Is porn the only type of addiction, that causes desensitization of dopamine receptors?
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definitely not, we all need more and more and more to get to where we want to be and eventually it may not cause any sensation bc by then we are no longer in control.
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Pretty sure all addiction has a similar effect on the dophamine receptors.
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Porn is probably the most addictive drug at the minute. That stuff completely rewires your brain. IYou should look up your brain on porn on YouTube. Fight the new drug and no fap. These will explain the science and addiction behind it.
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I know all about this, my brother.
I’ve been on nofap for couple years already. I did my study.
That’s impressive that you’ve already been working on this for a couple years already.
I hope that your experience so far with TS has been a good one overall.
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Study addiction as an disease then.
And study what and how the neurotransmitters really work in ur brain. That will really give you another level of depth in understanding what’s happening in an addicts mind especially during recovery.
There is to my understanding a difference in behavioral addiction and substance addiction as in some substances can eventually really alter the workings of an receptor and an behavioral addiction won’t since there are no external chemicals involved. It’s mighty interesting.
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While it may seem, that behavioural and substance addiction are different, in reality they are not really too different, since behavioural addiction like porn is based on the influence on the brain by sunstance=chemical called dopamine. All the conflicts caused by this addiction are there, because dopamine levels being out of balance - this and also desensitization of dopamine receptors in the body.
Desensitization disables the person to enjoy the life, like it is supposed to be enjoyed.
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Hi Chris & @ThajokerNL, as with many complex problems you’re both right in some ways here. Mario, you’re right that there are differences in the mechanism of action substance addiction takes vs. behavioural addiction. Chris, you’re also right in that dopamine - our chemical of anticipation, that drives so much of reward behaviour and is a part of all addictions - is a key factor across both substance and behaviour.
There are probably many finer points in which there are key differences. I suppose we’re all different trees - but we’re all in the same forest 
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Addiction is 100% dopamine, right! And that part of addiction is similar.
The difference I was referring to is the altering affect of chemical substances on receptors throughout the brain. Not just dopamine receptors.
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Hey @Chrispl, you know I never really thought the desire to watch porn was sick or twisted, until I felt my life tilt out of balance. It starts with an adolescent curiosity about the world and the feelings we begin to feel toward others that we don’t have context for, especially when they’re labeled taboo and shameful.
Porn lends an outlet for the unspoken curiosity, and it links up with our genetic reproductive programming in such a way as to disguise its sickening effect. We’re duped into believing there’s something healthy about it. Something that pulls us back to it as a source of comfort. At its core, I think, it is a hijacking of our genetic predisposition to identify attractive qualities in sexual partners.
What’s funny to me is I never lost my affinity for platonic relationships – my life’s sort of been defined by them for the past 5 years. I haven’t had a truly actionable romantic thought cross my mind in so many. I haven’t felt the tug, the drive, the internal push to make a fool of myself to express how I feel for someone.
What’s most twisted is that since porn digs its teeth in to predominantly adolescent brains, we grow up with it. We grow and develop our brains with a thorn in the place of relational development.
Many recovering porn addicts started watching it right when the hormonal shifts of puberty started to come online. It scratched an itch before we had the chance to learn we were using a knife, not a fingernail.
More than anything in these past 322 days of sobriety, I’ve practiced acknowledging the itch, and letting it pass. When meditating it’s the same idea: let it pass, whatever it is, because all things do with time, even a good minute of a beating heart can work wonders.
I’ve got a feeling this is what recovery needs to be: staring the want dead in its eyes, and letting it blink first.
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What do You exactly mean by that?
Is it watching cravings come and go without acting upon them?
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To be fair, all the highty flighty words and concepts are all very good and helps to explain what is actually going on and yes I am mildly interested enough that if someone posted something and I had time then I would probably read it.
But ultimately it’s comes down to, as @TheJK says–
staring the want dead in its eyes, and letting it blink first
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Knowledge is power, there’s no doubt about that. However, all the scientific knowledge that I absorbed about how porn affects my brain wasn’t enough to scare me into abstinence.
Knowledge didn’t prevent me from acting out because I am powerless against acting out. Once I’ve started I can’t stop and once I’ve stopped I can’t stay stopped.
Acting out to porn is but a symptom, I had to get down to causes and conditions. I am a selfish, judgemental, egocentric addict and if I dont do anything to cultivate a conscious contact with my higher power my character defects are going to lead me back to where I was.
There’s a difference with the knowledge. I acted out knowing full well what I was doing. And I may even have known why sometimes. Acting out does lose its appeal with that knowledge but that still didn’t stop me. I still relapsed countless times because I thought that I could think my way out of the problem. If one is really an addict, they have a broken thinker. Especially when it comes to the drug that brought them to their knees. I have to clear up the damage I’ve done the best I can and get busy helping others so that I’m not focused selfishly on myself and my problems. It’s a proven recipe that has worked much better than my way. Regardless of all the brain chemistry involved it’s still a spiritual problem that leads us to be addicts and imo a spiritual solution is necessary.
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I would say, that it would be for the best to get to know the core, underlying reason, that each of us watched so much porn, to the point of getting addicted.
Unfortunately it seems I can’t remember what was my reason for diving into porn.
I suspect couple things, but I have no way to determine, if that was the real reason for porn addiction process.
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My obsession with sex was always there. I remember the first magazine that a neighbor kid showed me. I was 6 or 7 and it was hardcore porn. From that moment, it was like the veil of the world was pulled back. I began to view everything in sexual terms. I looked for my fix everywhere. The sears catalog and fantasy and masturbation were what I turned to because I couldn’t get ahold of porn easily.
I began to regulate the emotions that my parents didn’t accept from me. Home life wasn’t terrible by any stretch of the imagination but it wasn’t very tolerant and I had to find ways to cope with my anger and resentment alone. I soon began to frequent places where I knew people who had a stash. I stole from my brother’s collection. Then the internet came and the content became endless. Then streaming videos. The supply kept up with my growing demand. Porn was my coping mechanism. I became very confused about what a relationship should look like.
I didn’t experience any significant trauma but my parents were both from dysfunctional homes. My dad’s dad left because he was philandering and my mom was raised by an alcoholic and a codependent. Addiction is very prevalent in my family. It’s not all my fault that I became an addict but it is completely my responsibility to work recovery.
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Your analogies are spot on 
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Hey @Chrispl, two things meant here:
1.This addiction is not stronger than you. It’s playing a game with rules defined by your environmental inputs. Are you comfortable? Are you bored? Are you looking for something to de-stress? It lies in wait for you to drop a guard, to compromise your resolve. Then it wins.
2. If you’re serious about recovery from porn, prove it to the temptations. Be the stronger individual by acknowledging them, and still not yielding.
Trying to ignore them only delays the same challenge.
See the cracks in the promise. I saw them first when I lay in my bed, the usual time I would get on my phone and surf. This time I just lay there, breathing, my heart beating. I felt the swell of the urge wash over me, and leave. The false promises always pass, and you’re left sober and only more confident in your command to remain so.
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