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Neuroscience of Internet Pornography Addiction: A Review and Update
Open accessAbstract
Many recognize that several behaviors potentially affecting the reward circuitry in human brains lead to a loss of control and other symptoms of addiction in at least some individuals. Regarding Internet addiction, neuroscientific research supports the assumption that underlying neural processes are similar to substance addiction. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recognized one such Internet related behavior, Internet gaming, as a potential addictive disorder warranting further study, in the 2013 revision of their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Other Internet related behaviors, e.g., Internet pornography use, were not covered. Within this review, we give a summary of the concepts proposed underlying addiction and give an overview about neuroscientific studies on Internet addiction and Internet gaming disorder. Moreover, we reviewed available neuroscientific literature on Internet pornography addiction and connect the results to the addiction model. The review leads to the conclusion that Internet pornography addiction fits into the addiction framework and shares similar basic mechanisms with substance addiction. Together with studies on Internet addiction and Internet Gaming Disorder we see strong evidence for considering addictive Internet behaviors as behavioral addiction. Future research needs to address whether or not there are specific differences between substance and behavioral addiction.
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“Recent studies indicate that compulsive sexual arousal may be addictive and hazardous to otherwise healthy people because it has neurological effects on the brain that are comparable to those of drugs (Love et al., 2015;Nestler, 2005;Phillips et al., 2015;Reisman, 2004;Voon et al., 2014).”
From “Your Addiction, her Sexual Suffering”—A Qualitative Inquiry into the Effects of Compulsive Sexual Behaviors on Intimate Female Partners (2025) · cites this paper as Love et al., 2015
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“Behavioral addictions indirectly affect the brain's neurotransmitter system, especially the dopamine system, and function as a reinforcement comparable to pharmacological substances that directly affect this system.”
From Cybersex addiction: An overview of the development and treatment of a newly emerging disorder (2020) · cites this paper as [21]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Love, T., Laier, C., Brand, M., Hatch, L., & Hajela, R.
- Affiliations
- Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health, Ardmore, PA 19003, USA
- University of Duisburg-Essen (DE)
- Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DE)
- Private Practice, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, USA
- American Society of Addiction Medicine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Love, Todd
- Venue
- Behavioral Sciences
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2015-09-18
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 388-433
- ISSN
- 2076-328X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4600144
- OpenAlex
- W1910854322
- Cited by
- 262
- References
- 319
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 11
- FWCI
- 2.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Behavioral Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DuEPublico (University of Duisburg-Essen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Keywords
- internet addiction, internet gaming disorder, behavioral addiction, substance addiction, reward systems, addiction models, neurobiology of addiction
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