Pornography starts off pretty tame and it does not take much to get a dopamine release off of it. Things like still images of bikinis and topless pictures might do it in the beginning but you will eventually desensitize yourself to that specific stimulus and in order to get a higher dopamine spike you will need to increase potency through fetishes. When you get that dopamine rush it forces your dopamine receptors to recalibrate in order to make that level of dopamine be the new norm for getting a high which in turn makes it much more difficult to get a dopamine fix that exceeds your baseline. The higher the spike of dopamine the further below baseline the drop is afterwards.
All this being said, does it still constitute the argument for pornography being an addiction? Lets take a closer look at the chemicals that are going on in the brain that are related to porn use.
- Dopamine is the chemical that says “I like this and want more”.
- Serotonin is the chemical that says”I like this but don’t need more”.
- Oxytocin is the chemical that helps us to feel empathy, trust, love, and care for others.
- Endorphins are known as painkillers. They react very similarly to morphine. Laughter releases endorphins.
One thing all these have in common is that they show up every single day with a large variety of activities and interactions. Not just with porn. This is why porn by nature may seem addictive but it is much more a compulsion than an addiction. With things like alcohol, heroin, cocaine and other such foreign substances that enter the body there is a physiological reliance they create. You can actually die from withdrawals with these substances. If you were to remove porn from your life completely the most severe effect would be mild irritability and maybe some anxiety that would easily go away after two weeks or so.
You see most of us started using porn out of curiosity during childhood or teen years. We new it felt good when we did and so naturally we would go to it to calm things like stress, social anxiety, depression and other things. We might not have even known that at the time and that repeated behavior trained our brains to subconsciously go straight to porn for any relief.
The argument for pornography being an addiction is based off of the dopamine hit it gives you. Something interesting to note is that sex within a heterosexual partnership actually gives you a higher dopamine release than pornography use. You see porn use isn't about sex at all. It is about running from feeling or running to feeling. Pornography is NOT and addiction but a symptom of a deeper longing for connection or not living truly authentically. So as you go about healing from compulsive porn use stop and ask yourself "What am I missing in life?"
The answer to that question is what will tell what you need, who you need and where change is required. That change is going to be unfamiliar and may seem scary but is necessary. Everything worth living for is on the other side of fear.
So jump.