Is Porn Addiction Real?
With the increased availability of high-speed internet, not many personal mobile phones and PCs are immune to porn. Almost everyone watches porn. More than 35% of all internet traffics is related to pornography, yet nobody wants to openly talk about it. Because, talking about porn, especially porn addiction is considered taboo in many societies. As a result, there are many silent porn addicts and masturbation addicts hidden among us. Unlike many other types of addiction, porn addicts do not usually seek for rehabilitation therapy. There is a lack of porn-addiction rehabilitation facilities worldwide.
Many porn addicts realized at some point in their life that they are addicted to it. They want to get rid of it. But once they cross a certain line they cannot do it alone. This article is aimed to increase general awareness about porn addiction and to provide some tips to battle against it.
How Does Porn Addiction Work?
The neurological mechanisms behind all types of addictions are similar. When you watch porn, it releases a hormone named ‘Dopamine’ from your brain and as a result, you get pleasure. Your brain remembers this event as a pleasurable experience. Next time you become a little bit more attracted to watch porn and again your brain releases the Dopamine hormone and you get pleasure. If this cycle repeats for quite some time, your brain becomes desensitized to the Dopamine hormone. Now you need more Dopamine to feel the same level of pleasure. How would you generate more Dopamine? The answer is – watch more porn. This is how porn gradually takes over your entire life.
Some people go to the extent where they cannot spend a single day without watching porn videos. They spend multiple hours in front of computer screens watching porn. They make promise to themselves that one day they would stop watching porn, but they fail to stick to their promise. They fall victim to porn. Porn addiction is not as benign as it sounds. Only true porn addicts know what they have lost from their life. The following animation explains any type of addiction including porn addiction.
Porn Addiction Problems
Chronic porn addiction can literally destroy someone’s life. It is like a bug that eats your body and mind from inside but externally you are looking healthy and beautiful. You are acting like a normal person to society but your mind knows that you have already been fallen. The following problems are quite common among chronic porn addicts:
- Lack of productivity: If you are watching porn for many hours a day then how would you finish your other important tasks? Your quality of work and general productivity would definitely be affected. You would not be able to give your full potential to studies, works or any good hobbies. The key to success is to give full potential to your goal. Porn addiction will act as a barrier to your success. You cannot be a successful person if you cannot cure your porn addiction.
- Problems in intimacy: The person you are in a relationship with may not be as attractive as the plastic surgery beauties in the porn industry. You may fail to get aroused by your real-life partner. In an extreme case, you may have erectile dysfunction due to the inability to obtain any pleasure from your partner. You may have to think about pornography to get aroused. You may lose your loved ones in the end.
- Health problems: Watching too much porn can deteriorate many organs and systems in your body.
- You may develop insomnia if you watch porn in a dark room at night time.
- Due to insomnia and eye strain, your vision may deteriorate over time.
- You may have headaches and unrefreshing days.
- You may experience racing and pacing of your heart.
- The constant arousal would decrease your brain’s cognitive power and memory.
- You may feel more stressed.
- Difficulty to concentrate and make complex decisions.
- Dark circles around the eyes.
- Muscle weakness
- Getting overweight
- Loss of endurance and fitness
- Premature ejaculations
- Depression
- Substance abuse: Sometimes porn addicts intake other addictive materials for example – poppers, marijuana, ecstasy, methamphetamine, etc to heighten their experience. This results in the development of multiple addictions in a person.
- Abnormal psycho-sexual behavior: A chronic porn addict may gradually fail to get any pleasure from normal porn. Therefore, he/ she may start watching and practicing non-mainstream porn. As a consequence, different types of fetishes and bizarre behaviors may develop within a person over time.
How to Overcome Porn Addiciton?
- First of all, you must not think that talking about porn addiction is a social taboo. You have to actively talk about porn addiction and seek help. You would find a lot of people around you who are suffering from the same problem. You can take help from your friends or partner. They can help you to get involved in a good hobby or spend time with you so that you can stay away from your screens. You can give this article to someone you believe would help you to overcome porn addiction.
- When we feel feverish or cut our fingers we seek medical help. But on the other hand, when our mental health deteriorates, when we feel low, we are much more reluctant to get medical help. We don’t realize that our mind is as important as our body. Porn addiction is a mental sickness (although it’s not yet included in the DSM). You should seek help from mental health counselors for porn addiction therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy and clinical hypnotherapy may help you.
- Delete all pornographic materials from your devices.
- Don’t stay alone in a room for a long time. If you work alone in a room then try to relocate your desk to a place where other people can physically see you working or see you through a CC camera.
- You may install parental control software to your PC and Smartphone and let your partner handle it. This software will filter out all porn sites. Some of the good parental control software are:
- Try to develop some healthy habits. You may study spirituality or religious books if it’s relevant to you. Yoga, meditation, or regular exercise in the gym may also help you to keep away from porn. You may practice mental or physical chastity.
Porn Addiction Withdrawal Symptoms
A porn addict’s brain becomes dependent on the high level of dopamine activity. If someone suddenly stops watching porn he/ she may have some withdrawal symptoms when their brain craves excessive dopamine. The withdrawal symptoms are not as severe as opioid withdrawal symptoms but they may cause a considerable amount of discomfort. Here are some of the common withdrawal symptoms:
- Low mood or depression because without excessive dopamine brain’s reward center cannot be activated.
- Headache
- Racing and pacing of the heart.
- Insomnia
- Brain fog
- Irritability
- Porn flashbacks and craving for porn
The Evolution of Porn Industry
The porn industry underwent massive evolution in the last 20 years. Two decades ago internet porn was limited to some images, magazines, low-quality videos, and audio. Fast forward to the present situation, now we have:
- 4K resolution porn videos
- VR porn videos
- 360-degree porn videos
- Personalized porn videos
- Interactive porn games
- 3D animated porn videos
- Cam sites
- POV video sites
- Hypnosis porn
- Membership sites
- Porn content selling sites
- Adult dating sites
- Ecommerce sites for porn-related products
- Different types of online pornographic courses
- Interactive and personalized training in porn/ fetish and many more
- Breast augmentation surgery
- Liposuction
- Hip and thigh augmentation surgery
- Lip enhancement surgery
- Facelift surgery
- LASER hair removal
- Hair transplantation surgery
- Rhinoplasty and many more
It is very controversial if these surgeries are doing any good or not to society. The positive side of these surgeries is obviously increasing the overall attractiveness. But the negative sides are devastating results of plastic surgery, plastic surgery addiction, implant rejection, financial loss, etc.
EndNote
Porn addiction is a real problem in our society but there is a genuine lack of research data and rehab facilities associated with it. Nobody wants to talk about it. Now is the time to get out of your conservative thinking and be vocal about porn addiction. We should help those who are trying to overcome porn addiction.
Please write your thoughts in the comment section below. I am a medical doctor with 10 years of clinical experience. If you want to talk with me and get more insights about porn addiction cure then click the button below to book my online consultation appointment.
