Excessive Internet Pornography Use Linked to Impotence in Young Men

Men in their 20s and 30s are increasingly suffering from erectile dysfunction, but until recently, no one connected that disorder with using Internet pornography. Typically, a young man would be unable to perform with his partner or spouse, and that would lead him to use drugs like Viagra.

When the drugs stopped working, he would consult a physician, who would diagnose him with “performance anxiety,” and inquire about his use of marijuana or alcohol, his sleep patterns, nutrition, genetics, and religious beliefs, but not ask about his use of pornography. In most cases, doctors could not find any physical problems, and their patients’ impotence would continue or even get worse.

Now new research indicates that pornography can become an addiction that affects the brain, which in turn can cause male impotence. The cure is relatively simple but difficult. Physicians are now advising men to avoid pornography and masturbation for two to three months, and that will, in most cases, fix the problem.

The first time that Internet porn was linked to impotence came in February 2011 when a team of Italian scientists studied 28,000 men and found that many were using porn as early as age 14 and developing symptoms of erectile dysfunction by the time they were in their mid-20s.

“It starts with lower reactions to porn sites, then there is a general drop in libido, and in the end it becomes impossible to get an erection,” said Carlo Foresta, head of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine. He found that men who use porn excessively gradually become immune to the images and unable to perform in real life.

The theory is that using pornography is an addiction and brain disease similar to drug or alcohol abuse. Men can numb their normal response to pleasure through intense stimulation that gradually desensitizes their brains’ chemical response to a neurochemical called dopamine. In normal sexual response, nerve cells in the brain’s reward system produce dopamine, and this activates the libido centers of the hypothalamus. Then nerve impulses signal the genitalia to release nitric acid into the penis and its blood vessels.

However, overuse of pornography can desensitize the dopamine system in the brain in a process similar to what happens in drug addiction. In substance abuse, the human brain can become so overstimulated with dopamine that the person feels a “rush” of euphoria when he first uses drugs. Eventually, he needs larger amounts of drugs to achieve the same effect. Men can apparently build up a similar tolerance to sexual stimuli so that normal experiences with real partners are not enough to produce and maintain erections.

Princeton University professor of psychiatry Jeffrey Satinover said that addiction to pornography is the same as to drugs in terms of alterations in brain chemistry. In this way, porn-induced erectile dysfunction is a physiological, not a psychological problem.

“Only the delivery system and the sequence of steps are different,” he said.

One man, writing on an Internet forum, described the desensitization process as follows.

“After years of porn, I was having trouble with erections,” he wrote. “It had been getting worse and worse for a couple of years. Needed more and more types of porn stimulation, and it still was not helping. I was really worried that the anxiety just pushed me deeper into porn. Hard to believe given the progression. I probably used every type of porn image and video out there except for one: child porn. What scares me is, could I have gone that route too one day?”

What is behind these changes is that today’s generation of young men, unlike their fathers and grandfathers, can access pornography 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Italian study found that about one in three European men use pornography, and 70% of men treated for sexual performance problems had been using it excessively.

The “cure” can be difficult. Men who give up pornography can experience withdrawal syndromes, that might include irritability, depression, insomnia, panic attacks, problems in concentration, and even flu-like symptoms, according to an article in Psychology Today. However, once the person gets through that process, his brain can come back into balance and sexual function returns.

One man described the experience this way.

“When I was consuming porn and beating off, I had severe performance anxiety when it came to actual sex. That is gone. I have no problem. It is nice to get aroused by little things: a revealing blouse, some innocent cleavage, a summer dress, or just a woman’s flowing, shiny hair and fragrance, instead of “Cum Gurgling Sluts” videos.”

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