What PORN Does To Your BRAIN and How it may affect you during BENZO WITHDRAWAL..

[[di...]]

Well. I decide to write about this subject cause I think is neccesary, after all the informacion I've collected and most important talking about my own experience.

 

I want to say that like all the addictions, porn addiction can be very hard to quit and it creates a huge dependency not only mental but physical too.

 

What I found through my search is that this is not as inoffensive and ``normal´´like many people think and say, cause there is scientific proofs that shows that it really makes changes in your brain in a unnatural way.

basically the problem is that it MESSES UP with the’’ reward and motivation system’’ in the brain

by over stimulating this part with shots of dopamine and adrenaline (that happens when we are watching this garbage), and with time this part of the brain, ''the reward and motivation system''gets hyper sensitize; producing many problems in our mental and body health and it can make us more likely to develop things like anxiety, depression, panic attacks (be aware that I'm not saying that this is the reason of people suffering all of the above , i said: it make us ''more likely'').

 

The good thing is that the studies also show that we can reboot our brains by quitting and stopping this degrading practice, and with time our ‘’reward and motivation system’’ will heal and return to normal not being sentive (this requires time but it will happen if you stop this practice)

 

Moreover, this practice can be negative in people who are going through benzo withdrawal cause it raises the level of dopamine and adrenaline, and you will know that dopamine is one of the main chemical that can increases anxiety, and this is the last thing we would want going through benzo withdrawal, also as I said before it can sentize the ‘’reward and motivation system’’ this could lead to rev up symptomns on benzo withdrawal. There is more information on the web about all this, here I leave some sites.

 

 

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/features/29332-this-is-your-brain-on-porn

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/28/us-porn-brain-changes-idUSKBN0E82BK20140528

 

http://bigthink.com/going-mental/is-your-brain-addicted-to-porn

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS9vumF6JMU

[[Pe...]]

I'm sorry, I just can't wrap my head around this right now.  Maybe some of the others can provide input.

 

 

Have you tried not thinking about it?

[[be...]]

so anything we look at that we admire and appreciate is gunna mess up our brain?? a sunset? wildlife? the stars? sno-capped mountains? breast-a-sizz?.....lmao.

[[Pe...]]

Bjunkie...Good point.  Recently I discovered if I go out into my yard when the sun is high and shoot an image of the sun with my iPhone I get a beautiful observation of Venus that is not visible to the human eye as the brightness of the sun is blinding.  I have become addicted to it and am now collecting shots with various cloud patterns.  Addiction is a degree of affinity/attraction. Dependance is altogether different.  When Porn becomes vital for performance it has crossed the line to dependance.

 

 

 

 

[[Be...]]

Two Fallacies

 

What does this have to do with pornography? Pornography is a visual pheromone, a powerful, $100 billion per year brain drug that is changing human sexuality by "inhibiting orientation" and "disrupting pre-mating communication between the sexes by permeating the atmosphere," especially through the internet. I believe we are currently struggling in the war against pornography because many continue to believe two key fallacies:

Fallacy No. 1: Pornography is not a drug.

 

Fallacy No. 2: Pornography is therefore not a real addiction.

 

 

Couple of points..

 

Firstly, porn is "a powerful, $100 billion per year brain drug that is changing human sexuality by "inhibiting orientation"

 

Well, right off the bat that sounds homophobic to me.  What do they mean when they say it 'changes sexuality by inhibiting orientation'?

 

Secondly, "Fallacy No. 1: Pornography is not a drug."

 

This is pure psuedo-science.  Porn is no more a drug than cement is.

 

 

I'm not saying porn isn't addictive as a behavioural addiction, but that article is talking rubbish so far as I can tell.

 

 

 

[[be...]]

Peruzer, cameras..very freaky things. time machines that pluck things out of the ether in an instant....if we ever learn to to inter-stellar travel, cameras will be a huge part of it.

[[Pe...]]

Slices of time preserved forever....  I could use a good OOBE about now but I am afraid I wouldn't want to come back! 

[[xe...]]

 

I'm not saying porn isn't addictive as a behavioural addiction, but that article is talking rubbish so far as I can tell.

 

Behavioral addictions aren't much different than drugs. PET scans of people gambling are more or less indistinguishable from meth addicts lighting up.

[[be...]]

Peruzer, are you into astral travel for real? i've studied it for many years. only limited success though...ever read Robert Monroe's books?

[[Be...]]

 

I'm not saying porn isn't addictive as a behavioural addiction, but that article is talking rubbish so far as I can tell.

 

Behavioral addictions aren't much different than drugs. PET scans of people gambling are more or less indistinguishable from meth addicts lighting up.

