Dopamine has received a lot of popular press these days, especially when it comes to things like watching porn. Depending on who you ask, you might think dopamine is a superstar or a supervillain.
Once you get past the basic details—i.e., pleasurable chemicals are released when you look at porn—the brain science behind this gets mind-bogglingly complicated. In this article, we’ll unravel the details of what dopamine is, how it works, whether it’s good or bad, and its unique impact on pornography addiction.
What is Dopamine?
If you’re familiar with the word “dopamine,” you know it has something to do with feeling good. But it does much more than that. Dopamine plays an important role in the body’s entire nervous system. A Polish medical journal explains:
“[I]t plays the key role in the control of locomotion, learning, working memory, cognition, and emotion.”1
That means you need dopamine to move, think, or feel anything. However, it doesn’t stop there. The same article goes on, “Dopamine receptors have been described in the kidney, pancreas, lungs, and in numerous blood vessels outside the central nervous system.”
Wow, no wonder so many people talk about dopamine nowadays! Problems with dopamine can result in serious diseases and psychiatric conditions which go far beyond the scope of this article. The key takeaway for us is that dopamine is not a bad thing.
Furthermore, the idea of a “dopamine detox” or “dopamine fast” is technically incorrect. Your body is absolutely dependent on this chemical! However, we’ll see that things like pornography train your body to abuse the dopamine system, leading to dysregulation.
Dopamine’s Role in Psychology
For our purposes, we need to understand dopamine’s psychological effects and its role in mental health. Dopamine gives you pleasurable feelings, but more importantly, dopamine fuels motivation. Dopamine is what motivates us to act on hunger, thirst, or sexual desire. It also drives our hopes and dreams. Take away dopamine and you take away motivation—even for basic survival.
Author Sam Black writes in his book, The Porn Circuit:
Essentially, dopamine helps the brain remember what is interesting and how to respond to it. It focuses the mind on a specific task while other concerns are ignored, saying, “Hey, do this now!” It provides a neurological reward that feels good and assists in cravings for more of the activity.
We’ve established that dopamine is necessary for survival. But it motivates bad behaviors as much as good behaviors. Black continues, “Without doubt, dopamine is either a superhero or a super foe, depending on whether an activity affects a person positively or negatively.”
When Dopamine Goes off the Rails
If you’ve tracked so far, you realize that in one sense, dopamine is connected with porn simply because it’s connected with everything. And some say that’s all there is to it—dopamine works with pornography like it works with food, drink, or sex. But that’s only half the picture.
In the natural world, someone sees an attractive member of the opposite sex, and this releases dopamine which (along with other chemicals) motivates them to pursue a relationship. In God’s design, this leads to marriage, where dopamine continues to incentivize the relationship. And while there are sex and relationship addicts, this seems far less common than porn addiction.
Why is that?
See related: Effects of Porn: What Watching Porn Does to You and Those Around You
Limitless Dopamine
In the late 1990s, Dr. Alvin Cooper recognized the unique properties of internet pornography. It’s cheap, easy to access, and nobody needs to know about it! In other words, there’s nothing to interrupt the flow of dopamine. Our brains were designed for the occasional spurt of dopamine to fuel our motivation. With pornography, we’re given a firehose. Consequently, especially with the advent of smartphones in 2007, pornography addiction has become rampant.
The Dangers of “Superstimuli”
Unlike natural stimuli, which our brains and bodies were designed to handle, today’s pornography shocks and overwhelms the system. Not only is it cheap and easy to access without fear of getting caught, but it provides endless novelty. You won’t get bored with porn, because there’s always more of it and always something new—and no fantasy is too extreme.
- See related: 4 Ways Porn Warps the Male Brain
Neuroscientist Dr. Donald Hilton has identified today’s pornography as a “superstimulus.”2 The concept of superstimuli comes from zoological research, where they discovered that some birds could be tricked into preferring artificial eggs larger or more brightly colored than their own. Unfortunately, when it comes to things like porn, we’re not much smarter than the birds. It tricks our brains and overwhelms our natural capacity for pleasure.
“Dopaminergic Downgrading”
So what happens when we get the cheat codes for dopamine? Dr. Hilton describes what he calls “dopaminergic downgrading.” This is a scientific way of talking about cravings. Dr. Anna Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation, gives this helpful breakdown:
“When we are exposed to highly pleasurable substances or behaviors for a long time, it actually rewires our brains. Our brain has to compensate for the excessive pleasure by downregulating our dopamine in order to reassert homeostasis. When we are constantly experiencing ecstasy, our brain will stop producing dopamine. That dopamine deficit becomes hardwire.“3
This explains the experience so common to addicts. The dopamine deficit means they no longer experience pleasure from their drug of choice, but they must consume it just to feel normal. For many, watching pornography serves only to numb the pain they experience on a daily basis. As one commenter on our blog said:
“Porn might feel like our little safe place … but that’s a lie. It’s a little self-isolating hell. Those are things I’ve learned from past attempts that I pray will help me to endure for the long haul this time – rather than returning to my numb place of isolation.”
Reboot Your Dopamine
If you’re one of the tens of thousands of people trying to quit porn, you know what that feels like. Porn has killed your motivation and taken the joy from your life. You might wonder if you’ll ever feel normal again.
There’s good news: You can reset your dopamine to normal levels. Realistically, there’s no such thing as a dopamine fast or a dopamine detox. We know that you need it for basic survival, and you wouldn’t want to do that if you could.
However, if you eliminate superstimuli, you can reverse the effects of dopaminergic downgrading. Dr. Lemke says, “I recommend abstinence from your drug of choice. That allows the brain to reset homeostasis.” You may experience porn addiction withdrawal symptoms for a time. But once your brain has had time to recover, you’ll begin to feel normal again.
If you need help getting started on your journey away from porn, check out our post by sex addiction therapist Dr. Doug Weiss, How to Quit Porn: 6 Essential Steps.
1 Drozak J, Bryła J. Dopamina–nie tylko neuroprzekaźnik [Dopamine: not just a neurotransmitter]. Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online). 2005;59:405-20. Polish. PMID: 16106242.
2 Hilton DL Jr. Pornography addiction – a supranormal stimulus considered in the context of neuroplasticity. Socioaffect Neurosci Psychol. 2013 Jul 19;3:20767. doi: 10.3402/snp.v3i0.20767. PMID: 24693354; PMCID: PMC3960020.
3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkelPsN7dmQ
Wondering…
Is dopamine released when looking at pretty women in real life if the mind sees them “sexually” versus being another regular human? If so, how does this play into looking at pretty women (or not) when out and about?
Hello, thanks for your comment. Yes, it’s the same mechanism at work. The dopamine released when you see an attractive member of the opposite sex is what motivates you to pursue a relationship. However, this can be really bad. It could motivate you to pursue an unhealthy relationship, or fantasize about someone else’s spouse, or even to be unfaithful to your spouse if you’re already married.
In this article, I wanted to keep a narrow focus on the effects of dopamine and pornography. And pornography is especially dangerous because of the factors I describe in the article. But your hunch is right, the same mechanisms are at work outside of pornography. They can become just as problematic as pornography too. This is why the Christian sexual ethic teaches that “looking to lust” is “adultery of the heart.” See “What is Lust in the Bible.”
Keith