DrStefanieCarnes

I would liken pornography to alcohol and drugs. For some people they can recreationally use porn and do not have problems but with a small minority it can create problems for them and become a compulsive behavior.

It's my opinion that the research reviewed that YourBrainOnPorn provides is accurate and a solid overview of the research in the field at this time. I don't know a lot about NoFap and PornFree other than that they are forums that provide people support for people who are trying to abstain. I know that can be extremely helpful for people trying to quit.

Sex addicts are more likely to have histories of emotional, physical and sexual trauma in their background and they are also more likely to have a history of problems with attachment and intimacy. Those are some of the most common etiological factors to sex addiction. However we are seeing young people these days who are hooked on to porn that do not have the same trauma history and attachment histories that we see in the typical sex addict. They get exposed to graphic, intense, online pornography and become hooked.

Orgasm is the natural blast of dopamine to the brain. Dopamine is considered the master molecule of addiction. When an individual uses porn it stimulates its reward center with dopamine. When this is overstimulated, the brain compensates by reducing the number of receptor sites in the synapse. Therefore it takes more intense use to get the same high. They have flooded their reward centers with dopamine just like someone does with substance abuse. So the changes in the brain for a porn addict, are very similar to the brain changes to someone who is addicted to drugs and alcohol. This same process occurs with food as well as other natural addictions like video games and gambling. And the treatment is similar to that of an eating disorder. Individuals need to learn how to have a healthy relationship with food just like they need to learn how to have a healthy relationship with sexuality.

Congratulations on your recovery. Sexuality is a very controversial topic and research and clinicians are hesitant to pathologize anything sexual. Consider the fact that homosexuality was once considered a mental health diagnosis. So researchers and clinicians want to preserve the idea that sexuality is a wonderful positive thing with lots of different ways of healthy expression. Researchers and clinicians are reticent to pathologize anything sexual and put their own biases or agendas on other people. However sex and porn addiction have become so prevalent and problematic that they are being taken more seriously and researchers are struggling with ways to classify this issue so that it doesn't unduly pathologize people or perpetuate sexual shame.

Our culture has become desensitized to porn and is much more sexualized than it was 30 years ago. Consider how a Playboy compares to a typical porn site of today. There is a lot of pressure for young women to look like porn stars and act like porn stars. Young men are also trained culturally to objectify and sexualize women in ways that had't been occurring in our culture in the past. There is research that shows that there are some socio-cultural concerns with porn including an increase in sexual aggression towards women and the rape-ness acceptance. As a culture we are involved in a major social experiment to see how wide spread, easy access to porn will affect relationships and gender roles in society.