"I'm 180 Days Sober ... From Porn"

I recently met a fellow who, in an unguarded moment, talked about his addiction to porn. The terminology he used, derived from counseling sessions and group therapy, was identical to that used by people who suffer from chemical addictions. That had as much of an impact on me as his description of how it had damaged his family and his life.

When I started thinking about it, it made sense. Sexual pleasure occurs in the limbic system, the rudimentary, dinosaur portion of our brain. The fellow talked about seeing brain activity maps comparing drug addictions to porn addictions and said they were functionally identical. This morning, I spent some time noodling around the Interweb Tubes and found lots of supporting evidence and analysis. Here's a very, very small sample.

Viewing porn causes a complex chemical response in the body.

When an addict looks at porn, testosterone, dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin are released, creating what Dr. Judith Reisman refers to as an “erototoxin”. The chemical change, which causes the person engaging in the act to have a temporary feeling of euphoria, becomes a necessity for the person to function. Like any other type of addict, porn addicts become trapped within their disorder, and the difference between casually watching pornography and being an addict hinges on the chemical makeup of the brain.

Cocaine, meth, porn, it's all pretty much the same when it comes to brain plasticity.

A recent study supports growing evidence that compulsive sexuality can indeed be addictive. In 2007, a VBM study out of Germany looked specifically at pedophilia, and demonstrated almost identical finding to the cocaine, methamphetamine, and obesity studies. [25] It concludes for the first time that a sexual compulsion can cause physical, anatomic change in the brain, the hallmark of brain addiction. A preliminary study showed frontal dysfunction specifically in patients unable to control their sexual behavior.

Your brain adapts itself to porn in response to pleasure.

(D)opamine is also released in sexual excitement, increasing the sex drive in both sexes, facilitating orgasm, and activating the brain's pleasure centers. Hence the addictive power of pornography." he says.

But this addiction might also have to do with a protein called delta FosB that accumulates in neurons. Studies with rats have shown that drug use can increase production of this protein, permanently altering their brain chemistry. "Each time the drug is used, more delta FosB accumulates until it throws a genetic switch, affecting which genes are turned on or off," says Doidge. "Flipping this switch causes changes that persist long after the drug is stopped, leading to irreversible damage to the brain’s dopamine system and rendering the animal far more prone to addiction. Non-drug addictions, such as running and sucrose drinking, also lead to the accumulation of delta FosB and the same permanent changes in the dopamine system."

Porn addicts reinforce their addiction each time they masturbate. "Neurons that fire together wire together," says Doidge. "These men got massive amounts of practice wiring these images into the pleasure centers of the brain, with the rapt attention necessary for plastic change. They imagined these images when away from their computers, or while having sex with their girlfriends, reinforcing them. Each time they felt sexual excitement and had an orgasm when they masturbated, a 'spritz of dopamine,' the reward neurotransmitter, consolidated the connections made in the brain during the sessions."

In the end, your limbic system partially eats the rest of your brain.

Scientific evidence now strongly supports an organic basis for all addiction. Neuroscience has shown that all addictions, both drug and natural, are caused by a deficit of dopamine in the reward system. This deficit can be facilitated by viewing pornography. The viewing of pornography disrupts the regular and natural production of dopamine and resets the cells internal thermostat. This deficit produces a very powerful craving which underlies all addiction. The power or driving force behind these cravings and obsessions can literally disconnect the pre-frontal rational brain and drive one to behaviors that can destroy lives. The very definition of addiction is that one continues to participate in behaviors where there are negative consequences despite their best efforts to stop. What we are now seeing is that if the limbic system is constantly unrestrained, it grows stronger and the pre-frontal cortex actually shrinks. In other words, the part of our brains that is able to put the brakes on begins to malfunction. It simply looses the strength to restrain the unwanted behavior. Fortunately, with abstinence and counseling support, there is evidence that the brain can heal itself.

Yowsers.