With the explosive increase in the accessibility and volume of pornography over the last 10 years, many researchers are concerned about the adverse effect pornography may have on some of it’s viewers. For the vast majority of adults, porn consumption is believed to be healthy, but the statistics show that the amount of people who are unhappy with their habitual and excessive viewing is increasing.
In a BBC survey of UK adults, although 47% of all respondents felt comfortable with the amount of porn they watched, 31% of men felt they’d been addicted to porn, and around 14% of women said the same.
What is Porn Addiction?
Porn addiction is generally defined as an uncontrollable compulsion to view porn which has become damaging to the individual’s mental health, sexual relationships, or has other negative consequences. Many porn addicts report watching pornographic material up to eight hours a day, although far less viewing can still be problematic.
In order to encourage procreation, we have neural systems which are designed to encourage us to seek out sex, which we often call “sex drive” or “libido”. When we do successfully seek sex, we are rewarded with both a pleasurable experience and spikes of dopamine levels in reward centres in the brain. Dopamine rewards these evolutionary “positive behaviours” in order to increase our chances of survival and procreation. Activities we can take part in today however, such as excessive eating, drug abuse, or porn watching, give us these dopamine spikes without a positive behaviour. Repeatedly pairing a behaviour with dopamine rewards over a period of time can lead to diminished dopamine rewards from other activities, reinforcing the compulsive behaviour.
Porn addiction is not officially recognised by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), as there is some debate among academics about the definition of behavioural addictions as opposed to substance addictions, however research shows that porn addiction shares basic neural mechanisms with substance addiction. You also don’t necessarily have to be addicted to porn for it to have negative consequences in your sex life.
Can Porn Cause Erectile Dysfunction?
Excessive porn consumption can, but doesn’t always, cause difficulties achieving or maintaining erections. This is sometimes referred to as Porn Induced Erectile Dysfunction, or PIED. There are a few reasons for the link:
Need for more extreme material
Over time, people can become desensitised to the types of pornographic material they are watching, and may seek out more extreme videos or images in order to become aroused. This higher threshold for arousal can interfere with regular sex, as the “new normal” for arousal cannot always be translated into real life. This can lead people to become dissatisfied with their sex, and find it more difficult to maintain erections without the level of stimulus that porn gives them.
Need for control
Some men report that porn allows them to feel completely in control of their sexual experiences, and if they have been using porn without sex for many years, they can become accustomed to this and find it difficult to become aroused any other way. The age at which people are first introduced to porn is becoming younger and younger, with the average age men are exposed to porn in the UK currently being just 13. This feeling of control is likely not replicable in the real world, as they have to engage with a partner who has their own needs and autonomy.
Need for rougher physical stimulation
Many men report not being able to replicate the intensity of physical stimulation that masturbation gives them during sex. Using a tight grip on the penis during masturbation can lead to decreased sensitivity in the penis, meaning that penetrative sex cannot give the same level of stimulation, and thus arousal, that masturbation can.
How Can I Overcome Porn Induced ED?
Abstain from watching porn
Many anecdotal reports from men online suggest that “resetting” the brain by abstaining from porn for at least 90 days, whilst still engaging in real-life sexual experiences, can have positive results on sexual health and erectile function. Compulsion caused by constantly priming the brain to only be aroused by porn can be subdued by “re-priming” the brain to normal healthy stimuli.
If after the 90 days, you still don’t feel like you can have a healthy relationship with porn, consider quitting completely. Masturbation does not need to involve porn, and there are plenty of support groups online that can help, such as Reddit’s NoFap.
Ease your grip
As we’ve discussed, some men become desensitised to anything but a tight grip during masturbation, so easing your grip, switching up your style of masturbation, or involving a partner may be a way to return sensitivity to your penis. Abstaining from both porn and masturbation for a period of 90 days can also have the same effect.
Seek therapy
Have you tried to stop watching porn but don’t feel you can kick the habit? There are plenty of sexual health therapists that you may find in your local area, or online, who can help coach you, find the source of your addiction, and keep you accountable in your journey out of porn addiction.
Alternatively, if therapy is inaccessible or too expensive for you, London-based startup Mojo is an online quarterly subscription service dedicated to promoting a medication-free approach to erection issues. Acting as a virtual coach, Mojo provides instant and affordable access to DIY exercises and techniques from world-class sexual wellbeing professionals, empowering men to lead happy and healthy sex lives.
“Mojo is a great resource for men looking to rebalance their relationship with porn as it encourages them to activate other senses through expert-approved techniques and exercises, igniting their imagination and arousal in new ways.”
