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hey there everybody and welcome to today's video on
what is pornography addiction i'm your host dr donnelly snipes
in this video we're going to define pornography addiction differentiate
porn addiction from recreational use and then we'll finish up with a little self-assessment
so what is an addiction people who are addicted to pornography are unable to stop or
significantly cut down using pornography they've spent more time than intended thinking about
accessing or recovering from the effects of porn use they give up important social
work or recreational activities in order to view porn so instead of going to their
office christmas party they stay home to watch porn or instead of going in out on a date they
would rather stay home and watch porn important relationships including the person's self-esteem
are negatively impacted by porn use and this is one the person's self-esteem doesn't necessarily
have to be negatively impacted but that is one of those relationships that we look at
the person fails to meet obligations at work home or school because of porn so maybe
while they're at work instead of getting their reports done or whatever it is they do
they're watching porn on their mobile device or even on the work computer
continued use despite knowing it's caused or worsened physical or psychological issues
if the person had a pain problems or sexual dysfunction and they continued using porn
even though they knew that the porn was making it worse
then that's a problem or if they continued using pornography even though
when they were not using it was they were feeling more depressed or more angry or more anxious
then that's a problem and experiencing psychological or physical withdrawal
physical withdrawal comes in the form of cravings low energy insomnia
agitation restlessness psychological is more like low motivation depression anger irritability
research indicates that recreational use of pornography is possible just like recreational
use of alcohol is possible not everybody agrees with viewing porn not everybody thinks it's okay
but from a very objective standpoint it is possible to watch it and not develop an addiction
regarding those who do develop an addiction to pornography
pornography viewing is usually not the problem per se but a symptom of an underlying issue the
person may have started using porn in order to escape from physical or psychological pain
so it was giving them an outlet it was giving them an escape or they may have started using porn and
started using it a little bit too much and then they started experiencing the physiological
changes that happen to people with addictions so when they're not using now they experience
withdrawal symptoms that are very uncomfortable so they start using not everybody started using
because of trauma or because of mood issues or something however the withdrawal symptoms
maintain addiction for a lot of people because the withdrawal symptoms are so uncomfortable
that a lot of people just give in to their cravings in order to prevent those feelings
sexual release whether through sex masturbation or masturbation can produce the most intense
release of dopamine endorphins and oxytocin of any non-chemical addiction anything endogenous
anything that you're doing within your own body that doesn't involve ingesting a substance
this is the most potent release so you're flooding that circuitry way more than you usually would
since pornography has never ending novelty the dopamine flood can be maintained almost
indefinitely dopamine is your motivation chemical dopamine is your i want to do that again chemical
dopamine is your i can't wait chemical so when you're watching porn and every time you click
that little space bar or whatever button you're clicking to advance to the next image or video
you get another hit of dopamine and your brain's saying i want to do that again that was awesome
so watching porn in and of itself produces a never-ending flood of dopamine while you're
doing it now when you get to the point eventually where you get a sexual release there's another
flood of dopamine but then there's that refractory period while you're watching porn if you're not
masturbating at the same time or having sex at the same time then that dopamine is just
continuing to flood into their brain circuits over time this flood of dopamine results in alterations
in the brain that will produce tolerance withdrawal cravings and loss of motivation
so let's talk about this self-assessment do you have an addiction to porn you don't have to
have all the symptoms of addiction in order to qualify as having a substance use disorder now
pornography addiction is not in the dsm 5-tr it's actually listed we kind of go towards
compulsive sexual behavior or hypersexual disorder but what we're really looking at here
in most people agree is something that we're going to classify as an addiction
so if it is causing problems in your life more than two problems in your life
in a six month period then it's likely that you would qualify as as having pornography addiction
so the self-assessment can you successfully stop watching pornography for at least a week
try it if you can do it wonderful if you can't that's a clue how much time do you spend each week
thinking about porn that doesn't mean watching it that means thinking about porn that you've
watched in the past or thinking about when you're going to be able to watch porn next or how you're
going to be able to access it how much time do you spend each week watching porn and yes
i know i'm saying each week so you're going to be keeping a a log if you will to figure out
how much time you spend thinking about it how much time you spend engaging in it
so you can see how much time you'll free up if you are not engaged in watching porn how much time do
you spend each week recovering from the effects of watching porn now there are a lot of places where
you can access porn for free now so the financial aspect isn't there however this includes not only
physically recovering from the effects of watching porn because you're exhausted afterwards but also
catching up on your work because you were supposed to be working and you didn't do it
so you had to scramble to get that report done or trying to make up with your significant other
because they found out that you were watching porn and they're angry now or whatever the case
may be but how much time do you spend each week recovering from the effects of watching porn
in the past month so we have been talking about the week in the past month what social
work or recreational activities and this can include going to the gym or even
mowing the lawn which most of us don't like doing in the past month what social work or recreational
activities have you given up or failed to accomplish because you wanted to watch porn
and you decided to watch porn instead and this is another area where porn can cause problems
in relationships because if you're supposed to be getting things done on that honeydew list
then and you don't do it because you're preoccupied with watching porn you're spending too
much time doing that then your significant other may start to get really cranky if you don't have a
significant other you know if we're talking about lawn chores then your hoa may start to get really
cranky how has your self-esteem been impacted by pornography use whether it is feeling frustrated
because you're not able to stop using porn or because you're seeing things in porn
and you're comparing yourself to the people that you're watching and you're thinking uh
i don't measure up you know there's a lot of ways that porn can impact self-esteem
how if your relationships with your friends family and significant others been impacted by your porn
use and this can impact your the way you interact in the bedroom in in in sex this can interact
affect the way you interact and the amount of time you want to spend with friends and family
you know if you're spending time with them you're probably not going to be watching porn
and if your desire is to watch porn then even when you're spending time with them it's likely
that at least some of the time you're going to be distracted thinking about porn and thinking
i can't wait to get out of here so i can get home and watch porn do you have any
physical issues including sexual dysfunction or insomnia that are worsened by watching porn
do you have any psychological issues like anxiety depression or anger management or even addictions
that are worsened by porn use some people if they can't access porn they will turn to
another addiction in order to get that dopamine rush other people have combined they've paired
porn use with another addiction like drinking alcohol or using drugs when you are not able to
regularly access porn do you experience psychological or physical withdrawals
whether it's having sex viewing pornography or masturbating if it's done with a regular high
frequency it can result in alterations of of the dopaminergic system your reward system and the
dopaminergic system is also involved not only in reward seeking but also in motivation and energy
so then when you're not using your motivation and your energy just kind of goes downhill
in the next video i'm going to talk about 10 tips for recovery from pornography addiction