Do you know anything about neurotransmitters and pharmacology? I know only a little, just curious about your background
I will establish that I did learn a fair bit about the nervous system (synapses, nervous cells, the brain, etc.) in one of my classes at my community college, though it wasn't centered completely around the subject.
about a third of the linked article is arguing that behavioral addiction for porn can exist - not in dispute, behavioral addiction for anything can exist. the author then makes some huge jumps - orgasm releases a decent amount of dopamine ("one orgasm equals two cheeseburgers" is actually true, lol, but they both pale in comparison to things like meth), thus ADDICTION!!!. He then talks about how junk food releases dopamine and now people are fat - trying to make an anecdotal case for junk food addiction to make an analogy to porn. the problem is - all food releases dopamine, not just junk food! it is beyond a stretch to claim that an addiction to junk food is the leading cause of obesity.
You're certainly right about the fact that all food releases dopamine. However, it's been shown in quite a few studies that junk food releases a greater amount of dopamine mainly due to the higher amount of fat present in the foods. This isn't to say that all junk foods are fatty and that all non-junk foods aren't fatty, but there certainly is a tendency for junk food to contain higher amounts of unhealthy fat. I won't claim that an addiction on junk food is the main reason for obesity in America, mainly because I haven't done my research on the subject and know there are a lot of other factors for obesity like genetics.
Doing something you like releases dopamine, no shit. It doesn't "overload your dopamine system" and it isn't even close to analogous to a drug that bonds to dopamine receptors - a drug is external, orgasm releases existing dopamine at a higher rate for a short time. The release of dopamine happens all the time, including when you play Pokemon!
You fail to mention that sexual activity dwarfs most of our other activities in terms of dopamine release by a VERY large margin. Playing Pokemon is an invalid example because overall the amount of dopamine that it actually releases is incapable of restrictng our dopamine receptors. (Unless you're really into it or like winning global championships everyday, lol).
Porn especially releases a TON of dopamine even compared to normal sexual activity and that's why it has the potential to cloud up your dopamine receptors. (Though I can't compare it to drugs since I've never tried them lol) It's very artificial because it portrays sex in an unrealistic and overstimulating way. I can't provide any research links to back that up but it's easy enough to affirm it for yourself: If you watch porn on a regular basis, abstain for at least 2 weeks then watch it again. When I did that, I was literally
shivering because of the dopamine stimulation. You say that dopamine release "can't overload you dopamine system", but you couldn't be farther from the truth. It is true that in normal concentrations dopamine won't inhibit the dopamine receptors, but above a certain concentration, the excess dopamine
will cause a negative feedback loop and the dopamine itself will bind to the allosteric site of the dopamine receptors.
This isn't to say behavioral addiction isn't real - it obviously is and can be, but it's important to understand that downregulation of D2 receptors isn't completely synonomous with addiction and that this website's goal is to convince people who otherwise don't feel impairment in their lives that they are addicts. Addiction is when things you enjoy get in the way of your life and you can't / have trouble stop/ping when you want to.
I do agree that the downregulation of D2 receptors isn't
completely synonymous, however it's probably the driving factor for a lot of addictions because the harder it is to get the dopamine highs that people are used to, the harder people will try to achieve those highs whether it be through drugs, porn, etc.
I think you're misunderstanding what the site is trying to convey. They mention what they are claiming explicitly in their
about page (scroll down to the FAQS), but there in no way do they say that if you watch porn you are an addict, like you just said. What they are saying that is that watching porn can have bad effects on your sexual health,
even if you are not an addict. You don't have to be an addict to have sexual issues stemming from porn. Regarding convincing people who don't fell "impairment" in their lives yet are being convinced they are addicts (which they aren't trying to), this is kind of a moot point because you really don't know how impaired you
could be(emphasizing this for a reason) until you get off porn and see the effects. What might be normal to you atm, could feel worse when you're off porn. I'm not saying that's what will happen (though I'm inclined to argue so), but for example,
many people who are addicted to sugar say they feel fine and only until they get off it do they realize how much processed and simple sugars dampers the quality of their life.
Chris is me, if you want to continue discussing this I'm sure we could do it via PM. That way we won't bog down the thread with this particular discussion. :rolleyes:
