Excerpts from “Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow: Biology Has Plans for Your Love Life” by Dr. Gary Wilson and Marnia Robinson.
A growing number of young, healthy Internet pornography users are complaining of delayed ejaculation, inability to be turned on by real partners, and sluggish erections.
Lots of guys, 20s or so, can’t get it up anymore with a real girl, and they all relate having a serious porn/masturbation habit.
Many have previously been to doctors, undergone various tests, and been declared “just fine” physically.
Not long ago, Italian urologists confirmed an erectile dysfunction-porn use connection via a large survey. When interviewed about the survey, urologist Carlo Foresta (head of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine and professor at the University of Padua) mentioned that 70 percent of the young men seeking clinical help for sexual performance problems admit to using Internet pornography habitually.
Recovery appears to take 6-12 weeks, and rests primarily on one factor: avoiding the extreme stimulation of Internet erotica. (Many also avoid masturbation for a time, either because at first they cannot masturbate without porn fantasy, or because climax triggers binging.)
Among those who recover, progression is surprisingly similar. Men typically report that after a few days of intense sexual cravings, their libido plummets and their penis seems “lifeless,” “shrunken,” or “cold.” These “flatline” symptoms typically continue for up to six weeks on average, dependent upon age and intensity of porn use.
Gradually, morning erections return, followed by libido and, perhaps, occasional spontaneous erections. Finally, there is complete recovery of erectile health, sexual desire for real partners, sex becomes extremely pleasurable, and condom use is no longer problematic.
How can porn cause sexual performance trouble?
Recent behavioral addiction research suggests that the loss of libido and performance occur because heavy users are numbing their brain’s normal response to pleasure. Years of overriding the natural limits of libido with intense stimulation desensitize the user’s response to a neurochemical called dopamine.
The relevance of recent addiction brain science
In the last decade or so, addiction researchers have discovered that too much dopamine stimulation has a paradoxical effect. The brain decreases its ability to respond to dopamine signals (desensitization). This occurs with all addictions, both chemical and natural. In some porn users, the response to dopamine is dropping so low that they can’t achieve an erection without constant hits of dopamine via the Internet.
The brain changes causing porn-induced erectile dysfunction arise from actual physical addiction processes (among them, numbing of the pleasure response of the brain). Quitting can therefore be quite challenging. In addition to an alarming temporary drop in libido, some men experience withdrawal symptoms: insomnia, irritability, panic, despair, concentration problems, and even flu-like symptoms. Finding a good counselor who understands addiction, and why today’s porn has different effects from viewing a Playboy magazine, can be very helpful.
The brain needs a chance to “reboot,” that is, return to normal dopamine sensitivity. This can take a couple of months. For a science teacher’s explanation of the science behind porn-related erectile dysfunction, see this video presentation: Erectile Dysfunction and Porn.
If you are suffering from youthful ED, and wish to restore your potency, be optimistic. As one man said after his successful two-month experiment:
A few facts:
- This is 100% fixable.
2. It will likely be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done.
3. If you ever want a normal sex life again, you kinda don’t have another choice.
For information and recovery accounts, see: Is my erectile dysfunction related to my porn use?
Excerpts from Psychology Today article by Marnia Robinson, and originally published in “Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow: Biology Has Plans for Your Love Life,” a book Robinson co-authored with her husband, Dr. Gary Wilson. www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/201107/porn-induced-sexual-dysfunction-growing-problem