This series is exploring the Roots of Addiction laid out in the book of Ephesians. You can start at the beginning here or watch Freedom Fight founder, Ted Shimer, as he provides the important context of our identity in Christ as a foundation for understanding the roots of porn addiction.
The Root: Addicted brain.
The Solution: Renew the mind.
– Ephesian 4:23
People’s brains are changed by porn, but they can build new neurological pathways. Repetition gets the porn addict locked into this addiction, and repetition of new pathways will help get them out.
This series is exploring the Roots of Addiction laid out in the book of Ephesians.
Brains are changed by porn.
The brain has a reward system that porn hijacks and manipulates. You may not fancy yourself a scientist, but we’re going to need to delve into brain science in order to understand the difficulty and challenges created by frequent porn use.
The limbic system works in the human brain to assign value and attach emotion to behavior. It rewards the behavior that it wants you to remember and repeat with dopamine. By doing so, we pursue what feels good and avoid what feels bad. This system gives the highest reward it can hand out to the orgasm. Therefore, when someone gratifies themselves while watching porn, the brain makes note of this positive experience in order to remind them to repeat it. Over time, these connections grow stronger and the porn rut in the brain deepens.
However, the brain also has brakes to help reign in impulsive behaviors. These brakes are located in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and they help out by allowing us to not act against our moral beliefs or future goals. The PFC is known as the “logical brain” and is responsible for the executive functions such as logic, reasoning, determining good from bad and impulse control.
The limbic system overrides the PFC for the sake of survival or well-being. After someone repeatedly acts out sexually, especially in a way to medicate pain, the limbic system will begin to treat porn or other unwanted sexual behaviors as a survival issue- a way to cure the pain. And upon the next time of feeling bad, the limbic system will seek relief where it knows to find it.
The limbic system is ignited upon encountering a sexual or emotional trigger. Dopamine strengthens the limbic response by encouraging the person to take the well known porn pathway to pleasure and satisfaction.
The repetition of these actions rewires people’s brains in a way that keeps them in bondage to the pleasure-producing chemicals.
With each episode the willpower potential of the PFC that would enable a person to stop is eroded. As with all addiction, a hijacked brain causes people to crave pleasures from sources that are ultimately harmful. This is why the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM) asserts that addiction is fundamentally a disease of the brain’s reward system.
Fixing the Brakes.
The Phenomenon of a person’s PFC not operating effectively is known as hypofrontality. It is the erosion of one’s willpower. Prolonged porn use saturates the PFC with dopamine and causes it to operate less efficiently. Hypofrontality helps explain why many people continue to make bad decisions even in the face of great personal cost.
Quitting porn use and unwanted sexual behavior can reverse the problem of hypofrontality, but it takes time. This is why a period of detox is so important as it allows the brain time to heal and repair the braking system.
Detox is not easy though. Deprived of the usual sexual stimuli, the brain will crave relief. In the early days of detox, your brain brakes will be weak. This is why the Freedom Fight created BRACE, a tool to help those fighting for sobriety build new pathways in their brain.
The BRACE Method.
BRACE is an acronym, a shorthand method for remembering the steps necessary to address sexual triggers and provide biblical and practical steps to resist temptation.
Freedom Fight surveys reveal that using the techniques outlined in this article helped reduce frequent porn use in 97% of those who used the tools. For a more thorough discussion of this technique, see The Freedom Fight written by our founder, Ted Shimer.
Breathe Deeply.
When the Navy SEALS go into battle, they work to keep their limbic system from overpowering the PFC. This allows them to remain calm, think clearly and make logical decisions in combat scenarios. Soldiers take deep diaphragmatic breaths to send more oxygen to their PFC, improving the brain’s ability to make decisions and control impulsive behavior. These same techniques can be employed to assist with sexual triggers.
Practice Combat Breathing:
- Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds (expand your stomach).
- Hold breath for 4 seconds.
- Exhale slowly through your mouth for 4 seconds (or as long as needed to empty lungs and allow stomach to retract).
Once you have breathed deeply, move to the next step…
Remember the Truth.
Remembering the truth reminds us who God is, our identity in Him and the consequences of our sin. All of these engage the PFC, where your higher reasoning takes place based upon morals, values and consequences.
Memorizing God’s Word can help you recall truth and His promises in times of temptation. The following verses would be a great start at committing scripture to memory:
- The pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8).
- Consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God (Romans 6:10-11).
- You are no longer a slave but a son (Galatians 4:7).
- God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:27).
Meditating on scripture refocuses your mind on truth. It helps to remember:
- Sin hurts your closeness with Christ.
- The power of sin has been broken.
- Your are a son, not a slave.
- You were made in God’s image and have infinite worth and value.
These simple truths can engage the PFC and renew right thinking.
He has granted us His precious and magnificent promises,
so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped corruption that is in the world by lust.
II Peter 1:4
After spending 36 seconds breathing deeply and meditating on the truth,
move onto the next step…
Ask God for Help.
Ask God to help you believe the truth you are meditating on. It is not enough to know the promises of God; they must be believed. However, belief is often difficult in the midst of temptation.
God will help us when we are tempted.
I Corinthians 10:13
Ask God to give you the courage to reach out for help, and then move onto the next step…
Call an Accountability Partner.
With your body regulated and firmly planted in the truth, engage accountability.
- Call your accountability partner and let them know you are tempted.
- If they do not answer, send a text.
Knowing that someone will ask about it later helps you resist the temptation. Making the call often makes the difference of whether you act out or not.
Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness…
along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
II Timothy 2:22
Break isolation with a call.
Escape the Situation.
The final step in the BRACE method is to escape. Fleeing temptation means leaving isolation. Being around others in a public area diffuses temptation. Escape to healthy outlets like hanging out with friends, working out, walking or reading.
Those seeking freedom must remember that repetition of porn pathways got them into their addiction and repetition of new pathways will get them out.
In 60 seconds, someone can start training their brain to have a new response to temptation.
Renew the Mind.
Romans 12:2 encourages us to be people who are “transformed by the renewing their minds.” BRACE not only helps people avoid unhealthy behaviors, but allows new brain pathways to be built. Each time someone uses BRACE instead of giving in to temptation, they reinforce a new, healthy pathway.
Compare the old pathway of the porn addicted brain with the new pathway of BRACE:
- Old porn pathway: New BRACE pathway.
- Repress the truth: Remember the truth.
- Rely on your own strength: Ask God for help.
- Seek isolation: Call to break isolation.
- Stay in tempting situation: Escape tempting situation.
BRACE helps you build new pathways through repetition. Therefore, consider practicing this tool three times a day even if there is not temptation. This way new pathways are formed to replace the old ones.
It is not easy.
You may relapse and experience failures, but you are not without hope and help.
Your mind can be renewed and your brain can be retrained for freedom from porn.
Looking for more resources to help the porn addicted brain?
1. Here’s a video below explaining the BRACE method in detail.
2. The above video is one of the many helpful videos that is part of our 30-day Challenge, a powerful biblically based and scientifically informed program. Join the free!
3. The ROOTS blogs (Roots, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6) are all content summarized from a more thorough and detailed account found in the The Freedom Fight book. You can go buy it here if you need more details and help with porn addiction.
