Gone are the days where watching something hot was a steal and a thrill. With the advent of internet, watching pornography is no different than having a Netflix account for movies. Has the change in pornography affected us as people? Has it brought about a change in our realities? Does it have an effect that leads to depression?
There is a lot of research that has been conducted among those who use a lot of porn, 80% of which were “fine” about it. So why has this become a topic to discuss about? Porn has become an addiction and the adversities it has caused also includes dealing with mental illnesses such as
depression and anxiety
Depression and Porn
Pornography has dynamically changed over time to mold our tastes and desires. According to a research conducted for 6 months, by Kevin B. Skinner (Ph.D), it was found that there was significant relationship between watching porn 3-5 times a week and moderate depression. And what about the people who viewed pornography daily? They weighed on the border of severe depression. Here is where you can check for yourself (http://www.growthclimate.com/)
His research also shows that people who view pornography are experiencing more depression than the general population.
Porn as an addiction rooting for depression
An addiction can be classified as a condition where one’s body must have a drug/substance to avoid any kind of physical or psychological withdrawal symptoms. In other words, your body becomes used to a habit which is consciously or unconsciously developed over a period.
Pornography, tends to be a drug in a lot of ways. Porn, for your brain has a lot of profound consequences and with prolonged exposure, even becomes an addiction. It leads to increased tolerance, loss of control, compulsiveness to repeat the “drug” and not shockingly, even withdrawal symptoms.
Huge amounts of dopamine is released which requires your brain to ask for more activities that release dopamine again and again. This is the basis for any activity that makes you feel good, which also includes sexual excitement. This, in the future, tends to become a requirement rather than a desire.
Depression is also seen in ways of reality being…not “fun”. With the vast amount of make believe that the porn industry creates, people seek out to find the same kind of behavior in real life which makes for a distorted perception of reality. In a research that was conducted in India, it was found that the request for anal sex in customers for sex workers had increased in the past few years.
This also makes for unhealthy and unhappy relationships where what was once considered attractive or desired, changes to a longing of wanting to acquire what is portrayed as a happy reality. This in turn makes one feel disappointed and depressed.
Reality Check: As with the case of anything that induces a feeling of pleasure, a controlled amount of pornography in a period is quite healthy and even informative! But, with a lot of research supporting, pornography addiction not only causes depression, but also leads to a truck load of other complications as well. Erectile Dysfunction, Low self-esteem, Social Anxiety, Aggressiveness, Loneliness and more! Here is enough and more you can read about the effects prolonged exposure to porn can cause on you: http://yourbrainonporn.com/
A client of 28 years, was addicted to pornography and masturbation from when he was 18. What started out as exploration and fun turned out to be a relief from a stressful situation to a stress relief every day. Seeking therapy after 10 years, he had not realized the changes it had caused. He would be tired every day and his tolerance increased to 2 hours and more before he could feel any pleasure. After 5 sessions, there is slow progress but there is still more work to be done in terms of self-concept, idea of relationships and the image of a woman.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ya67aLaaCc
http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1393&context=honors
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/04/pornography.aspx
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-porn-addiction/201111/can-pornography-trigger-depression
http://fightthenewdrug.org/the-serious-mental-costs-of-watching-porn/