Sex and drug addicts' behaviour is ‘triggered by the same type of brain activity’, say Cambridge scientists
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Version 0 of 1. Sex and drug addiction may be two sides of the same neurological coin, according to new research which found similarities in brain activity between drug addicts and sex addicts. Scientists from Cambridge University found that when diagnosed sex addicts looked at pornographic images, it triggered brain activity very similar to that seen in people dependent on drugs. “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,” said Dr Valerie Voon, the lead scientist on the project. “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. There are clear differences in brain activity between patients who have compulsive sexual behaviour and healthy volunteers. These differences mirror those of drug addicts,” she added. Previous studies have suggested that as many as one in 25 adults may be affected by an obsession with sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour they are unable to control. The Cambridge scientists recruited 19 male sex addicts and played them short videos featuring either explicit pornographic scenes or people engaged in exciting sports such as skiing or sky diving. At the same time, the men’s brain activity was monitored using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The experiment was repeated with a matched group of volunteers not affected by sex addiction. Participants were also asked to rate the level of sexual desire they felt while watching the videos, and how much they liked them. As expected, sex addicts showed higher levels of desire when watching pornography, but did not necessarily rate the explicit videos higher in their “liking” scores. The researchers cautioned that their study did not suggest that pornography is generally addictive. “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,” Dr Voon said. Dr John Williams, head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust, which funded the research, said: “Compulsive behaviours, including watching porn to excess, over-eating and gambling, are increasingly common. This study takes us a step further to finding out why we carry on repeating behaviours that we know are potentially damaging to us. Whether we are tackling sex addiction, substance abuse or eating disorders, knowing how best, and when, to intervene in order to break the cycle is an important goal.” The findings appear in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE. Three regions of the brain were found to be especially more active in the brains of the sex addicts than in the healthy volunteers, the ventral striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate and amygdala. All three are also known to be activated in drug addicts stimulated by the sight of drug-taking paraphernalia.The ventral striatum and anterior cingulate are involved in the processing and anticipation of rewards, while the amygdala helps establish the significance of events and emotions. |