← Dr. Trish Leigh Podcast
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Is porn causing your erectile dysfunction? Welcome back to another episode of Porn Brain Rewire, the podcast with me, Dr. Trish Leigh. That's what we're going to answer today. And we're going to start with a visual before my iPad no longer shows it. This is the brain performance pattern of porn induced erectile dysfunction as visualized on a QEEG brain map. I have seen hundreds of them, so I definitively know this indeed is the brain pattern. I will explain it to you. But if you're struggling with erectile dysfunction and you consume pornography, the correlation has been found in scientific studies for a long time. And I'm here to tell you that when your brain slides into artificial neutral and it gets stuck there, it needs very high levels of stimulation to feel pleasure from anything in your life, but particularly in your sex life. So the question is, how could porn possibly create erectile dysfunction? And if that's actually the case, can it be reversed? I'll answer that for you in this episode, but first, let's talk about, okay, what is erectile dysfunction? And how is porn induced erectile dysfunction different from kind of your standard classic erectile dysfunction? First and foremost, erectile dysfunction is known to be difficulty achieving and maintaining an erection to have a real life sexual experience with someone that you care about. Now, that's a very important caveat because I know things that people shouldn't know, nobody else should know about what people are doing to be able to get the highest level of pleasure because their brains need it. Their brains are accustomed to very high levels of dopamine from pornography. So for some people, what that leads them to do is to continue to act these things out with human beings, but not human beings that they care about. So that's why I added the caveat about intimacy and a partner that you care about. Because if you're objectifying a real life human being, whether that be casual sex, dating apps, hookups, or paid sexual experiences, that is not intimacy. That is an escalation behavior that is born out of the very high need for dopamine because of consuming or pornography. So I do not want those two types of sexual experiences to be confused by you. And honestly, I don't want the hijacker in your brain thinking that if you seek out these casual or paid sexual experiences that you are now kind of doing better than watching pornography. I get that question all the time. If I go do this paid sexual experience, is that better for me than porn? The answer is no, it's worse for you. It's an escalation behavior. You're basically acting out what you've seen in porn with a human being. And then if you think about it logically, those acts are things that your emotionally healthy, practically emotionally healthy partner would not want to engage in. They're at very lower levels of dopamine, albeit healthy levels of dopamine. So for right now, we'll get there. But for right now, erectile dysfunction or sexual arousal dysfunction of all kinds primarily happens when you go to have a sex sexual experience that's intimate with a person that you care about. And the reason that it happens is because the high level of stimulation that you are accustomed to from pornography and other explicit matter is not there. So I call it sexual arousal dysfunction because it covers all manners of explicit matter from lowest level of social media that's used in a sexualized way, sexual media, from videos, movies, to porn, proper sites, to acting out with other human beings. So we're going to cover this, but intimacy with a partner that you care about and you're not able to perform, nor are you able to feel good about it. So when we get to the end of this video, what we're talking about is my goal for you is that you can perform and feel better. So we also know that performance anxiety plays in here and we're going to cover how those two things are linked too, because it absolutely ramps up that brain pattern that I showed you. Actually on the qeg, the top part is the pattern for erectile dysfunction where it was read. The lower part is the performance anxiety that comes along. So if you're struggling with symptoms of erectile dysfunction or sexual arousal dysfunction of any kind, and you do consume pornography, there's likely a connection and we're likely talking about porn induced erectile dysfunction. Now to contrast that to more classic or standard erectile dysfunction that previously was kind of reserved for older men and it was reserved for those who had true physical or physiological body issues. So we know that cardiovascular issues come into play, blood pressure issues. We know that people who have nerve damage or nerve issues also may, in the past with more classic erectile dysfunction, struggle from erectile dysfunction. But the point is that there's usually heart disease or diabetes or obesity. There even could be anxiety or depression that's not linked to the porn induced erectile dysfunction pattern. So it's primarily physical or physiological. And we talk about classic ed when we talk about porn induced erectile dysfunction, it's from desensitization in the reward center and the reward pathways in the brain. So we'll get there in Just a second. So how does that desensitization happen? Well, we know that when high speed Internet pornography came on the scene at the dawn of the Internet and became more intense over time, this is when science correlated erectile dysfunction with those men who were consuming more pornography. So the gist of it is the more porn a man watch, the more he would report erectile dysfunction and sexual arousal dysfunctions. There's a link there. We also know that this link skyrocketed when Internet pornography came on the scene. We know that millions of people around the world consume pornography regularly. Also, those millions are struggling with erectile dysfunction, many of them. And if you're thinking, I don't struggle with erectile dysfunction, I am very glad for that. But there is a cautionary tale, because it is something that happens as there's more reinforcement of the pleasure pathways back to porn and there's increased desensitization of the reward center in the brain from that flood of dopamine that you get from porn. So I always tell people, if you don't have ED or SAD yet, you are lucky for now. But it is something that can happen more and more and more with more exposure