Porn does not cause Ed

40 isn't old. Shouldn't be getting erection problems at that age if you're healthy!

 

I mean, I understand the skepticism. It's true that people are notoriously bad at self-diagnosing and that the actual scientific data on that topic is fragmented. But it's a rather new phenomenon. People who do not experience it may very well believe that the problem is simply caused by other things and that porn is just being a boogeyman here. For instance I've seen a few recent threads asking about posters' physical activity habits, or weight. I'm sure that porn addiction does correlate to some degree with depression/low self-esteem/obesity/ etc., all of which can also correlate with ED. As does age.

Are there some people blaming porn for their ED who should actually be looking to other causes? Probably. But there is also a growing number of men for whom all these factors are absent and who still experience sexual dysfunction of some sort when on paper, it shouldn't be the case. I'm one of these and as pointed out above, something has to account for the rise in people in their 20's and 30's experiencing ED. And porn seems to coincide with that.

Now, I don't know that's necessarily the only cause. But I know what's going on in my own mind when I'm having problem staying hard, or, just as importantly, when I do get hard. And I think most people here have paid attention to it. It's pretty simple: I have absolutely no problem getting hard and finishing by imagining practices and scenes I've gotten from porn. I can literally make the transition happen over and over, at will, when lying in my bed alone. One minute I'll be there trying to focus on a pretty hot moment I had with a girl when we were camping a year ago and started having sex, which I had wanted for a long time, and my dick remains absolutely unaffected. Nothing happening. Then I'll think about some extreme porn scene just to test it, and within 20 seconds I'm completely hard. Then I'll think back to that time with the girl, and go limp again within a minute. I can do this back and forth virtually as much as I want. There is no issue with my dick itself. Obviously there is no physical issue impairing my boners.

So there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there has been a change in my brain about what I find arousing and what I do not. Whether it's been caused by porn single-handedly is beyond the point. It's definitely been affected by porn.

 

I absolutely agree about the skepticism, like I said, I don’t know if I would’ve believed it if i hadn’t seen it. But just being on this forum shows time and again the problems pmo causes. I think with any addiction you have multiple factors that affect you, ie depression. So I also agree you need to address other issues in your life as well. About a year into his recovery, two different counselors said they thought my husband might have adhd-sure enough brain scans showed he did so we took steps to address that as well..

 

We should also be more specific with what causes PIED - not just p0rn alone, but p0rn addiction! Most 'normal' people probably watch it for 10 minutes a session, a couple of times a week. But us addicts- who binge, and edge, for hours at multiple times a day is where the problems begin, from my point of view. And the rise in young men experiencing this coincides with internet p0rn/smart phone usage. It never seemed to be an issue in times past...

 

I think it's probably got more to do just with how affected you are by the porn you watch. I'm sure some people watch a lot and are unaffected whereas others may become desensitized for less. In my case, and I get the feeling it's probably been the case for many other people, I believe the "addiction" actually happens instead as a result of sexual dysfunction, and of desensitization. In other words, it's the consequences of porn use, that is, the decrease in satisfaction derived from real intercourse as a result of having used porn, that may cause someone to use more and more porn, as it becomes the only way that they can get off.

While I'm sure some people fall into addictive porn use more through standard addiction dynamics, I know that in my case it's happened more as I described above. In fact, to this day, I don't really consider myself an addict per say. What I mean is that it's not like I had been using porn uncontrollably, while being aware that it was detrimental to my life, as is the case for most addiction. And then spiraling deeper into it as a result of anxiety, shame and self-loathing that came from not being able to stop. In fact, I used it without realizing it was causing me troubles. Actually, I even thought it could be beneficial. As a result of my loss of sensitivity, and after having become single a few years ago, I sometimes started worrying that my libido was going down too much, and thought I should probably make sure of keeping the machinery going once in a while. Because of my low libido and sensitivity issues, I would naturally turn to porn to get stimulated. I'd almost do it as a task... I certainly had phases when I got pretty enthusiastic about it, but after realizing recently that it might be the source of my deeper issues, I had no problem cutting it out. Sure, I'm just 17 days in now, but that's just where I started the counter. I had been 2 weeks without access to porn before that without really thinking about it, before I stumbled on a few articles about porn induced sexual dysfunction while researching my sensitivity problem. I don't actually feel compelled to use at all.

