“Pornography ‘addiction’ does not look like other addictions – full stop,” says
Dr Nicole Prause, a neuroscientist formerly at UCLA but now founder of sexual health start-up Liberos LLC.
According to Prause, so-called porn and sex ‘addictions’ look similar to other addictions, such as gambling and drugs, in that they activate reward circuitry. But they do not look like them in other important ways.
For one, people with 'problematic porn use' report they have a lack of control – but when tested for it, that appears not to be the case, she says. But the main difference is that with addiction to drugs and gambling, addicts experience ‘sensitisation’: they become more sensitive to the cues of their addiction, and her research indicates porn decreases sensitivity.
Meanwhile, Voon says there is good evidence that excessive consumption of porn can lead to ‘habituation’: the desire for novel stimuli. This means regular viewers crave more hardcore scenes the more they watch. This is a trend that many men have reported anecdotally and sought treatment for.
“Although I wouldn’t yet call it an addiction, it certainly is a compulsive sexual behaviour, and there is no question that for some people excessive and compulsive use has led to difficulties in relationships, lost jobs due to watching porn at work and even suicide attempts,” Voon says.
In 2015, she and her team published a study suggesting that online porn in particular can allow sex addicts to chase after more novel and hardcore images, onwards and onwards down the rabbit hole of the internet, enabling and worsening their addiction.
“For some people this did escalate into watching more hardcore forms.” There is agreement, however, that much more work needs to be done. “We don’t know a lot about these disorders, but there is no question that a lot of people are suffering,” says Voon.
“There is a lot of shame, so a lot of people don’t seek help. The more we can recognise this as a disorder, the more we can decrease the shame surrounding this, and increase both the likelihood of people coming for treatment and our chances of helping them.”
