Video Transcript: Pornography Addiction Test: Your Brain on Porn

This is an addiction test. If you say yes to three or more of these questions, then you have an  addiction, at least according to the American Psychiatric Association. I want to admit that this  is slightly abridged, I had to take some things out. And the reality is, it's used for substance  abuse, not for porn addiction. If you say yes to two or less, then you can just stop the video  and click on to your favorite site. Let's go over each one. Tolerance. That's a strange word,  but it means has your use increased or escalated over time? In other words, do you watch it  for more hours? Or have you escalated to more shocking or more extreme porn? Withdrawal? It's not necessary to have withdrawal symptoms if you have an addiction. But most users on  our forum do experience some symptoms when they quit. It varies a lot could be anxiety,  irritability, fatigue, depression, those are the most common, but some also experienced  physical symptoms like cold and flu symptoms, the headaches, the inability to sleep and  others. Number three, difficulty controlling your use. So do you use for a longer time than  you'd like to? I think that's pretty clear, self explanatory. Number four, do you understand the  negative consequences it does to your mood to your health? porn use has been associated  with anxiety disorder and sexual dysfunction. Number five, neglecting or postponing activities  it means are you doing porn instead of life? Number six, the desire to cut down now? Most  addicts say they can quit anytime, but they don't. If you've had unsuccessful attempts to cut  down that would be a yes to that question. And last one. Number seven. spending significant  time or emotional energy obtaining using concealing, planning or recovering from use. Have  you ever concealed your porn use? I think everyone can say yes to that. Here's an  explanation on behavioral addictions. It's common knowledge that dopamine raising  substances like alcohol, cocaine or meth can cause brain changes that lead to addiction. But  what about so called behavioral addictions? These are such things as food, gambling, sex,  video games shopping? Do they cause brain changes that lead to addiction? Well, of course  they do. That's why they are addictions. Recent research on gambling, and especially food  has shown brain changes that mimic drug addiction, Internet porn, no one wants to study it.  Also, there hasn't been time for many study because it's a very recent phenomenon. Now,  you tell me which is more stimulating, eating cheesecake, or masturbating to porn. It's known  that sex masturbation orgasm raise dopamine levels far higher than eating food, which can  you spend more time doing in a day eating or edging to porn? Let's talk about natural  reinforcers natural reinforcer is a fancy word for a non drug activity that causes dopamine  release. That includes food, sex, gambling, video games. Now, if you look at the data, about  only 15% or less of drug users, this includes animals to ever become addicted. Obviously,  genes are in play as our childhood experiences. If you look at natural reinforcers, and of  course, food is a powerful one, we have a much higher percentage of people who can  become addicted, though it takes a lot longer than it would with addictive drugs. Now, if you  think about it, few people want to be fat. Yet in modern Western cultures, most people are  now rats, on the other hand, don't care if they're fat. When they eat Western food. Almost all  of them over consume become obese, not just fat. This suggests two things when it comes to  natural reinforcers our reward circuitry evolved. It's evolved to drive us toward food and sex  and not drugs. That's why so many people can potentially get addicted to food and Internet  porn. And the other thing is that highly stimulating versions of food and sex can hook us even  when we're not genetically susceptible to substance addictions. Here's the question, when  can natural reinforcers become addictive? Number one, when they are a highly stimulating  version of what our ancestors found really irresistible. Number two, when something is  available in limitless supply, number three, it comes in lots of varieties, which is the novelty  factor. Number four, we binge on it without realizing it's triggering brain changes. Now I think  modern food and Internet porn fall into all four categories. Both can override old brains natural

satiation mechanisms, the I'm done feeling and that's because calories and fertilization  opportunities really our genes top priorities, our limbic systems top priority