and reinforcing those pleasure pathways back to porn. In explicit matter, we know that the average age of exposure of pornography is 11 years old in America. But this is what we talk about as average age of exposure. To me, after talking to thousands of men, this is the average age that consumption on a regular basis begins. Exposure is one thing. Being exposed to porn one time and never going back, that's not going to keep feeding those pathways that lead to erectile dysfunction. Being exposed to porn at the age of 11 and then continuing to go back to it. What happens is we know that basically the brain recalibrates in just a few exposures to need more dopamine and then to continue to build tolerance and to escalate from there. So people's porn habits are beginning at the age of 11 and. And those distorted or dysfunctional pleasure pathways are being reinforced from that age. So how does that happen? How does pornography affect the brain? What happens is the minute you have a thought to consume porn, your brain has already released a drip of dopamine. That's what gives you the urge or craving. Basically, you have three seconds, which is very short. Set a timer for three seconds. See how incredibly short that is. You have three seconds to pivot out and to not consume porn, which is very difficult at that point because the dopamine is flowing. And that dopamine drip leads you to a dopamine deluge, a flood of dopamine that makes you feel good. And if you continue to move towards porn and engage an entire full porn session, whatever that might look like for you, the longer it is, the more intense it is, the more frequent it is. That all impacts those pleasure pathways in your brain. But when you go towards porn and you stay in it now, it creates a dopamine drowning. Those dopamine receptors in the pleasure centers in the brain, they get flooded and drowned out, desensitized by all that dopamine. Science shows this, what that does is it leads you to the 4th D in what I call the 4D dopamine cycle of porn that contributes to ED. This 4th date is a dopamine deficit. Now you go back to your life and you're in a drought state. Not enough dopamine. That's why you're angry, you're irritable, you're looking for sex everywhere. You're checking people out, you're lusting, you're checking dating apps while you're supposed to be working. You pull up porn for a little dopamine hit in the middle of your workday because you're in a deficit state. Dopamine deficit. It leads to erectile dysfunction when you try to be with your partner. So it's not only the source of sad, it's the source of the struggles and the issues and the suffering that you're experiencing. The dopamine deficit state. Because your brain's been linked to all the dopamine important and explicit matter. So this dopamine release is the linking of your brain to pleasure, pleasure pathways back into the screen. This dopamine at high levels is what is desensitizing your brain. And then it leads to porn induced erectile dysfunction. So it impacts your real life sexual performance and pleasure. We know that research shows this and there's many, many, many case studies. Not only the people I work with, there's other professionals in this area that they share their stories all the time, that this is exactly what has happened to them. So we have scientific studies and of course, all the anecdotal stories that tell you that this is indeed what is happening. What also can that now you have unrealistic expectations from your partner because of what you've consumed in pornography. You want your partner to do the things that you've seen in porn. This is what leads people to pay for sex because they want to do those things. Escalation behavior. It leads you to be not as happy with your partner's appearance and performance. We know this from scientific studies. So now you become less aroused. And because you're used to watching performers in the acts that they perform, your partner is not a porn performer, nor could she really ever be. People tell me all the time that their wife or their girlfriend is a knockout 10, but they still can't get aroused. That's because what's happening in porn is 11 plus in terms of arousal and stimulation. Even if your partner's a 10, it can't compare to a 15. That experience cannot compare. That's where erectile dysfunction and SAD comes into play. So how do you know if you have pied porn induced erectile dysfunction? It's fairly easy to figure it out. Number one, have you consumed pornography frequently, consistently, over time, and especially at any level of intensity? That's question number one. If you have, porn is likely at the root. Many of the people I work with, they haven't watched porn in three, five years and they still have ed. This desensitization does not go away the minute you stop watching porn. So if you have a long history of porn consumption and you struggle with ed, it's likely at the root of it. And we would be able to see it in that QEEG brain map. That's why this is important. We can visualize it. The brain maps that I look at, there are people that haven't watched porn in years, but they still have ed and they've gone to every other professional, and all the other professionals don't know what to do for them. And you know why they don't know? Because it's a brain issue. I know what needs to be done. When I work with people, we see their data of how their brain is improving every single day, getting better, and then they feel better and they perform better. So we watch the data and we help you build those pleasure pathways in your brain in a healthy way and back in your life. But if porn's in the mix, it's highly likely that it has influenced your erectile dysfunction or sexual arousal dysfunction. If you've gone to your doctor and everything checks out physiologically, then that's another indicator. And especially, you know, if you do watch porn and physically you're fine, obviously there's a missing piece there. Now, if you struggle with the psychological aspect that is part of the underlying neurological pattern that showed you on the QEG brain map. Stress, anxiety, depression, low motivation, those are all part of that brain pattern. They're caused by porn. So you might not realize that your, your ADHD symptoms could be part of this porn induced erectile dysfunction pattern. I call it porn induced ADHD. Many people think they have adult onset ADHD. That's not a thing. