What contributes to the threat of increased exposure to

pornography?• The Triple Threat

Accessible

Affordable

Anonymous

• Dr. Al Cooper, psychologist who studies Internet Addiction

• Another factor has been added to this

Accidental

• Dr. Mark Laaser, Director of the Christian Alliance

Quick Exercise

Think of something that generates negative feelings and allow yourself to feel it.

Mood Altering

How does it work?

• It’s about the reward center that governs pleasure -- and addiction.

– Dopamine (pleasure)

– Adrenaline (excitement)

– Oxytocin (connection)

Let’s talk about Dopamine (pleasure)

The pleasure experienced from

dopamine can be highly addictive

Brain scans show that

levels of dopamine spike in the brain during sexual arousal resembles what the brain looks like on heroin. (Holstege, 2003).

Dopamine

After sexual arousal and orgasm,

dopamine levels plummet.

During this natural recovery period we may experience intense cravings, as we unconsciously seek to raise our

dopamine levels again.

DopamineNoted physiologist Robert Sapolsky explains that the anticipation of a desired outcome produces more dopamine into the synaptic gap than during orgasm (called appetitive pleasure). The higher the probability, the more dopamine is dumped into the brain.

For this process to work effectively, our brains must habituate quickly, desensitize to any given source that has stimulated it, so that the brain is prepared to respond to the next stimulus. This process signals the beginning of the addictive cycle.