 

No disagreement from me there, at least in the context of the effects on the brain, but porn itself isn't a drug like that article's claiming. 

 

 

[[Be...]]

Peruzer & benzojunkie,

 

Could you keep your posts on-topic please.

 

Thank-you.

 

 

B

[[di...]]

For those of you who say that porn is not a drug, ''Pornography is not like a drug, it is an endogenously processed poly drug providing intense, although misleading, sensory rewards'':

 

https://www.netnanny.com/blog/is-pornography-a-drug-addiction/

 

http://yourbrainonporn.com/cambridge-university-brain-scans-find-porn-addiction

 

http://bigthink.com/going-mental/is-your-brain-addicted-to-porn

 

In men, there are five primary chemicals involved in sexual arousal and response. The one that likely plays the most significant role in pornography addiction is dopamine. Dopamine plays a major role in the brain system that is responsible for reward-driven learning. Every type of reward that has been studied increases the level of dopamine transmission in the brain, and a variety of addictive drugs, including stimulants such as cocaine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine, act directly on the dopamine system. Dopamine surges when a person is exposed to novel stimuli, particularly if it is sexual, or when a stimuli is more arousing than anticipated. Because erotic imagery triggers more dopamine than sex with a familiar partner, exposure to pornography leads to "arousal addiction" and teaches the brain to prefer the image and become less satisfied with real-life sexual partners.

 

Overstimulation of the reward circuitry—such as occurs with repeated dopamine spikes related to viewing pornography—creates desensitization. As Gary Wilson explains, "When dopamine receptors drop after too much stimulation, the brain doesn't respond as much, and we feel less reward from pleasure. That drives us to search even harder for feelings of satisfaction—for example, by seeking out more extreme sexual stimuli, longer porn sessions, or more frequent porn viewing—thus further numbing the brain.

 

Men's exposure to sexually explicit material is correlated with social anxiety, depression, low motivation, erectile dysfunction, concentration problems, and negative self-perceptions in terms of physical appearance and sexual functioning.  http://social-masters.com/blog/porn-causing-you-social-anxiety

 

[[Be...]]

For those of you who say that porn is not a drug

 

Well, it's not a drug, just like bunjie jumping isn't a drug, yet they both produce very similar neurological effects in the brain.

 

A drug is a drug, an activity we do that acts on our brain like a drug does is an activity we do that acts on our brain like a drug does.  Simply looking at porn is very different from having an addiction to it, too.

 

 

Clear difference.

 

 

[[dr...]]

 

 

Men's exposure to sexually explicit material is correlated with social anxiety, depression, low motivation, erectile dysfunction, concentration problems, and negative self-perceptions in terms of physical appearance and sexual functioning.  http://social-masters.com/blog/porn-causing-you-social-anxiety

 

 

 

Porn caused my anxiety?  Lol.  I love porn and my gf can attest I don't have ED or any of the other symptons listed above. This whole thread is a joke. Get rid of porn and the world will be safer.  Lmfao

[[Be...]]

Porn caused my anxiety?  Lol. 

 

I don't see that anyone's saying porn caused your personal anxiety, or that it'll cause anxiety in everyone, just that it can contribute to a set of social / psychoemotional problems if it becomes an addiction.  That argument is already well understood and accepted by mainstream medical science.

 

The thread does contain many valid points about addiction to porn and the harms that addiction brings to people, but some of the links make pseudo-scientific claims that are debunking themselves with fallacious logic.

 

[[dr...]]

Men's exposure to sexually explicit material is correlated with social anxiety, depression, low motivation, erectile dysfunction, concentration problems, and negative self-perceptions in terms of physical appearance and sexual functioning.  http://social-masters.com/blog/porn-causing-you-social-anxiety

 

Yes benzo...it says correlated not caused. I still enjoy porn though. 

[[xe...]]

No disagreement from me there' date=' at least in the context of the effects on the brain, but porn itself isn't a drug like that article's claiming. [/quote']

Yeah, I'm pedantic enough to agree, but I don't think it matters very much. The idea that porn does (when used to excess) disrupt behavioral patterns, create dependence, create what basically amounts to 'tolerance', and has a disturbing effect on hormonal systems and even has an associated withdrawal syndrome, isn't controversial -- there's enough research to basically hold up the idea that each of those things is true. So, despite not being a drug in the sense of being a unique novel molecule that hits some ligand somewhere, I think it's pretty easy to make the case that porn is like an addictive drug in all the ways that matter.

Simply looking at porn is very different from having an addiction to it, too.

And simply smoking pot, or simply shooting heroin for that matter, is very different than having an addiction to either of those things. Plenty of people can use booze or pot without getting hooked on them, and some small number of people are able to dabble in things like heroin without getting addicted to them.

