A Deeper Dive in Pornography
Want more information right now? Here’s a deeper dive in the neuroscience of addiction. It’s all about the Dopamine rush…
It’s been said that when you’re addicted to one thing, you’re addicted to all things. Why? Because the neurotransmitter dopamine is an essential chemical in our excitatory system (all the parts of us that interact and respond when we feel excited). Dopamine is released every time we do something that feels good, no matter what it is.
It's all about that Dopamine rush...
Every time dopamine is released in the reward center, it excites the next neuron. Neurons like to be excited, which is why they have receptors. But, they like to be “tickled” (so to say), and not bludgeoned to death—which is what happens when you do something compulsively.
In the normal process of being stimulated, a neuron likes to be excited and then come back to a baseline. Chronic excitation of any neuron will lead to neuronal cell death.
How neuronal cell death leads to addictive cravings…
Since the body is always attempting to protect and adapt to self-inflicted behaviors that can hurt us, it has a back-up plan.
The second neuron (the receiving neuron) has a plan B, which is a self-defense mechanism. It down-regulates the number of receptors, turning off some of the dopamine receptor sites so that the body doesn’t get too much dopamine at once. After this down-regulation, it is less likely for a dopamine molecule to find a dopamine receptor to bind too. This is called “the law of mass action.” It means if you get a dopamine hit over and over, creating the rush of feel-good pleasure, the amount of receptor numbers decrease. Then you need a bigger hit to get the same rush, which in turn makes the receptors go down further. Then you need a bigger hit, then a bigger hit… until a huge hit gets you nothing.
Addiction is serious, because once the neurons die, they do not come back. The receptor sites can come back once you stop the addiction, so long as the neuron is not dead. The goal is to disrupt the addiction in time to keep the neurons from down-regulating.
That is called tolerance. That is when the neurons start to die, and you have addiction. This can happen with nicotine, alcohol, shopping, gambling, social media, gaming, porn, sugar.
Addiction is serious, because once the neurons die, they do not come back. The receptor sites can come back once you stop the addiction, so long as the neuron is not dead. The goal is to disrupt the addiction in time to keep the neurons from down-regulating.
Regardless where you consider yourself on the path to freedom, our pornography addiction counseling can help!
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