Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction

Publisher Marketing: When high speed internet became widely available a few years ago, growing numbers of people began to worry that their porn use was running out of control. Far from preparing them for fulfilling relationships, viewing an endless stream of porn videos led to unexpected symptoms. Perhaps most surprisingly, for the first time in history erectile dysfunction was becoming a significant problem for young men. This led to one of the largest informal experiments in the history of science. Tens of thousands of people have tried abstaining from sexually stimulating material in a process they call 'rebooting'. Many of them reported startling changes, from improved concentration and elevated mood to a greater capacity for real-life intimacy. Gary Wilson has listened to the stories of those who have tried giving up internet porn and related them to an account of how the reward system of the brain interacts with its environment. And now a growing body of research in neuroscience is confirming what these pioneers have discovered for themselves - internet pornography can be seriously addictive and damaging. In Your Brain on Porn Wilson provides a concise introduction to the phenomenon of internet porn addiction that draws on both first-person accounts and the findings of cognitive neuroscience. In a voice that is generous and humane, he also offers advice for those who want to stop using internet pornography. The publication of Your Brain on Porn is a landmark in our attempts to understand, and remain balanced in, a world where addiction is big business. Contributor Bio:  Wilson, Gary Gary Wilson is a freelance consultant and author, and chair of the National Education Breakthrough Programme on Raising Boys' Achievement in the UK. He wrote "Using the National Healthy School Standard to Raise Boys' Achievement" for the DFES and in 2003 was made the country's first LEA school improvement officer with specific responsibility for raising boys' achievement.. He has advised and trained in over two hundred schools across the UK. He has appeared on Teachers' TV and Radio 4 several times. Gary Wilson also runs training sessions based on the book Breaking through Barriers to Boys Achievements with Osiris Educational. You can find more details here.