 

Western culture is infatuated with reward behavior, from porn to sugary drinks, to drugs, to gambling. By themselves, none of these things are the end of the world, or especially scary. Things are just things. The overall picture can seem pretty bleak to me, though -- a whole society where most people more or less seem to worship materialism and let hedonism rule supreme. I try not to let it get me down, because I live my life in a way that makes sense to me and trust other people to do the same and stay out of my way.

 

Pornography, drugs, sweet foods, etc -- at a core level all of these things create a need that they can't actually satisfy. If people are content to live their lives in the Hungry Ghost realm, that's their decision. But, I think it's a little fucked-up and self-centered, and I'm happy to say that much over and over ad nauseum.

The thread does contain many valid points about addiction to porn and the harms that addiction brings to people' date=' but some of the links make pseudo-scientific claims that are debunking themselves with fallacious logic. [/quote']

Yup, I don't disagree with that, and I think it's a shame that people sometimes need to get carried away or get into emotionally-based territory that they can't defend rationally. It's not hard to find pretty reasonable scientific inquiry into the ways that porn re-wires reward circuits, and make statements like "pornography changes brain structure", or "very frequent use of pornography is correlated with lower levels of functioning and a drop in self-reported values for satisfaction / empathy / etc". But, trying to present it as the living end of morality is pretty stupid and misleading. It's not a porn problem, it's a cultural problem. If your average porn user went cold-turkey off it today, they would probably very quickly fill the hole with some other vapid, self-obsessed waste of time.

[[un...]]

This part stuck out for me: 

 

"Because erotic imagery triggers more dopamine than sex with a familiar partner, exposure to pornography leads to "arousal addiction" and teaches the brain to prefer the image and become less satisfied with real-life sexual partners."

 

The author appears to be speaking for himself here. If sex with a "familiar partner" is getting that stale, perhaps both partners should be watching porn during sex. 

 

[[pa...]]

Bjunkie...Good point.  Recently I discovered if I go out into my yard when the sun is high and shoot an image of the sun with my iPhone I get a beautiful observation of Venus that is not visible to the human eye as the brightness of the sun is blinding.  I have become addicted to it and am now collecting shots with various cloud patterns.  Addiction is a degree of affinity/attraction. Dependance is altogether different.  When Porn becomes vital for performance it has crossed the line to dependance.

 

Those pictures sound fascinating.  Any chance you could post some of the more interesting ones?

[[xe...]]

This part stuck out for me: 

 

"Because erotic imagery triggers more dopamine than sex with a familiar partner, exposure to pornography leads to "arousal addiction" and teaches the brain to prefer the image and become less satisfied with real-life sexual partners."

 

The author appears to be speaking for himself here.

Mammalian males, as a rule, will always be more aroused by new partners than partners they've been with before; this is evolutionary. There are many animal and human studies to back that up.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolidge_effect

 

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/229295724_Sexual_arousal_the_coolidge_effect_and_dominance_in_the_rat_(rattus_norvegicus)

If sex with a "familiar partner" is getting that stale, perhaps both partners should be watching porn during sex.

 

Or they could, you know, not watch porn. It's not like this is some impossible hurdle that can't be overcome with mindfulness and compassion.

[[un...]]

So, we're saying the "image" of a potential new partner is more arousing than the familiar partner? This would account for why many men fantasize during sex. Would porn, then, be simply indulging in vivid fantasy? 

 

I'm not arguing in favor of porn; I don't want to argue about this at all. I'm just in favor of the rights of consenting adults to do whatever pleases them in the bedroom. (And the porn workers must be consenting adults as well.) Contemplative sex sounds loftier but to each their own.     

[[dr...]]

I don't like endless bickering but I'm strongly in favor of porn. I do not believe it causes problems in 99% of people.

[[...]]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201406/is-watching-porn-bad-your-brain

 

Like all matters pertaining to psychiatry and their so called diagnosis, supposed porn related brain abnormalities are not a proven fact. It is just "suggested" that it may have some sort of link but they don't know for sure.

 

The best way to really know if porn has a bad effect on males is to examine their palms. If they are hairy then they have been watching porn.

[[dr...]]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201406/is-watching-porn-bad-your-brain

 

Like all matters pertaining to psychiatry and their so called diagnosis, supposed porn related brain abnormalities are not a proven fact. It is just "suggested" that it may have some sort of link but they don't know for sure.

 

The best way to really know if porn has a bad effect on males is to examine their palms. If they are hairy then they have been watching porn.

 

 

Finally we have some proven science!  Hairy palms.  I hold my hairy palm high in the air proudly. 

