AP11645

Science Summary

Pornography Triggers brain activity in people with compulsive sexual behavior, commonly known as sex addiction, similar to that triggered by drugs in the brains of addicts (University of Cambridge.) This study does not necessarily mean that pornography is addictive. One in twenty five adults are affected by compulsive sexual behavior in which they are not able to control sexual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors (University of Cambridge.) Compulsive sexual behavior can affect a persons personal life, leading to feelings of shame or distress. Constant use of pornography is a key feature to be found in many people with compulsive sexual behavior, however, there is formally no given definition of diagnosing the condition (University of Cambridge.) The department of Psychiatry, inspected the brain functions of nineteen male patients that had been diagnosed with compulsive sexual behavior. They had compared the nineteen male patients to the same number of healthy volunteers. While conducting this experiment it was said that "The patients in our trial were all people who had substantial difficulties controlling their sexual behaviour and this was having significant consequences for them, affecting their lives and relationships,"(Dr. Valerie Voon.) The results of the experiment that scientists found were that patients were found with the same behavior as drug addicts. What scientists really want to know is if these similarities were reflected in brain activities too. Drugs affect the dopamine system in the brain, therefore, different drugs effect the brain differently (Textbook, 122.) I believe there is enough information to state weather or not there are similarities between drug addiction and sexual addictions, although there needs to be common data (Barret's Law #3.)

References: University of Cambridge. "Brain activity in sex addiction mirrors that of drug addiction." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 July 2014. [|www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140711153327.htm].

Wood, Samuel E., Ellen R. Green. Wood, and Denise Roberts. Boyd. Mastering the World of Psychology. Fourth ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2011. Print

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