This article originally appeared on The Fix.
Pornography addiction deserves a little more respect, because porn affects the brain much like a drug, as illustrated by a new video from AsapScience (below). “The not-so-shocking truth is that pornography has profound consequences for the brain and acts, in many ways, like a drug,” says the SFW video. It explains that viewing pornographic images can increase tolerance, while causing loss of control and a compulsive need to get more. Just like drugs, porn can rewire the brain’s flow of the feel-good chemical dopamine, reinforcing the behavior until it becomes addictive. Some compulsive viewers may even experience withdrawal when denied their fix. This might explain why porn makes up 25% of all internet searches and is the 4th most common reason people go online, the video points out. Like any addiction, watching too much porn can create problems in “the real world,” such as making it “difficult to be turned on by reality.”