- Your Brain on Porn

10 min read

Facts

  • 40 studies link porn use to poorer cognitive function and mental health problems
  • handful states in US have passes a resolution declaring internet porn use as a public health crisis
  • the move has also begun in UK to require independent age verification to enter porn sites
  • ! I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self. – Aristotle
  • you are reading because you are engaging with pornographic material in a way that you find troubling
  • 2008 study - more than 14.4% boys are exposed to porn prior to the age of 13.
  • in 2011, the number jumped too 48.7%
  • in 2017, 69% of men and 23% women first viewed porn at the age of 13 or younger
  • all men and 82% women had viewed porn at some point of time
  • daily porn viewing in 2017, 39% of men and 4% of women of age 15-29, viewed often on their smartphones.
  • ! looking at porn and masturbating is a behaviour with no punishment (immediately) and only reward. – Psychiatrist Norman Doidge in THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF.
  • Internet - provided ultra easy access to something that is fine as an occasional treat but hell for your sexual and mental health on a daily basis. – Urologist Harry Fisch in THE NEW NAKED
  • ! medical journal JAMA Psychiary, the study "THE BRAIN ON PORN" in May, 2014 stated, "even in moderate porn users, the use correlates with reduced grey matter"

1. What are we dealing with?

  • ! It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question. – Eugene Lonesco
  • more users regard internet porn as a solution to boredom, sexual frustration, loneliness or stress
  • the onomatopoeic term for "fap" is slang for "masturbation to porn"
  • "Today, on my 109th day of a streak, I feel happy, confident, social, smart, capable of meeting any challenge, etc.." - says one user
  • "When I entered the murky world of internet porn, my brain had found something it just wanted more and more of, I was out of control in less than 6 months. A few months of online porn, hooked" – another user
  • "When the tubes sites became my daily fare, it was only shortly afterward that I developed Erectional dysfunctional problem (ED)" - another user
  • "On a tube site, you go straight from 0 to 140kmph. straight to full on orgasmic action, endless curiosity" – another user
  • "Tubes sites, especially the big ones, are the crack cocaine of internet pornography. new content every day, every hour, every 10minutes, for constant new stimulation" – another user
  • "It never satisfies, need more the brain always say…" – another user
  • "The extra excitement strengthens brain circuits that urge you to seek porn again and again" – another user
  • Another risk of today's online porn buffet is over consumption.
  • "Variety is strongly associated with over consumption, You will eat more at a buffet than you will when meatloaf is the only thing on the table. In neither scenario will you leave hungry but in one you will leave regretful"

An elephant in the room:

  • nofap.com
  • rebootnation.org
  • yourbrainrebalanced

porn induced ED and porn induced addiction are our personal secret

quitting triggered distressing, unexpected withdrawal symptoms

irritability, fatigue, inability to sleep. trembling, shaking, lack of focus, shortness of breath, depression, crazy thoughts, feelings of hopelessness, despair, worthlessness

one had to wait until his libido returned normally, which sometimes takes months

"Animal research acts as guiding light for human research, illuminating biological process" - John J. Medina PhD

The Other Porn Experiment

Time magazine cover story - 2016 - Porn and the threat to Virility

Eliminating Porn use in studies

  • porn user whose symptoms are the result of porn use cannot heal except by giving it up
  • it can take months or even years for young men to experience the full benefits of giving up porn use

What does the research that removes Porn use find?

  • 2015 - porn use with decreased ability to delay gratification
  • 2012 - participants tried to abstain from porn use for 3 weeks reported higher levels of relationship commitment
  • Israeli case study - after 8 months the man reported increased sexual desire, successful sex and orgasm and enjoying good sexual practices

Research difficulties and consequences

2017 addiction rate study - one in five (19%) of college age men were addicted and less than one in twenty (4%) of the women were addicted

Oxford University found that moderate or severe addiction to the internet was associated with the increased risk for self-harm.

I found out porn was a problem. 115 days later, I have finally broken three of its chains. It is still tough, but I know if I don't use it, I will be able to have sex with my beautiful girlfriend.

Staying off porn really makes a difference, which I thought was impossible to quit.

Even the producers admit that they make the transsexual porn this fetish for a straight audience.

All changed around age 11 when I downloaded a KazaA and progressed to nearly every type of porn imaginable (dominatrix, animal, amputee, etc.). I started having severe depression and anxiety. The next 15 years of my life were completely miserable.

Common Symptoms

Improvement since quitting porn includes social anxiety improved drastically and

  • confidence
  • eye contact
  • comfort interacting
  • smoothness
  • more energy
  • clearer, sharper mind
  • more concentration
  • more vibrant-looking face
  • depression alleviated
  • desire to interact with women
  • Boners is back.

