“The Brain That Changes Itself” full show (by Dr. Norman Doidge)
Entire clip’s running time: 26:54 Segment directly referencing porn addiction is 16:10-19:50
One of my absolute favorite authors on the subject of brain science/ neuroplasticity is Dr. Norman Doidge. He is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher, author, essayist and poet. He is on the Research Faculty at Columbia University’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, in New York, and the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry. He is interviewed here about his bestselling book, The Brain That Changes Itself. The entire clip is fascinating if brain plasticity is your interest, but if you forward the clip to 16.00 and let it play until 19.50 or so, he directly addresses how the brain of porn-addicted men he’s treated were being shaped by that Internet porn viewing, as well as how ‘unusual’ fetishes can develop.
Please note: Even better than this clip is the actual book of the same title. Most highly recommended is the chapter therein named: “Acquiring Tastes and Loves.” In this chapter, Dr. Doidge explains the factors at work when viewing porn repeatedly- how it literally rewires the brain and often unwittingly takes men into directions they themselves had never planned on, including disenchantment with their real-life partners, interest in material that actually disgusted or shocked them even as it excited them and the development of fetishes. Ever wonder how something that starts as a “curiosity” ends up as an addiction? Well, it’s all right here in this one little chapter. For my money, empirical research from a doctor with sterling credentials just doesn’t get much better than this, and it’s easily readable, too.
––Lili