Technology is a double-edged sword with numerous benefits that make our lives easier through communication, knowledge, entertainment and saving time. On the other hand, it is a channel that has brought formative, long-lasting, and unhealthy habits due to pornographic content. As the number of internet connectivity continues to sour, so does the number of people who get into porn addictions. The problem is that porn addictions are slowly taking over men, women, and children as young as 12 years. Nevertheless, the good news is you can overcome and become desensitized from adult content.
What is Desensitization
Desensitization is the process through which you condition your brain to overcome a specific fear or habit. In this case, we can say it is a psychological process to treat pornographic addictions.
To understand how desensitization, we need first to know how sensitization occurs. Every time you learn something new, a nerve pathway is created in your brain. The more you engage in the skill, the stronger the route becomes, and the subconscious finally becomes engrained. At this point, the brain forms a neural pathway for the new habit.
It is the same case for porn addictions. However, the neural tract for adult media is enhanced by a hormone called dopamine. The hormone helps to create a link between reward and pleasurable activities. It implies with every temptation to watch porn, and the brain releases dopamine for self-gratification.
When the addiction is too much, sensitivity to the content drops due to a decline in dopamine receptors. Reduced dopamine levels increase the urge to consume more content and little pleasure in a usually rewarding experience.
As a result, you engage in different genres and extreme content to try and stimulate dopamine. However, your brain slowly builds tolerance with a never-ending appetite for more, leading to a wasteful day without any pleasure.
Limbic System
The limbic system has structures that regulate emotions, sexual arousal, learning, and memory storage. The structures include the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala.
The hypothalamus controls body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, sexual activity, and hunger. With coordination with the nervous system and endocrine system, the hypothalamus helps to regulate sexual motivation and behavior.
The hippocampus is responsible for creating new nervous pathways for further information and storage of memories. The amygdala resembles almonds and helps in emotional responses that lead to erections and sexual behaviors in men.
By default, the limbic system aims at increasing pleasure and reducing any activity that causes pain. It encourages you to engage in happy events such as eating, bonding, sex, and exercising. Upon satisfaction with such actions, the brain releases opioid hormones, which prevent further cravings for the act. However, when dopamine secretions overweigh opioids, it leads to seeking beyond satisfactory levels.
Signs and Symptoms of Pornography Addiction
While healthcare professionals do not consider pornography a significant issue, it’s essential to know that it can cause harm. It is difficult to diagnose, and there are various signs which an individual can begin to show that point toward pornography addiction. These signs include:
Decline or total loss of sexual desire. People who engage in porn require more stimulation to be aroused. They may also lose interest in the partner and become distant, causing relationship issues.
Increase or develop anger issues. Pornography addicts become easily irritable at the slightest provocation. They begin to have little patience, especially with acts that delay them from watching porn.
Withdrawal from social functions. One of the most significant signs of porn addiction is seclusion from friends and family. The addict abandons hobbies and interests. They give up family time such as dinner to watch pornography.
Impaired control. If you notice an inability to control the urge to watch pornographic content, you may be dealing with an addiction. One of the ways to identify this trait is by monitoring your spending habits. If you continuously spend money to buy internet or logins to pornographic sites, you may be dealing with insatiable cravings.
Treatment Process
If you realize these signs or symptoms, it may be time to seek help. Treatment helps to regain a healthy everyday life and be productive in your tasks. Some therapy may involve one or a combination of the following strategies.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a process of applying verbal and psychological techniques to aid with the recovery or elimination of troubling symptoms. When dealing with problems associated with pornography, psychotherapy seeks to explore the inner self-identifying both physical and mental wants that need deep healing and well-being.
It allows the individual to develop ways of coping with psychological distress without seeking the temporal gratification of pornography. There are various methods of conducting psychotherapy, and they follow different formats, which include:
- Family therapy
- Group therapy
- Couple therapy
- Individual therapy
Group therapy works well as it allows the members to give and receive support from others.
Medication
People with a pornography addiction may be battling an underlying or co-occurring issue. The best way to deal with kind of problem is to seek medication-assisted treatment. The food and drug association has a list of approved medications to sustain the recovery of an individual. You may combine this treatment with therapy.
Lifestyle and Behavioral Change
Some people get into pornography as a result of boredom. Consistent practice of this ill practice forms a dominant solid behavior. In lifestyle and behavioral change, the treatment aims at helping individuals replace undesirable patterns. You begin by setting personal goals and targets that you hit as time goes by. In this kind of treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy has proved to be effective. The individual learns how to tame their desires by stopping to watch and engaging in different activities.
Conclusion
Pornographic content can lead to addictions and unhealthy behaviors, causing erectile dysfunction, withdrawal, and waste of time. Take charge today. Do not let adult content ruin your life and of your loved ones.