Part 3: Pornography, Depression, and ADHD
By: A.N. Turner
Tags: Porn Addiction, Mental Health, Depression, Pornography, Adhd

Based on my research, porn use — more so than any other digital interaction —may give the largest cognitive overstimulation and desensitization to stimulation for most people. It’s a reach of an argument, but it may explain the greater apathy, ADHD, and depression today otherwise hard to explain, and it may explain the increase in erectile dysfunction after the emergence of free porn tubing sites in ‘05.

Overstimulation and large cognitive desensitization to stimulation may lead to more male cases of depression and suicides, but for women peer comparison from social media may even it out.

With desensitization guys may experience after watching multiple videos in single sittings — many may have less stimulation and enthusiasm for life.

Today’s TV shows, movies, and video games may offer cognitive stimulation than the past. There’s no doubt there. But the stimulation offered from those media pales in comparison to stimulation delivered by pornography. For some guys, porn may be a great desensitizer — and create depression from reducing stimulation in normal life after. It may be a driver of ADHD — where we seek more stimulation to compensate for our less stimulating life. Getting rid of porn may be a great opportunity to improve one’s life.

Having reviewed research, it seems porn abuse may underly certain issues for men. In my book I go into why porn can be more stimulating than sex and contribute to erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation:

When people watch porn, they’re often watching multiple videos in one sitting. By doing so, they are consuming an unnatural amount of novel sexual stimulation in one sitting. This unnatural novel stimulation lets men more frequently masturbate and ejaculate, leading to a more frequent depletion of sexual energy. This is why with porn, men may feel more drained and apathetic than partnered sex or personal masturbation without digital aid. The huge mental stimulation from repeatedly viewing novel visual sexual stimulation from porn may reduce sensitivity to mental stimulation and wear down the men’s reward system.

One study showed 80% of young adult men and 30% of women seem to consume porn frequently, and those numbers may be understated. Many may feel addicted, unable to stop even though they recognize they should. The addictive loop from desensitization would explain the addiction: we are less stimulated by porn and normal life, making us more in need of blasts of stimulation from porn to compensate for the dullness and same sexual high as before.

This is supported by the paper Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption.

In July 2014 the paper from the Max Planck Institute (published in the prestigious journal JAMA), reported more pornography use was associated with less mental grey matter volumes. Grey matter volumes are responsible for sensitivity to stimulation — receptivity to reward. More volumes create more sensitivity, less volumes create less sensitivity and thus more symptoms of depression and ADHD. With porn, people repeatedly expose themselves to very acute overstimulation, leading to heavily reduced receptivity to stimulation and reward.

The association between more porn use and less grey matter may be genetically explained: people with less grey matter may be less stimulated on average and are more hungry for blasts of pornographic stimulation. But I think the correlation suggests something causal — that more overstimulation can reduce receptivity to stimulation.

The other way may work too: less overstimulation may be associated with more receptivity. This is important. This means we could use porn less and engage in low stimulation solitude. Then, with more receptivity, we may find greater stimulation in the real world (less depression), and have less need for distractions to provide stimulation (less ADHD). We may improve our cognitive state.

Meditation is tied to more grey matter volumes. While meditating, people have less stimulation, and this may improve receptivity and in turn combat symptoms of depression and ADHD. It’s possible naturally having more grey matter volumes lets people meditate more easily. Having more receptivity from more grey matter volumes, people can more easily sustain less stimulation. But cutting ourselves off from unnecessary overstimulation may improve our receptivity.

The problem is, with porn and excessive use of digital media, young adults may repeatedly, acutely cognitively bombard themselves with overstimulation, wearing down receptivity to stimulation. And they may not engage in the activities needed to restore sensitivity to stimulation —like focused meditation or even basic digitally-unaided solitude — because the reduction in sensitivity to stimulation from all the overstimulation may make those periods of low stimulation experience hard.

I think the consequences of our relationships with digital media (particularly social media and especially pornography), and the opportunity from reshaping those relationships may be undervalued.

Awareness should be spread about these mental health dynamics, and we should try to address the underlying issues. Understanding relationships with new digital media can help us do this. Lives may be improved.

We can be more.

Torches, burning with life.