The 'endless supply' of pornography on the internet is feeding sex addiction, a study has revealed.
Sex addiction – when an individual has difficulty controlling their sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour – is relatively common, affecting as many as one in 25 young adults.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge claim this is being fuelled by easy access to sexual images on the Internet.
The ready supply makes it difficult for people with compulsive sexual behaviour to......
resist their urges, according to the study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Scientists tested sex addicts and healthy men to see how they responded to sexual images.
Brain scans revealed that sex addicts became desensitised when repeatedly shown the same sexual images, with a decrease in activity in the region of the brain associated with rewards.
This was found to be consistent with 'habituation', where the addict finds the same stimulus less and less rewarding - so sex addicts need to seek new images to get the same high.
Scientists compared it to a coffee drinker getting a caffeine 'buzz' from their first cup and how this reduces over time and the more they drink coffee.
This same habituation effect also occurred in healthy males who were repeatedly shown the same porn video.
But when they then view a new video, the level of interest and arousal goes back to the original level, suggesting sex addicts would need to seek out a constant supply of new images.
There is no formal definition of the condition to help with diagnosis of the condition which is heavily stigmatised and can lead to a sense of shame, affecting an individual’s family and social life as well as their work.
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