Of course I'm just anecdotal evidence. I can't speak for anyone else. But I have had issues with some addiction in the past: video games. And I can see a clear distinction between how my need for video games was driven compared to my porn usage. Nonetheless, it does seem that my arousal threshold has been deeply affected.

I think what really causes sexual dysfunction is exposure. But obviously, the addiction brings with it high exposure.

 

The problem with this idea is the vast majority of porn addicts had the problem long before they ever got into a relationship. They started masturbating as young as 4! My husband married me and I knew on the honeymoon something was “ off”. He was what i think of as functioning addict. Super successful at his job, no social anxiety, had several stints in life where he went months to a year without using but always went back. He started at 11 years old. He didn’t get pied until 45. You very well may not be addicted. Addiction has key components-escalation, unable to give up in spite of severe consequences, compulsion. Not everyone who uses porn is an addict. But if you can’t give it up ( for good beginning at 5+ years) in spite of losing relationships or jobs or escalation to criminal behaviors ( secret pics of women/wife in states of undress) then I’d say there is a very good chance you’re addicted even if you never get pied.

 

The secret pics of women and pics of wife in undress hits home hard

 

Oh yeah absolutely. I didn't mean that people who get PIED are not "really" addicted. I'm sure plenty of them are.
I just meant to respond to this other poster who said that the problem wasn't simply porn use but porn addiction. What I tried to say is that I think PIED and porn addiction are two different things that don't necessarily come together. One can suffer from porn-induced dysfunction without necessarily being addicted to porn, and certainly, some people might be functionally addicted to porn yet suffer no noticeable sexual dysfunction.

What I'm suggesting here is that PIED is merely what its name implies: porn-induced ED, as opposed to porn-addiction-induced ED. The high exposure to porn, without necessarily having an addiction component to it, may on its own cause PIED. I'm guessing they put this forum as a subsection to the porn addiction forum because in most cases, being addicted to porn probably lead to a higher consumption of porn, and is thus more likely to lead to porn-related dysfunctions.

 

Yes, too many people for whatever reason want to minimize this behavior. It is criminal even if she is your wife! If you are one minimizing this just imagine your 18 year old daughter sobbing hysterically because her brand new husband had done this to her.

 

Hugh Hefner had extremely bad ED. Overstimulation to an unnatural level caused ED. Porn causes overstimulation, more specifically high speed internet porn. This is the whole point. Small amounts of porn may not have an effect, but we are not talking about that on this site, we all know what we are talking about.

 

Porn stars are on ED meds

 

some people are too afraid of buying condoms public, let alone tell others they have sexual problems. Thats the problem of todays world, all men outside tend to speak like they never had one case of erection problem, not even when losing virginity and their head not being completely on the spot. The lack of common problem discussion is what made this site special, because any ED talked about outside and people will call you gay or something, but if one was gay with ED problem nobody would call him straight, just gay with an ED and then being called the bottom. The degree of double standard is what is making this discussion so hard to do outside with others. Nofap is the only place where people actually speak against porn, you know the same company that has 10 year olds watching it because its too easy to access and no identify card requirement, doctors support it society support it while your kid can be watching a black afrikan man fucking a donkey for all they know. It's insanity only supported because it makes money like nothing else, outside weapon selling

 

Seeing my wife naked is completely different from watching p0rn. Not even close. P0rn can't even compare to seeing a woman you love in front of you!

Seeing a naked woman isn't artificial sexual stimulation.

 

I definitely struggle with this and its confusing at times to not really know what your body wants to react to in a healthy way. My biggest thing is trying to somehow "unlike" everything thats turned me on for 20 years, while also building these new "pleasure paths" for shit that just doesn't give me that same energy. The slow, sweet, loving, roll around under the sheets thing literally makes me sad just thinking about it lol. I still enjoy sex its just like coffee to crack. Still very much attracted to other women I see irl. The whole thing makes me feel insane at times smh.

Anyway, I have had very few problems with erections during times of no porn use. The wife even notices I last longer.

 

Reading back thru i just wanna say imo there ARE many other factors that lead to issues in the bedroom, porn or no porn.

This is very difficult to get across to your partner if you've had any history of porn use or acting out any other way. It will always be the addicts fault no matter what. But plenty of things turn me off or just negate the mood, even in sobriety.

She's just getting around to starting counseling so im hoping that helps broaden the view of everything