Pornography seizes your brain’s reward circuit and it weakens your brain’s ability to exercise willpower over your addiction to porn.
I hear you asking “what is this reward pathway now?”
Well, our brains are full of neural pathways. Anytime we learn something new, a new neural pathway is created and every time we practice it more and more, the circuit grows stronger. Unfortunately, this also happens with porn addiction, it rewires your brain by creating a new neural pathway and it is growing stronger each time you watch more porn.
Now breaking this neural pathway is difficult and it requires a lot of willpower. However, for someone to move on from this vicious circle of porn addiction there has to be an insight into their problems faced and identify symptoms.
Signs and Symptoms of Pornography Addiction
- Excessive viewing of porn, so much so that there is a loss of track of time.
- Unable to quit watching porn and compulsive masturbation.
- Consumed with thoughts of porn throughout the day, causing distraction and an inability to concentrate.
- Feelings of guilt and shame after viewing pornography, or viewing porn in secret.
- Irritability, anger and urge to watch porn are some of the withdrawal symptoms.
- Spending an increasing amount of time and needing more explicit material to reach the same high from porn suggest the presence of tolerance in addicts.
- Porn is affecting your normal daily functioning, it has a negative impact on your personal, work and social aspects of life.
Why and Where of Porn Addiction
Approximately 28,258 users are viewing porn per second and not all viewers are addicts to porn. To differentiate between healthy viewing and at-risk viewing it is important to be aware of unhealthy porn consumption patterns. Once the signs of porn addiction are discovered, it is best to address the underlying issue of ‘why’ and ‘where’ this pattern is arising as soon as possible.
If you think you are unable to quit porn even after a lot of efforts, reach out to an experienced psychologist for help.
To learn more about Dr. Prerna Kohli click here
All images courtesy Pixabay