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder. If you have ADHD, you've had it before the age of 12 with the exact same symptoms that you struggle with now, or for my purposes, before the age you found porn, likely before 11. So if you're struggling with focus and depression and anxiety, these are psychological and cognitive manifestations of the underlying brain pattern of porn induced erectile dysfunction. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I want you to know there's a brain pattern for this and it can be visualized. You can see it with your own eyes on a QEEG brain map. And if you want to know what that's about, please go over to my website, Dr. Trishleigh.com and check it out. So you do that self assessment? Yes, I've watched porn for a long time. Yes, I'm struggling with my partner. No, I'm not struggling in other cases, like masturbation, if I'm with another partner I don't care about, or when I'm consuming porn. And just to let you know, some people do struggle in those cases. So if you're no longer being aroused to pornography, this means there's actually more desensitization in your brain because level 15 doesn't arouse you anymore. I work with a lot of people that that's the case. If that's the case, you need a brain map so that you can see that dysfunction in your brain. And again, there is a road back. This brain pattern can be reversed. Okay, so when we talk about recovery and techniques to allow your brain to be able to reverse this dysfunctional underlying brain pattern, how do we do that? Step number one, a QEEG brain map. It can be visualized. It can show you the areas and the levels of dysfunction for your brain after that. The way that my team and I help people is I set very specific protocols that I know, and I set them so that they are addressing the very specific brain pattern that your brain map shows. It's individualized, it's comprehensive, it's very high level. Most other neurofeedback practitioners do not know about it, nor do they know how to, to set those protocols and to evaluate them over time. I set those protocols, I keep my eye on them, making sure that we're regulating that underlying brain pattern, we are reversing it. You get graphs and charts every single time you Do a session, you know, it's reversing. It feels awesome. You know your brain is coming online. Then you start to feel and perform better. It creates a flywheel. And what all the science behind neurofeedback shows is, if we can get this flywheel going, your brain will get better and better and better over time. So what does the flywheel include? When it comes to porn induced erectile dysfunction? You have to give up porn. It's essential. You cannot go back to it. It's the desensitizer. You have to stop desensitizing. In my program, I include the OG program that I built to help people leave porn behind. It's called Porn Free Brain Forever. It's included in my program because you need it. You have to be able to give up porn and allow those pathways to unwire as we're rewiring them back to healthy sexuality at healthy levels in your real life. So that's imperative. You also have to learn how to reset the pleasure pathways in your brain using your mind and body. So that includes healthy sexuality, healthy intimacy, healthy pleasure sources. Getting dopamine at healthy levels. First you want to get as much dopamine as possible. Many people do dopamine detox. That is not the move. A dopamine stack is the move. Getting as much dopamine from as many healthy sources is a good tip for you. And then from there, decreasing the amount of dopamine that your brain needs. Because if you do show the brain pattern for pied, it means that your brain's in a dopamine dependent state. You need a lot of dopamine. We want to make it so you don't need that level of dopamine anymore. That's when you'll be able to enjoy your real sex life again. So bringing those dopamine levels down and then resetting those pleasure pathways back to your life, your hobbies, your people, your work, your life should be balanced and awesome. It shouldn't be. Work and watch, work and watch sitting in front of a screen. Work, work, working, and then watch, watch, watching to offset the fact that you don't have a toolbox of healthy pleasure in your life anymore, because the reason is porn hijacked that from you. So many people tell me, I haven't done any of those things I really like and I get pleasure from. And that's because slowly, over time, your brain continued to be linked to porn because it became the 1 source for dopamine at higher and higher and higher levels. You had one tool in your toolbox. And unfortunately, that tool is what was damaging your brain performance pattern. So it's time to rewire those pleasure pathways, reset those pathways back into healthy real life pleasure so you can feel good and perform again. This is the solution. So if you want help with that solution, please go over to Dr. Trishleigh.com. this is what I do all day, every day. I'm really good at it. Thank goodness. Now if you're not in a position to do that, take these tidbits that I've given to you here. If you struggle with erectile dysfunction and you're still consuming porn, porn's gotta go. So if you can't join my program, stay with me on YouTube and there's over 1500 videos, all with brain hack strategies. Start binge watching them instead of porn. They will help you. At the same time, start building healthy intimacy with your friends. Healthy intimacy with your partner. If you don't have a partner, start engaging in real world experiences. Wear a like minded healthy partner. Might be that way you can start teaching your brain. Brain, we go into the world for pleasure now we don't go into the screen anymore. You can start balancing your screen time overall, staying away from all explicit matter. You'll begin to feel your brain come back online. It may not be able to get all the way there without professional help, but you'll feel it coming online. Then you want to create that flywheel. No desensitization, all resensitization back into your life. Okay. I would love to see you in the program that I've created because it is the easiest and fastest way to reverse porn induced erectile dysfunction. Go over to drtrishley.com sign up for a consultation with a brain health professional. So that one of the people on my team, actually it's my right hand woman, she can lead you in the right direction to take one step to put this behind you forever. All right. I hope this helps you out and as always, control your brain or it'll control you.