[[...]]

 

 

GERMANY’S BUNK PORN STUDY

 

By Randy Robinson

 

A new study in JAMA Psychiatry claims viewing pornography causes brain damage. The study, titled “Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption,” relied on an old, rehashed neurological argument against porn that appears scientifically valid on the surface but falls apart under scrutiny.

 

The study, led by Simone Kuhn and Jurgen Gallinat, was conducted at the Max Planck Institute. They took 64 “healthy” males, had those men fill out surveys, then took snapshots of the men’s brains using a statistical method called voxel-based morphometry and fMRI scans.

 

Kuhn and Gallinat discovered the men who reported spending more time each day viewing pornography had less grey matter in the brains. Grey matter is a collective term for tissue that holds the majority of the neurons, the cells responsible for cognition and behavior.

 

The parts of the brain the researchers were most interested in were the right caudate and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, regions of the brain associated with “motivation” and “addiction.” In neurology, motivation is usually defined as the willingness to improve on past performance.

 

Although the media quickly picked up on the study as evidence that pornography causes brain damage, this isn’t a new or novel claim, and quite frankly, the study was seriously flawed.

 

Sample Size Too Small

 

In structural neurological studies, sample size isn’t treated with the same dogmatic fanaticism as it is in, say, epidemiology. This is because researchers can’t always afford a sufficient sample size or the experiment itself would take too long if there were too many participants. But small sample size can still be a problem.

 

Without getting too bogged down in statistics theory, a sample size of 64 means there’s about a 10 percent error associated with this study. In other words, if this study was performed 10 times, we should get the same results nine times out of the 10. However, most academics would consider a 10 percent error too high, especially for a study making such a sweeping claim as “pornography causes brain damage.”

 

Sex Bias

 

Only men were studied. Women, however, also view pornography. If we believe a 2014 study by two neuroscientists, most women who view online pornography prefer to watch the same hardcore films as men do. By including only men in this study, the researchers reinforced the false idea that only men consume pornography and only men are affected by it.

 

No Before-After Data

 

When studying brain structure differences between groups, scientists like to see “before” and “after” scans. Usually these scans are taken over long periods so the brain can acclimate to the new behavior.

 

No such data was provided in the JAMA paper. Although the researchers supposedly showed significant differences between the brains of those who consumed more porn than others, we don’t know for sure if pornography (or porn in conjunction with some other behavior) led to the lower amounts of grey matter. To be fair, the researchers themselves acknowledged this gap, but the media did not.

 

No Assessment of “Success” Related to Motivation

 

Although “motivation” is defined, “success” is not. Nowhere in the study does it mention how they assessed an individual’s motivational levels, nor did they measure the participant’s personal successes financially, socially, or psychologically. Decreased motivation was attributed to decreased levels of grey matter in regions believed to direct motivation – nothing more.

 

Surveys Do Not Measure Real Behaviors

 

The researchers gauged how much porn the men viewed based entirely on the men’s responses to surveys. This assumes two things: 1) the men are fully aware of how much porn they view, and 2) the men are telling the truth.

 

If the researchers wanted bonafide measurements here, they would’ve monitored the participant’s porn viewing habits in a real-world or as-close-to-real-world simulation as possible. Without some records showing how often and for how long the participants actually consumed porn, the survey data should be taken with many grains of salt.

 

Anti-Pornography Prejudice

 

This is probably the grand-daddy of all the study’s criticisms. The researchers assumed pornography and pornography alone either contributed to the reduced levels of grey matter or that pornography-viewing was the result of lower amounts of grey matter. This is a highly problematic claim, even with their survey data.

 

First, we know from other neurological studies that any media which stimulates an emotional response in its viewers can possibly result in lower grey matter. This includes violent media, but comedy, tear-jerkers, soul-killers, and other genres are also included in this. Pornography may not be special in this regard, but because the researchers only looked at porn habits, their conclusions seem to set porn apart as uniquely problematic.

 

Furthermore, we don’t actually know how the thickness of grey matter actually relates to cognition or behavior. We have some clues, but none of these are tried-and-true facts. In reality, we know very little about the brain and how it functions, and presuming a smaller brain region indicates something as dramatic as brain damage is essentially modern-day phrenology.

 

Conclusion

 

We need more data – a lot more data – before anyone can jump to the conclusion that porn damages the brain. Future studies need more longitudinal data, before-and-after scans, and comparisons of porn viewing with other forms of media, such as comedies, romances, etc. (Violent media’s been done to death, excuse the pun.) And for goodness sake, please include women in these studies.

 

http://thedialoguechronicle.com/germanys-bunk-porn-study/