overwhelmed by guilt at times.
Overtime you will have noticed your compulsive use of porn has started to impact negatively on your sex life, the quality of intimacy (of any kind) with your wife or partner, or your ability to function in your personal life or at work.
But the question may persist in your mind if this is something you can work out by yourself or is it a more serious problem, an addiction, requiring professional help?
I came across a University of Cambridge article covering the research findings of a 2011 study that compared the brain activity of men affected by compulsive sexual behaviour and the same number of unaffected “healthy” men.
The article outlines how men in the study were shown short videos of sexually explicit material or sports content whilst their brain activity was recorded by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The research found three regions of the brain were more active in the men affected by compulsive sexual behaviour. These three regions were the same as those shown as more active in drug addicts when shown drug stimuli. The brain regions affected were involved in processing reward and motivation, anticipation of rewards and significant memories or events.
The researchers asked the participants to rate their level of sexual desire when watching the videos and how much they liked them. As is the case with drug addicts the men affected by compulsive sexual behaviour indicated higher levels of desire when watching the videos but did not rate them higher on liking scores. This correlates with findings that drug addicts are driven to seek drugs as they want them rather than enjoy them.
Dr Valerie Voon comments “There are clear differences in brain activity between patients who have compulsive sexual behaviour and healthy volunteers. These differences mirror those of drug addicts.”
In the article Dr John Williams comments “Compulsive behaviours, including watching porn to excess, over-eating and gambling, are increasingly common. This study takes us a step further to finding out why we carry on repeating behaviours that we know are potentially damaging to us. Whether we are tackling sex addiction, substance abuse or eating disorders, knowing how best, and when, to intervene in order to break the cycle is an important goal of this research.”
This article further identifies the neurobiology of porn addiction and how this mirrors current neurobiological findings with other addictions.
Neuroscience highlights that treating porn addiction, as with any other addiction, is a more complex process than simply going cold turkey and then you are fixed. Addiction essentially hi-jacks the memory and reward centres of the brain. This means you have learnt to cope with difficulty in your life and make yourself feel better about things through repeated activities related to porn or sex addiction.
Rather than just trying to fix your behaviour, the underlying issues that led you to cope with life in this way need to be addressed, faced and understood. It may take time and effort but seeking professional help raises the possibility of developing the internal resources to manage and cope with your life and relationships without turning to porn or sex.
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/brain-activity-in-sex-addiction-mirrors-that-of-drug-addiction
Mark Tonkinson
Menstuff
FollowCategory : Addictions & Blog & Featured & Porn & Secrets & Sex Addiction