“Natural” Brain-Based Addictions Include Sexual Addictions
Pornography addiction may be linked to a biological response at the brain’s reward system level, similar to the rewards that come from enjoying food or other activities that bring pleasure, including drugs and alcohol. Researchers are beginning to understand more closely how substances that bring pleasure and activities that bring a sense of euphoria, such as compulsive shopping or gambling, actually make the brain believe that the sense of pleasure is needed or survival will be at risk. Some researchers have even described the effect as the activity or substance holding the brain "hostage" because of the natural rewards associated with the activity – also referred to as "natural" addictions.
The study of sexual addiction and its similarities with food addictions or substance addictions can be grouped with other "natural" addictions because of the way the brain’s reward system responds to the stimulus. Just as compulsive use of alcohol causes serious health problems, compulsive sexual behaviors can prevent a person from forming intimate bonds with their partner and can lead to serious and persistent emotional pain and destruction.
At the core of some areas of research is how a behavior, such as ongoing sexual relationships with multiple partners or compulsive Internet porngoraphy viewing, can cause dopamine-related changes in the brain, even when a substance isn’t taken in to the body. Current research into sexual addiction may not be centered only around the activity or the substance, but also what drives people to keep participating in a behavior even though it brings harmful side effects.
Common pathways between drug-related brain changes and the changes at the brain level related to excessive sexual behaviors or pornography use may be connected as researchers learn more about the subject of natural addictions. This could also mean that the treatments could be similar.
Furthermore, as a person continues to engage in addictive behaviors like compulsive sexual encounters or excessive overeating, they may experience a similar type of destruction of key areas of the brain that are connected to decision-making and controlling impulses as people addicted to drugs experience. Damage in the frontal regions of the brain of people with sexual addictions has also led researchers to explore brain-based connections between sexual addiction and an inability to stop the behaviors, since the frontal regions are connected to acts that are compulsive.
Imaging scans, such as PET or MRIs, continue to be of greater importance as researchers and addiction experts attempt to unravel and find new treatments for millions of Americans who are living with sexual addictions, following similar research paths as studies related to substance addictions. Within the deeper meaning of "natural" addictions, millions of people may find new and effective treatments and achieve a more long-lasting recovery because their addictions can also be addressed at the natural, brain-based levels.