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The brain is the most important organ in our body. It is divided into 4 lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobe. Well, you must have studied this in school but we are sure you do not quite remember the functions of the lobes, right? We will go through that for ya! What has this got to do with pornography? Read on to find out!
Pleasure and addiction to something, be it pornography or drugs, is controlled by the frontal lobe – precentral gyrus which differentiates us as human beings. It also controls personality, emotional response, social behavior and cognitive function (attention, memory, and concentration).
From the picture below, pleasure chemical like dopamine (a neurotransmitter in the brain) is released, when someone does something addictive such as watching pornography or consuming drugs, for example. Repetitive action will cause a decrease in the effect of dopamine on the body which requires further so-called ‘extreme pornography’ to satisfy the body’s need. This is when some people start to have less interest in their partner, especially when their partner does not meet their sexual needs and fantasies and it is not a surprise if some of these people physically or emotionally abuse their partner because of this.
There is a lack of scientific evidence in this regard but in the long run, this will affect the mental health causing people to feel depressed, anxious and become victim to other mental disorders that can harm daily activities. Some would say, pornography use is just for leisure times or a way for them to temporarily relieve stress or as a form of ‘happiness’ they seek, but many do not know that it does affect their relationship with their partner, family, and friends. The addiction brings about lack of communication with the partner and family, thus leading to more misunderstanding between the partners. In the article titled “Till Porn Do Us Part? A Longitudinal Examination of Pornography Use and Divorce” published in The Journal of Sex Research 2017, it is revealed that divorce rate has doubled in couples who began pornography use compared to couples who didn’t. Psychologically, marriage is one of the strong protective factors from mental disorders in humans, especially due to the partner’s support in life, so when a divorce happens, some will feel lonely, and depression together with anxiety will bring more harm than good to the person.
This is further supported by a survey conducted by Association of Pornography Use and Loneliness where 1247 participants from the USA participated. “The study examines the associative nature between pornography use and loneliness using a measurement model and two structural equation models where pornography use and loneliness are regressed on each other, respectively. The survey showed significant and positive associations between pornography use and loneliness in all the three models they had studied.”
Believe it or not, both drug and porn addiction affect the brain in a similar way like the one in the picture below:
In this experiment using Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI), drugs and porn cause changes in the structure of the brain in a comparable way. Check the image for yourselves and see! According to a researcher from Berlin – Dr. Simone Kühn who published an article in JAMA Psychiatry 2014 told reporters, “We have found that the volume of the so-called striatum, a brain region that has been associated with reward processing and motivated behavior was smaller the more pornography consumption by the participants.” This is one of the early scientific studies that prove pornography did affect the brain in some ways.
With technology nowadays, anyone can access the pornographic websites for free in less than a second. Things are changing now, earlier it was considered shameful and also cost a bit of money to purchase the porn materials and not many were able to reach out to it but now, even children as early as 10 years old are reported to be one of the pornography’s websites customers! Can you believe that?!
Pornography is not only about mental health, there is more to it than just that. Many are not aware of the effect it can cause to the society and research is still ongoing to study more about this as scientists believe that at the end of the day, everything that people do in life, affects their brain function and structure.
So, what do you think? Let us know in the comments section!
References:
Kühn S, Gallinat J. Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014.
by Fatin Salina
A fresh medical graduate who is passionate about volunteerism and her love for travel takes her to many places around the world, where she learns about life, people and culture. She aspires to help her patients in the future with the sole vision of “prevention is better than cure”. View all articles by Fatin Salina.
