Your Brain on Porn

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Start here for a brief overview of concepts & science

This article is a short synopsis of some key concepts. For the science behind it, please follow all the links and read this page. Some links go to our articles, which in turn link to studies. For a more in-depth understanding and further evidence see The Research Page. For specific content explore Porn FAQs.

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What happens when you drop a male rat into a cage with a receptive female rat? First, you see a frenzy of copulation. Then, progressively, the male tires of that particular female. Even if she wants more, he has had enough. However, replace the original female with a fresh one, and the male immediately revives and gallantly struggles to fertilize her. You can repeat this process with fresh females until he is completely wiped out.

This is called the Coolidge effect—the automatic response to novel mates. Interestingly, men ejaculate more motile sperm and they do it more quickly when they view a novel porn star. This powerful automatic response to erotic novelty is what started you down the road to getting hooked on internet porn.

Studies linking porn use or porn/sex addiction to sexual dysfunctions, lower brain activation to sexual stimuli, and lower sexual satisfaction

Reality Check - Regardless of what you may read in some journalistic accounts, multiple studies reveal a link between porn use and sexual performance problems, relationship and sexual dissatisfaction, and reduced brain activation to sexual stimuli.

Let's start with sexual dysfunctions. All studies assessing young male sexuality since 2010 report historic levels of sexual dysfunctions, and startling rates of a new scourge: low libido. Documented in this article.

Brain Studies on Porn Users

This page lists all the studies assessing the brain structure and functioning of Internet porn users. To date every study offers support for the porn addiction model. The results of these 26 studies (and upcoming studies) are consistent with 160+ Internet addiction brain studies, many of which also include internet porn use. All support the premise that internet porn use can cause addiction-related brain changes, as do 9 recent neuroscience-based reviews of the literature:

Gary's TEDx talk - "The Great Porn Experiment"

Captions also available for other languages, including 한국의, Chinese, Português, Czech, Deutsch, Estonian, עברית, Hungarian, Italian, Polski, Serbian, Slovak. Vietamese. To see them, click on the 'YouTube' logo to watch on YOUTube. Then, when you get there, click on "CC" for captions (bottom right of screen). Ver YBOP series in Español. Make captions in your own language!

Age 24 - I had severe PIED: Though I was anxious, I was able to get 100% erect and have proper, amazing sex for the first time in my life

I had severe PIED. I masturbated to porn nearly every day of my life from the age of 14 until mid-February 2016. Between the ages of 21-24, I failed to achieve an erection hard enough to penetrate my four first attempts at sex, each with a different girl, either for sex or oral sex. Each time, I told my partner it was because I had been drinking heavy the night before, which was a complete lie to hide my shame.

Here & Now on NPR (radio): "How One Man Recovered From His Internet Pornography Addiction"

LINK TO SHOW. Alexander Rhodes stumbled on internet pornography accidentally at the age of 11. His initial curiosity soon became compulsion, and from there, addiction. Over the next decade, his addiction to internet porn affected every aspect of his life — from relationships, to academics, to health. In 2011, the year he describes as "hitting bottom," he found others online suffering from similar addictions. Rhodes eventually founded a support website, now visited by 1 million visitors a month, and he left his Google job to manage the site full time.

Rhodes talks with Here & Now's Robin Young about internet pornography addiction.

Age 19 - Confident, social anxiety better, lost weight

I thought I should share my perilous journey with you guys. Though my post is going to be long and boring but I'm sure that might encourage nofap aspirants and those who have been already struggling. Since all these symptoms, withdraw and recovery vary from person to person. So this post is just a motivation and an experience. Don't take it as bible.