Brain Activity in Compulsive Sexual Behaviour Similar to Drug Addiction: Study

A new study by the University of Cambridge states that changes in brain activity compulsive drug users and those addicted to sex are similar.

Researchers maintain that pornography itself is not addictive.

Compulsive sexual behaviour or sexual addiction, in which a person is obsessed about sexual desires could lead to several problems - personal and professional. The disorder could also cause shame and embarrassment. Watching a lot of pornographic images might be one of the few symptoms of suffering from sexual addiction, researchers said.

The latest study shows that the effect of pornography in sex addicts' brain might be similar to that seen in people using drugs.

For the study, researchers compared brain activity in nineteen male patients who were suffering from compulsive sexual behaviour to brain activity seen in healthy individuals of the same age group.

"The patients in our trial were all people who had substantial difficulties controlling their sexual behaviour and this was having significant consequences for them, affecting their lives and relationships," explained Dr Valerie Voon, a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellow at the University of Cambridge. "In many ways, they show similarities in their behaviour to patients with drug addictions. We wanted to see if these similarities were reflected in brain activity, too."

Participants' brain was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). All the participants were shown videos of either sexually explicit content or sports during the brain scan.

Three areas in the brain - ventral striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate and amygdala - exhibited high levels of activity. Researchers said that the same regions are active in drug addicts when they are shown images of drugs.

The ventral striatum is associated with reward and motivation, while dorsal anterior cingulated is linked to drug craving and reward. Amygdala regulates emotions.

Researchers found that incentive motivation was also strong in sex addicts. Incentive motivation is when people such as drug addicts seek drugs because they want the drug and not because they enjoy it.

The team also found that a correlation exists between brain activity and age. Younger the patient, higher is the activity in ventral striatum in response to pornography.

"There are clear differences in brain activity between patients who have compulsive sexual behaviour and healthy volunteers. These differences mirror those of drug addicts," added Dr Voon in a news release. "Whilst these findings are interesting, it's important to note, however, that they could not be used to diagnose the condition. Nor does our research necessarily provide evidence that these individuals are addicted to porn - or that porn is inherently addictive.  Much more research is required to understand this relationship between compulsive sexual behaviour and drug addiction."

The study is published in the journal PLOS One.