COMMENTS: The sweeping new ASAM “definition of addiction” (August 2011) ends the debate over the existence behavioral addictions, including sex and porn addiction. This new definition of addiction, which includes behavioral addictions, such as food, gambling and sex, ASAM unequivocally states behavioral addictions involve similar brain alterations and neural pathways as do drug addictions. We […]
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Feb;1187:294-315.
Frascella J, Potenza MN, Brown LL, Childress AR.
Source
Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, Maryland, USA.
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This section contains a few selected research papers on behavioral addictions. A common argument against the existence of porn addiction is that it can’t be an real addiction because it’s not a drug.
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UPDATES: Many studies have been published since this article was written. See this List of Internet & Video Game Brain Studies. Gaming disorder is defined in the draft 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) The world’s most widely used medical diagnostic manual, The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), contains a new diagnosis […]
Read More… from Ominous News for Porn Users: Internet Addiction Atrophies Brains (2011)
Full Study: Dissecting components of reward: ‘liking’, ‘wanting’, and learning
Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2009 February; 9(1): 65–73.
Published online 2009 January 21. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2008.12.014.
Kent C Berridge, Terry E Robinson, and J Wayne Aldridge
Address Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-1043, USA
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Read More… from Dissecting Components of Reward: Liking, Wanting, and Learning (2010)
COMMENTS: This study clearly shows that those with Internet addiction develop brain abnormalities that parallel those found in substance abusers. Researchers found a 10-20% reduction in frontal cortex gray matter in adolescents with Internet addiction. Hypofrontality is the common term for this change in brain structure. It is a key marker for all addiction processes. If this can happen with Internet addiction, what occurs when Internet porn is added to the mix?
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Read More… from Microstructure Abnormalities in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder. (2011)
Tools to measure porn’s effects on the brain are here. The debate about widespread use of Internet porn tends to revolve around social concerns and conflicting surveys. Is today’s porn improving marriages? Causing erectile dysfunction leading to unsafe sex? Simply enabling people to meet normal sexual needs more conveniently? Inflating cravings for novelty and extreme sexual […]
Today’s ejaculation advice may be wrong for our species For the last half-century, Western sexologists have advised men to ejaculate as frequently as the urge arises, on a par with nose-blowing. At the same time, doctors assure guys that there’s no risk of excessive ejaculation because they’ll stop when they’ve had enough. But what if […]
Read More… from Are You Exiting the Gene Pool Due to Low Sperm Count or ED? (2011)
June 6th, 2011 in Neuroscience
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Read More… from Example of Rebooting Concept in Article on Cannabis Research
[Also see Vibrators and “Dead Vagina Syndrome” (research and mainstream press)] Can you use sex toys or Internet erotica in moderation? The answer lies in your brain—not in any external advice, wisdom or dogma. It depends on the state of your reward circuitry, your brain’s ancient appetite mechanism. Sure, your brain may be particularly vulnerable […]
Read More… from Vibrators and Other Pleasures: When Moderation Fails (2011)