Your brain vs. porn: Is it addictive?

Most people have heard of "porn addiction" which refers to the fact that porn addicts can become addicted to it like drug addicts. Scientists believe that we may have taken too much time to get into the "porn addiction" debate with science-based therapy and technology. When I refer to scientific evidence, I mean neurologically studying porn brains and proving that it behaves similarly to other well-documented addictions.

However, such tests have been performed and show that porn is not considered an addiction. It is not addictive in the sense that porn causes people to behave neurologically like heroin addicts when they take their drug of choice.

Can we then say that porn is more addictive than it is neurologically? If this is true, then porn addicts can control their consumption and reduce their enjoyment of porn. Porn is not "ruining" their lives, but they can watch it for entertainment and fun. Let's see what psychology and science have to say.

The idea of porn addiction

Numerous therapists support the narrative that porn addiction is a real problem. They treat porn consumption using an addiction model, rather than using a different approach. We'll discuss this later in the text. Many religious groups are committed to maintaining the idea of "porn addiction" as that is their main source of income.

The research does not support the clinical language they used to approach this controversial medium. However, there is still no conclusive evidence to support "sex addiction" or "porn addiction".

A new study proves otherwise

The Biological Psychology journal published a study by a team of researchers that further confirmed the notions of "porn addiction" or "sex addiction" as we know them. However, this doesn't mean that addicts are not honest about their feelings. This is simply a sign that we have been attempting to treat the situation in a way that is not right.

This is the largest ever neuroscience study of porn addiction. UCLA researchers created a questionnaire to survey 122 people who watched porn regularly. They reported feeling some degree of addiction. The questionnaire asked them to describe their relationship with porn, while scanning their "visual sexual stimuli," was done to see if they had experienced any problems due to their porn use.

Each person was shown images ranging from neutral portraits to images of mutilated bodies to sexual images. To determine if the subjects were problem users, their reactions were recorded.

The result

Researchers presented large amounts of data at the conclusion of the study that showed that people who had reported having problems due to pornography did not have typical addictive brain activity while viewing sexual images. The researchers used their late positive potential (LPP) to measure the brain's emotional response in a given moment.

A cocaine addict will have an "increased LLP for cocaine-related images" -- one of the most accurate indicators of psychological addiction. People who claim to be porn addicts do not show an increase in this marker or the same LLP pattern while viewing sexual images. They "showed decreased brain responses when presented with the sexual images, instead of heightened activity", which is quite contrary to what you would expect in an addict's brain. It could be that their brains aren't as stimulated by this content as those who watch it more often.

However, it isn't true that "porn addicts", as they call themselves, don't have legitimate problems due to their lifestyle. It only shows that they don't have the same neurological connection to porn as substance addicts. Scientists like to stress that porn addictions and sex addictions may not be addictions at all. Treating them as such could lead to counterproductive outcomes.

There is a lot of evidence

Although it was the largest study to date, it's not the only one that has produced similar results in relation to porn addiction. This study's authors conclude that "this study seems to be adding to the list of studies that haven't been able to detect pathology consistent in substance addiction models."

The American Psychiatric Association (APA), has said that evidence proving "sex addiction" is not as reliable and affirmative than those regarding other addictions. This is why they don't support the inclusion of sex and porn addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They rejected another proposal in 2012 for a condition called "hypersexual disorders" to be included in the DSM-5.

Faking it

This extensive study's scientists have stated that "many people have misinterpreted our research to say that people are creating these problems." However, we have never claimed that.

They wanted to prove that the two addictions, sex and porn, are different from the others which are included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They hope that therapists can provide effective treatments that are supported by research and that actually produce results. These "addictions", for now, are being treated with the wrong model.

However, therapists and large religious organisations still claim porn as addictive. They say brain scans show that porn addiction is the same as drug addiction. These groups then treat pornography and sex problems using an addiction-based approach.

Researchers argue that falsely claiming there is a porn addiction is just as addictive as drugs is misleading, particularly for those who are truly interested in changing their relationship with porn.

Cameron Stanley, a psychologist at Idaho State University, said that "Labeling a person’s attempts to control urges a sexual addiction' can interfere with therapy approaches like Acceptance and Commitment Therapist (ACT), which can reduce distressing sexual behavior."

Contrary to addiction recovery approaches, which aim to end problematic behaviour, Raise tells The Daily Beast the ACT approach may involve "reducing viewing over a time, but not necessarily eliminating it."

She says that ACT supports people to accept the negative emotions associated with watching sex movies, which can ultimately lead to lower consumption rates.

What is ACT?

ACT is a therapy that is based on the acceptance and commitment to one's problems, and then eliminating them using mindfulness and acceptance strategies. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an empirically-based psychological intervention that helps people increase their mental flexibility by teaching them how to commit and change behaviour strategies.

Utah State University's preliminary research has shown that ACT is an effective method to treat those with an Internet pornography addiction. Six men were treated with eight 90-minute sessions by therapists. The men saw a reduction in their porn viewing of 85% after three months. They were not required to limit their access to porn.

They were not able to stop using porn, but they did change their behaviour and realised that they could still watch this content and control their lives without destroying their relationships.

ACT therapy is the best type of therapy because it alters people's lives without imposing any restrictions or decreasing their quality of life.

It seems that sex and porn may be a part of a larger set of addictions. They should be treated differently. To make them successful, we might have to stop calling their addictions "addictions".