Effects of Porn on the User

Risks of porn addictionEffects of Porn on the User. For many, the decision to quit porn is fueled by unwanted side-effects. This section touches on a few common issues, and what users have done to restore balance. Some of these consequences, such as erectile dysfunction, usually show up after years of use. Other consequences, such as escalation into an unwanted genre, may occur rather quickly. Interwoven into these articles are comments by porn users on their addiction and their recovery.

  • Dr. Oz Show Investigates Porn-Induced ED Porn-induced ED diagnosis receives medical legitimacy Dr. Oz and a team that includes a urologist and psychiatrist explain how viewing Internet porn can cause sexual performance problems—and how users can reverse it themselves.
  • Porn Recovery and The Mysterious Flatline “The grueling, mysterious initiation one endures but never speaks of” Not every guy who quits porn experiences a complete loss of libido for a time. However, the percentage of those who report these mysterious ‘flatlines” is rising as the guys who started on highspeed comprise a growing portion of ED sufferers.
  • Are Porn Tube Sites Causing Erectile Dysfunction? Might tube sites be to porn what crack is to cocaine? Why are porn tube sites the Bermuda Triangle of porn?
  • Porn Problems: Here Come the Women Porn’s supernormal stimulation can blight women’s sex lives too A popular online Swedish news magazine recently reported that women are noticing their own version of “porn impotence.” They are not alone. Meet the “femstronauts.”
  • Youthful ED: More to the Story? Researchers are alarmed by the upswing in young men seeking clinical treatment for persistent ED according to new research.
  • Quitting porn? Prepare for more vibrant emotions What does the post-porn emotional rebound look like? Is our current conception of “normal emotional health” distorted by the fact that heavy use of Internet porn is the norm among many?
  • Porn and Perception: Is Your Limbic Brain Distorting Your Vision? Porn could be changing how you see your life.  The limbic brain is a primitive part of the brain, which largely controls your mood, emotions, and desires. This article explains how using porn can shift your view of things and alter your personality – and not for the better. Here porn users describe how they see the world, and themselves, differently once they quit.
  • Porn-Induced Sexual Dysfunction Is A Growing Problem Internet porn appears to be “sex-negative” for many users“.  Lots of guys, 20s or so, can’t get it up anymore with a real girl, and they all relate having a serious porn/masturbation habit. When someone tells their story on a health forum, and there are 50-100 replies from other guys who struggle with the same thing, this is for real.”
  • Young Porn Users Need Longer To Recover Their Mojo Is high-speed porn use rewiring adolescent sexuality? Guys who used Internet porn during their adolescence usually take longer to regain their erectile health and libido
  • As Porn Goes Up, Performance Goes Down? Is there an unsuspected link between today’s porn and potency? Just as the title says, the use of Internet porn can lead to erectile dysfunction, lagging libidos, along with the need for more intense stimulation. This article explains the changes in brain wiring or plasticity that can occur with porn. Porn users chronicle the necessary “rebooting” period and the welcome changes that occur when they abstain from porn.
  • “How I Recovered from Porn-related Erectile Dysfunction”  A 28-year old heals his chronic copulatory impotence.  Recounts the path one man took to resolve his porn-induced ED. The issue lies not in viewers’ perfectly healthy penises, but in their brain’s reward circuitry—and there is no quick fix. Most porn users don’t realize what’s going on until the problem is quite severe, because they naturally tend to “solve” any erectile sluggishness with more extreme porn (thus forcing the release of the dopamine needed to achieve an erection, but also further dampening the brain’s natural sensitivity and their sexual responsiveness).
  • Can You Trust Your Johnson? Is Internet porn making male sexuality more plastic? Once upon a time, men could trust their penises to tell them everything they needed to know about their sexual orientation. What if porn, to which you once happily fapped, no longer does the job? It’s not unusual for a desensitized porn user to escalate into genre that do not match their innate sexual orientation.
  • Was the Cowardly Lion Just Masturbating Too Much? There may be a correlation between porn and social anxiety  Obviously, not everyone addicted to porn has social anxiety. Conversely, having social anxiety does not mean that one uses porn. However, stopping porn use has decreased social anxiety for many porn users. We aren’t meant to live in isolation. The good news is that many find it easier and more enjoyable to connect with others when they abstain from porn and cut back on masturbation.
  • Porn, Masturbation and Mojo: A Neuroscience Perspective Ex-porn users usually get their mojo back. Why? Giving up Internet porn often leads to remarkable benefits. Is it placebo effect, or might physiological changes be behind the improvements?
  • ‘Straight Men, Gay Porn’ and Other Brain Map Mysteries What’s the role of orgasm in wiring artificial sexual tastes?  For most of the last century, neuroscientists were convinced that adult brains were pretty much set. Now, recent neuroscience reveals that our brains are surprisingly plastic throughout our lives. Many people may inadvertently be altering their plastic brains with semi-permanent junk they really don’t want. This article examines how extreme sexual stimulation can cause unanticipated sexual tastes to arise.
  • Losing at Porn Roulette What you watch may alter your tastes For many porn users, tastes shift—generally escalating to more hard-core material. Escalation is a key feature of any addiction process – needing more and more stimulation (or drug) to get the same buzz. Plain old porn may not do it any longer. As users search for the next new twist, they can arrive at unwanted destinations.
  • No Porn, Better Working Memory? Research finds that porn imagery lowers cognitive function. Users who quit porn often notice improvements in concentration and memory. Why?
  • Wiring Sexual Tastes to Hairless Genitals…Oops! Are we waxing away the line between adults and children?  Straight men once typically wired their sexual attraction to adult females using the obvious visual cues of pubic hair and normal labia (among others). In today’s porn world, however, “shaved,” like anal sex, is de rigueur. Are we removing an evolved barrier that once discouraged adult sex with children?
  • Bill Gates and Better Condoms: Error 404? Condom compliance may be a matter of software, not hardware A new condom could boost penile sensation, but the majority of today’s safe-sex challenge may well lie in the software of the brain.
  • Rethinking Ogas and Gaddam’s ‘A Billion Wicked Thoughts’ Does Internet porn reveal our sexual desires—or alter them? Escalation to bizarre porn is meaningful primarily because it is a major warning sign of addiction, not because it tells porn addicts useful information about their innate sexual desires.
  • Exposure Therapy for HOCD? Porn-related HOCD may call for its own treatment protocol For some HOCD sufferers, addiction presents an obstacle to standard OCD Exposure & Response Prevention therapy. Even if an addict stops seeking the reward of relief (from testing or analysis), exposure to porn still activates his sensitized addiction pathways.