Can Looking At Porn Cause Changes in Brain Function?
Tens of millions of people throughout the U.S. consume some sort of pornographic or sexually explicit material. Current scientific evidence indicates that some of the individuals who participate in this commonplace activity can develop a behavioral addiction as a result their pornography use. Behavioral addiction produces some of the brain changes normally associated with substance addiction. In a study published in May 2014 in the American Medical Association journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers from three German institutions conducted tests designed to determine if people who consume a lot of pornography experience some of the characteristic brain changes found in individuals affected by behavioral addiction.
Behavioral Addiction
A number of everyday activities can lead to damaging patterns of behavior in some individuals. Examples of these activities, which typically produce some form of pleasurable sensation in participants’ brains, include shopping, having sex, eating, using the Internet and gambling. Evidence gathered over the years by experts in the field has firmly established that the dysfunctional behaviors found in affected individuals are at least partially the result of noticeable changes in brain function, especially in an area of the brain known informally as the pleasure center. In addition, affected individuals commonly develop problems that include a strong urge to participate in a given behavior repeatedly over time, loss of the ability to fully control participation in a given behavior, the creation of a daily routine that gives clear priority to a given behavior and the onset of a withdrawal syndrome when a given behavior is not an option.
Altogether, the symptoms found in people with damaging patterns of non-substance-related behavior strongly resemble the brain and behavioral effects of substance addiction. For this reason, psychiatrists and psychologists refer to these patterns as behavioral addictions (or process addictions). In May 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) officially acknowledged the existence of behavioral addiction by creating an analogous category of diagnosable mental health conditions called addictive disorders. As of 2014, the APA has only defined criteria for a single addictive disorder, gambling disorder. However, the organization has left the door open for future additions to this diagnostic category.
Porn Addiction
Pornography addiction, or porn addiction, does not have an official American Psychiatric Association definition. However, indications for the condition mirror the general indications for a behavioral addiction or addictive disorder. In the context of pornography use, specific examples of these indicators include loss of the ability to control pornography consumption, a preoccupation with pornography when not actively engaged in porn consumption, use of porn consumption to offset or avoid unwanted emotional states, use of deceit to hide the extent of pornography consumption and the experience of clearly negative personal, social or work-related consequences as a result of porn consumption.
Changes in Brain Function
In the study published in JAMA Psychiatry, the German research team used modern testing techniques to look for signs of brain changes in people who consume large amounts of pornographic material. A total of 64 men with no apparent health problems took part in the project. All of these men were pornography consumers; however, their use of pornographic material varied considerably in any given week. The researchers matched each participant’s level of habitual porn consumption to any observable changes in parts of the brain that are responsible for such critical skills as rational decision-making, the ability to control momentary impulses, the ability to plan for the future and the ability to gauge the risks and rewards of any given activity. In addition, they measured each individual’s brain volume.
After completing their analysis, the researchers concluded that the brain volume of the study participants dropped as their level of weekly pornography consumption rose. They also concluded that the level of activity in a key area of the brain dropped as weekly porn consumption went up. In addition, the researchers concluded that the strength of the connection between two critical areas of the brain declined along with increasing weekly pornography consumption. The affected areas of the brain were related to the core ability to place rewarding sensations in their larger context.
The study’s authors did not determine the cause/effect relationship between high pornography consumption and changes in brain size, function and activity level. On one hand, high porn consumption may lead to the observed changes. However, on the other hand, preexisting versions of these changes inside the brain may make any given individual more likely to perceive porn use as an unusually rewarding or pleasurable activity.