This is your Brain. This is your Brain on Porn.

So, you think you can look at porn and it will not affect your brain or your life? Think again.

Porn affects the brain in ways similar to a drug addiction. It also can wreak havoc on your life, just as other addictions can.

Here are some startling facts about porn use:

(these facts are from fightthenewdrug.org, unless otherwise linked)

How Porn is Like a Drug:

1. Scan images show that porn use alters the brain in the same manner as drug use.
2. Studies have shown that porn stimulates the same areas of the brain, and causes the brain to release the same chemicals, as addictive drugs.
3. Like addictive drugs, porn does not satisfy, but leaves the user craving for more. This is because the way the brain produces Dopamine in response to porn is the same as with an addictive drug.
4. Just like with addictive drugs, porn users will eventually develop a ‘tolerance,’ requiring them to seek out more extreme versions of porn in order to satisfy their craving.
5. Porn users can experience withdrawal symptoms, just like with addictive drugs.

How Porn Affects your Life

1. Viewing porn causes a person to become less and less satisfied with their own partners appearance and demonstrations of affections.
2. Porn causes males to become more calloused toward females in general, and less likely to support affirmative action for women.
3. Females who watch porn are less likely to intervene when another female is being sexually assaulted and are more likely to believe rape myths.
4. Porn use results in decreased desire for real-life sex and erectile dysfunction.
5. Porn use weakens the area of the brain that is responsible for willpower and moral and ethical decision making.
6. Porn use results in LESS REAL SEX, less value on marriage and monogamy, and LESS SATISFACTION with the user’s REAL-LIFE sex.

In the past several months I have met many beautiful, wonderful, amazing women whose lives have been torn apart by their partner’s porn use or adultery. Of all the people I have met, I have not heard of any man being sexually unfaithful to his wife who did not use porn first.

A study cited by Psychology today found that over time, porn use is a “robust predictor of infidelity.”

When a person pleasures themself with porn, the brain releases bonding chemicals, just like when making love with a real person. So the porn user actually “bonds” with the computer or screen pixels. Obviously, this is going to reduce the bond the user feels with his or her real-life partner.

I’ve also learned that people who have a sex- or porn-addiction behave similarly to other addicts in many ways:

1. Lying about their use.
2. “Gas lighting,” or making their partners question their own sanity in order to sidetrack them from discovering or derailing their problem.
3. Creating complaints about their partner in order to justify their use to themselves – or as another way of distracting their partners from discovering or derailing their addiction.
4. Turning down paying work in order to spend more time with their addiction.
5. Taking dangerous risks in pursuit of their addiction.

Many couples think that watching porn together will increase their intimacy, but Psychology today cites several studies that show the opposite.

Perhaps what is most alarming is how widespread the effects of porn use is among millennials and younger:

From fightthenewdrug.org:

In a recent survey of 16 to 18-year-old Americans, nearly every participant reported learning how to have sex by watching porn, [20] and many of the young women said they were pressured to play out the “scripts” their male partners had learned from porn. [21] They felt badgered into having sex in uncomfortable positions, faking sexual responses, and consenting to unpleasant or painful acts.

Many young, healthy men are reporting erectile dysfunction, lack of desire for real women, and even having to fake orgasims with women because of repeated porn use.

The silver lining to all this is that there is a growing movement of men (and women) who are realizing that they are happier and healthier without porn in their lives. Organizations and blogs are popping up to help people break free from porn addiction.

Many of the individuals and organizations joining the anti-porn movement are not religious and do not necessarily see porn use as morally wrong. They have simply become aware that porn use steals from real love, real sex, and real life – and these brave men and women have decided the latter is worth fighting for.

Here are some resources for quitting porn:

Matt Fradd has many articles on breaking free from porn.

Matt also has several posts on Life Site News. Here is one for wives whose husbands are struggling with porn.

Covenant Eyes has many resources to help you quit porn.

So does Fight The New Drug, and they also have ideas and resources to help you  join the anti-porn movement.

Dr. Doug Weiss offers books, counseling and more resources for those who want to quit porn, and for their spouses as well.

Porn is a highly addictive drug and it is almost unheard of to beat the addiction on your own. Perhaps simply being aware of what porn can do to your life is the first step to breaking free.

The next step is accountability. Ask a same-gender trusted friend to hold you accountable  to not use porn – it will take courage, but you may just find that they are struggling with it too – you’ll be able to fight the fight together much better than alone.

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2019 Rebecca Nazzer. All Rights Reserved.