Pornography Is As Addicting As Booze And Heroin [Study]

The one-third of the Internet that is pornography is finally accounted for. Turns out, the stuff is as addicting as alcohol or heroin.

A study from Cambridge University on compulsive pornography users seems to confirm what we might have already assumed: That porn addiction is every bit as real a mental and physical addiction as alcoholism and addictive drug abuse.

For the study, Cambridge researcher Dr. Valerie Voon studied 19 men between the ages of 19 and 34 who had tried to quit watching pornography but failed, even at the expense of personal relationships and their jobs.

She scanned their brains as they watched pornography and found that everything that “lit them up,” so to speak, corresponded with our understanding of addiction and addiction responses.

“We found greater activity in an area of the brain called the ventral striatum, which is a reward center, involved in processing reward, motivation and pleasure,” she told the Sunday Times.

“When an alcoholic sees an ad for a drink, their brain will light up in a certain way and they will be stimulated in a certain way. We are seeing this same kind of activity in users of pornography.”

Voon’s study is thought to be the first of its kind to study the actual physical signs of addiction to pornography. Similarities between compulsive behaviors often displayed by pornography users and others struggling with drug or alcohol addiction have long been noted in the scientific community.

According to LifeSiteNews, previous studies on pornography have shown that it can lead to decreased sexual response over time, as well as short term memory loss.

The Cambridge study has not yet been published, though it will be part of an upcoming British documentary called “Porn on the Brain.” That will air September 30 on Channel 4 in the UK.

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