During porn use,

  • friends were drifting away.
  • I gave up socializing and sat in the room and pleasured myself.
  • Family loved me unconditionally but did not enjoy my company.
  • Had trouble focusing on my job and classes.
  • No girlfriend.
  • Enormous amount of anxiety with human interactions in general.
  • Worked out furiously, never seemed to gain anything.
  • No energy, no matter how much I slept, always tired,
  • terribly depressed,
  • stressed,
  • anxious,
  • confused
  • At least 23 studies link porn use or porn addiction to sexual problems and lower brain activation to vanilla porn.
I was not living a life, but I was not dead either.

Interfering with life and losing control

Your brain now believes that the internet porn use is an important goal and equates it with your survival.

Wake up, turn over, masturbate, go to sleep six times a day or more.

At my worst, I would have seven or eight different sites opened and go through them for about three or four hours or more, looking for the perfect sex story to get off on.

Lethargy for every hour of every day. Didn't eat right, didn't exercise, didn't study, didn't care about personal hygiene. I am over a month now, and I feel so much better.

Everything from my social life to my physical health has been damaged by this addiction.

With addiction gone, little things make me really happy.

Inability to orgasm during sex

Porn users report delayed ejaculation or inability to orgasm as a precursor to a fully blown erectile dysfunction.

This includes

  • earlier genres of porn that are no longer exciting.
  • Uncharacteristic fetishes develop
  • More sexually exciting than a partner.
  • Sensibility of penis decreases;
  • sexual arousal with sexual partners declines;
  • erections fade when attempting penetration or shortly thereafter.
  • Penetrative sex is no longer stimulating.
  • Porn fantasy is necessary to maintain erection or interest with the partner.

A 2015 study found that 71% of men who masturbate to porn more than 7 h a week reported sexual functioning problems, with 33% reporting delayed ejaculations.

Unreliable Erections During Sexual Encounters

A penis that have grown accustomed to a particular kind of stimulation leading to rapid ejaculation will not work the same way when it is aroused differently.

I have not looked at any porn or masturbated for nearly four weeks, and all I can say is the change is dramatic. The reward for four months of no porn has been an improved sex life with my wife.

When I realized the cost, I immediately gave up. Over the last six weeks, I held off masturbating as much as I could. It all paid off.

Premature ejaculation (PE), Premature orgasm (PO).

Unaccustomed Premature Ejaculation

Masturbation or Porn can cause premature ejaculation, especially when you start doing it young and you want to reach climax or orgasm quickly because of the fear of being caught. You teach your mind that when you are hard, your job is to come quickly and not to enjoy the interim sensation.

The high arousal response is similar to Pavlov's dog salivating at the sound of the bell.

When the watch porn, your penis becomes over stimulated and ejaculation is one stroke away.

Many older people say that they last long naturally and don't watch porn or masturbate.

Mechanistic porn habits have taken all away sensuality from the act of orgasm. Her knees would literally shake.

Alarming porn fetish tastes

Brains are plastic. The truth is we are always training our brain with or without our conscious participation.

One possibility is boredom or habituation meeting the developing adolescent brain. Teens are thrill-seeking and easily bored. They love novelty. The stranger the better. Many young men have described masturbating with one hand while clicking through videos with the other. Lesbian porn gets boring, so he tries out incest porn. Novelty and anxiety ensue, and both increase sexual arousal.

I wasn't interested in any weird stuff before I started to watch. Now I like:

  • BBB
  • BBW
  • MILF
  • Tranny
  • Crossdressers
  • Fat
  • Skinny and Teen

Once I also saw a video of a bisexual couple. I gave a chance to every kind of porn I got into.

Viewing extreme porn was thus appealing because it was still capable of producing sexual excitement.

You like what you like from people. A lot of things I look at, I don't like. I just can't get to the normal stuff anymore.

Fantasies I had about rape, homicide, and submission were never there before hardcore porn use from 18 to 22. When I stayed away from porn for five months, all those fantasies and urges were gone. The thing with porn is you need harder and harder material, more taboo, more exciting, and wrong to actually be able to get off.

Hell of my own making.

Made my 90-day mark. Lost my cravings.

The more porn you watch, the more you need, and the more hardcore you need to feel fully aroused.

At first, my tastes were those of a normal teenage boy, but over the years my taste shifted into aggressive content, violent themes against women, to be more specific. Within a year, I had acquired many new fetishes.

Porn is an overly charged erotic atmosphere.

SOCD or HOCD: sexual orientation obsessive-compulsive disorder or homosexual obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Any form of OCD is potentially a serious medical disorder.

Loss of attraction to real partners

Young Japanese men are growing indifferent or even averse to sex. The Japan Times cited a 2010 poll where men between the age

  • more than 36% of men aged 16 to 19 had no interest in sex.
  • between 20 and 24 showed a similar trend of 21.5%,
  • between 45 and 49, reported 22.1%.

pg 51

Built with LogoFlowershow