"In the scientific community, the issue of pornography being labeled as a certified addiction is still being proven. The reason being that it is very difficult, even for scientists and therapists, to define what addiction is and what behavior falls under that category. Also, as the first generation dealing with the worldwide epidemic of internet porn, we have nothing to compare to. However, porn is in fact accepted in the academic world as a compulsive behavior that affects the brain, similar to hard drugs. Here are four popularly held myths about porn addiction and why they’re wrong:
Q: Only people with “addictive personalities” have a problem with porn.
A: So there is still a lot of debate on this one.
A recent study by Simone Kühn and Jürgen Gallinat found that frequent porn users had a significant reduction in grey matter in the frontal lobes of their brain. They also found a decrease in neural connectivity in those areas. The important thing to know about this is these are the areas of the brain that control logic, reasoning and decision making. All things that contribute to compulsive behavior. The catch is that this was not a “before and after” study. The scientists didn’t take a look at people’s brains before they had watched porn regularly for a few years, only after. Because of this, they couldn’t unequivocally conclude that the porn addiction caused the underdeveloped brain makeup. But there are a couple reasons it’s unlikely that other factors affected the subjects’ brains:
1. After porn use stops, the neural pathways in the brain that were being inhibited begin to grow and develop. This shows that even if porn wasn’t the initial cause of underdevelopment, it was creating an environment that stunted neurological growth.
2. Porn acts almost exactly like a drug, as far as chemical release in the brain. This is important when answering this question because we do have “before and after” science for drugs. These studies show that susceptibility to drug use has more to do with your environment than your personality.
This chicken-or-the-egg question can be a little frustrating but honestly, why is it so important? If you have noticed that porn is causing negativity in your life the question should not be “Why” but “What are you going to do about it?”
Q: Porn addiction is all about sex.
A: Not nearly as much as you would think. The following video is fascinating (and entertaining) explanation of misconceptions towards addiction. It concludes that addiction is more about a lack of healthy connections, rather than an obsession over one substance or behavior.
Sex is a powerful way to connect with another person. When it is healthy and reciprocated, that level of intimacy can help us feel important, powerful, wanted, and useful. Who doesn’t want to feel those things? As author John Steinbeck once said: “Most of the vices of men are attempted short cuts to love.” When someone is caught in an addiction, it becomes the only way their brains know how to seek out connection. Even though it is a short cut, and there is no real reciprocation, we still try and fake it. Remember, most of the things that drive people to porn addiction are good, healthy, human desires that have been twisted into something dark.
Q: There’s a such thing as healthy and ethical porn use.
A: We’re going to go with a solid "no" on this one.
First off, the whole “I watch porn all the time and I’m fine” argument has some pretty big holes in it. Our first question to those people would be, have you tried going without porn for a while? Try it for just a month—30 days. We know that most won’t be able to last more than a week or two.
The second reason that no amount of porn is healthy is because of its long term affects on how you see others. This creates big problems in current and future romantic relationships. Studies have shown that after viewing porn, people experience less attraction to their partner and less sexual satisfaction–even in situations of infrequent porn use. People who watch porn train their brains to always be on the lookout for bigger, better, and shinier. Because of that, they’ll never be happy with what they have.
The last main reason that there is no such thing as healthy porn is because of what porn consumption contributes to. While a lot of industries in this day and age are currently pushing to make sure their products come from reliable, socially conscious sources that do not contribute to poverty, slavery or violence, the porn industry continues to go in the complete opposite direction. Free tube porn sites are becoming more and more popular and what that means is regulation is almost non-existent. Anyone, from anywhere, can upload anything. If a subject’s age, consent, and compensation are not recorded, nobody knows the dark origins of where that material came from.
Lines become blurry real quick: Is the girl truly 18-years-old like the video says or 16-years-old, thus making it illegal child porn? Is she there of her own free will or has she been coerced—or worse, drugged—off camera? Seeing is not believing when it comes to porn.
This post is from Fight The New Drug. For the original post, go to: http://fightthenewdrug.org/3-popular-myths-about-porn-addiction-that-couldnt-be-more-wrong/
Q: Only people with “addictive personalities” have a problem with porn.
A: So there is still a lot of debate on this one.
A recent study by Simone Kühn and Jürgen Gallinat found that frequent porn users had a significant reduction in grey matter in the frontal lobes of their brain. They also found a decrease in neural connectivity in those areas. The important thing to know about this is these are the areas of the brain that control logic, reasoning and decision making. All things that contribute to compulsive behavior. The catch is that this was not a “before and after” study. The scientists didn’t take a look at people’s brains before they had watched porn regularly for a few years, only after. Because of this, they couldn’t unequivocally conclude that the porn addiction caused the underdeveloped brain makeup. But there are a couple reasons it’s unlikely that other factors affected the subjects’ brains:
1. After porn use stops, the neural pathways in the brain that were being inhibited begin to grow and develop. This shows that even if porn wasn’t the initial cause of underdevelopment, it was creating an environment that stunted neurological growth.
2. Porn acts almost exactly like a drug, as far as chemical release in the brain. This is important when answering this question because we do have “before and after” science for drugs. These studies show that susceptibility to drug use has more to do with your environment than your personality.
This chicken-or-the-egg question can be a little frustrating but honestly, why is it so important? If you have noticed that porn is causing negativity in your life the question should not be “Why” but “What are you going to do about it?”
Q: Porn addiction is all about sex.
A: Not nearly as much as you would think. The following video is fascinating (and entertaining) explanation of misconceptions towards addiction. It concludes that addiction is more about a lack of healthy connections, rather than an obsession over one substance or behavior.
Sex is a powerful way to connect with another person. When it is healthy and reciprocated, that level of intimacy can help us feel important, powerful, wanted, and useful. Who doesn’t want to feel those things? As author John Steinbeck once said: “Most of the vices of men are attempted short cuts to love.” When someone is caught in an addiction, it becomes the only way their brains know how to seek out connection. Even though it is a short cut, and there is no real reciprocation, we still try and fake it. Remember, most of the things that drive people to porn addiction are good, healthy, human desires that have been twisted into something dark.
Q: There’s a such thing as healthy and ethical porn use.
A: We’re going to go with a solid "no" on this one.
First off, the whole “I watch porn all the time and I’m fine” argument has some pretty big holes in it. Our first question to those people would be, have you tried going without porn for a while? Try it for just a month—30 days. We know that most won’t be able to last more than a week or two.
The second reason that no amount of porn is healthy is because of its long term affects on how you see others. This creates big problems in current and future romantic relationships. Studies have shown that after viewing porn, people experience less attraction to their partner and less sexual satisfaction–even in situations of infrequent porn use. People who watch porn train their brains to always be on the lookout for bigger, better, and shinier. Because of that, they’ll never be happy with what they have.
The last main reason that there is no such thing as healthy porn is because of what porn consumption contributes to. While a lot of industries in this day and age are currently pushing to make sure their products come from reliable, socially conscious sources that do not contribute to poverty, slavery or violence, the porn industry continues to go in the complete opposite direction. Free tube porn sites are becoming more and more popular and what that means is regulation is almost non-existent. Anyone, from anywhere, can upload anything. If a subject’s age, consent, and compensation are not recorded, nobody knows the dark origins of where that material came from.
Lines become blurry real quick: Is the girl truly 18-years-old like the video says or 16-years-old, thus making it illegal child porn? Is she there of her own free will or has she been coerced—or worse, drugged—off camera? Seeing is not believing when it comes to porn.
This post is from Fight The New Drug. For the original post, go to: http://fightthenewdrug.org/3-popular-myths-about-porn-addiction-that-couldnt-be-more-wrong/
