Protecting Our Children
Pornography Damages Teen Brains
By JoAnn Hamilton
October 11, 2007
Can pornography actually damage the teenage brain? That was the subject of my personal research recently. I found excellent material from Dr. Judith Reisman and Dr. John Harmer.
The answer to the question above is “yes.”
According to Dr. Reisman, president of Arizona 's Institute for Media Education, exposing a young person's developing brain to pornography rewires neural connections to create a lasting addiction to pleasure-inducing brain chemicals called Erotoxins.
Dr. Harmer said, “Pornography creates a chemical addiction in the same way cigarettes and alcohol do.”
In his book, “The Sex Industrial Complex,” Dr. Harmer cites sources from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the British National Addiction Centre to describe how dopamine, a key drug released by the brain during arousal, has the same effect as cocaine or speed and can create the same addictions in the brain.
Among young children and teens, Harmer said the addiction could be even stronger and more damaging. The amygdala, the part of the brain that controls fear and other gut reactions, develops at a much younger age than the more cognitive frontal lobe. The National Institute of Health reports that the amygdala is used more often to process images in childhood years, up to teenage years.
“Because of this, when teenagers look at porn, the images are not only linked in the brain to feelings of lust, but to other gut responses that the teen might be feeling such as anxiety or shame,” Dr. Harmer said. “As an addiction forms, lust becomes permanently linked with the more negative emotions. Studies have shown that the human brain is the last body organ to mature. The teenage brain is at risk because it's a long way from being fully developed”
In my opinion, this information needs to be taught to every child ages eight to 18, as well as re-emphasized from time to time as the years pass. What so many of our children and teens are looking at isn't just a “bad picture.” It is the beginning of a potential pornography addiction, which comes rapidly and uninvited and has the potential to destroy their marriage, their relationships and encourage decisions that will bring them unhappiness.
This spring, Playboy Magazine again sent out pornographic fliers and postcards to high school graduates offering them a free subscription for six months. You can take these postcards to the post office, fill out a form and assure the unwanted mailings will stop.
I also get so frustrated as I watch innocent children become exposed to inappropriate images on videos and television and other media by desensitizing parents who see nothing wrong with it. True, these adults weren't exposed to sexual images and sexual insinuations at the age of their child, but so often they forget that. These images stir feelings and curiosity, which encourages children/teens to find more of the same.
Is this a common problem internationally? A study revealed that to out of five teenagers in junior high school and high school are regularly accessing pornography on the Internet. And when I say regularly, I mean that they are not accidentally coming across it, they are intentionally seeking it out. Pornography is accessed on one out of five office computers every day, Dr. Harmer said. Kids –- and adults, too -- need to know that the consequences are addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, divorce and other types of anti-social behavior, including desensitization to rape.
For information on how to protect your children see www.strengthenthefamily.net
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