Porn can ruin your life. Is it addictive?

When volunteers and persons who regularly watch pornographic content were shown short sexually explicit videos, their brain activity being monitored using functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI), it was found that watching porn to excess produces the same brain activity as drug addiction. Does this mean that pornography is as addictive as hard drugs?

An answer to this question is important. One in 25 adults show compulsive sexual behavior. They are obsessed with uncontrollable sexual thoughts, feelings or behavior. Furthermore, difficulty in controlling sexual behavior can affect one’s life and relationships.

The conclusion arrived at after the study using pornographic videos was that pornography can ruin your life, just like abusing drugs or being a slave to food. But proving that pornography is addictive like hard drugs or diagnosing someone who is addicted to pornography was beyond the reach of the researchers.

Further reading: Brain activity in sex addiction mirrors that of drug addiction.