As far as I am aware, the idea that pornography "hijacks" the "dopaminergic reward" response is largely based on pseudoscience spread by the Your Brain On Porn

As far as I am aware, the idea that pornography "hijacks" the "dopaminergic reward" response is largely based on pseudoscience spread by the Your Brain On Porn website and their affiliates. For example: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/55540853/TJP_32_66-70-libre.pdf?1516013979=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DNeurobiology_of_Pornography_Addiction_A.pdf https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/55540853/TJP_32_66-70-... >There have been multiple neurotransmitters that have been implicated in addictions that range from dopamine to serotonin and now a role for glutamate and dynorphin has been elucidated.(37-38) The same has not yet been elucidated in research of pornography addiction. Further studies in this direction are warranted. Evidence regarding neurotransmitter activity in pornography addictions and substance use disorders (39) has tended to be complementary. Since the article I linked mentions structural MRI findings, I feel the need to point out that this does not establish any causality; furthermore, evidence of heritability of compulsive pornography use could of course suggest the causal arrow goes the other way. See also: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3115160/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3115160/ You will also find studies showing that dopamine agonists increased hypersexual behavior, which is rather the opposite of the suggestion that pornography use is a dopamine releasing activity (usually, the brain wants to suppress the effects of a drug!). Other studies show that naloxone (opioid antagonist) decreases pornography use. Dopamine is a stimulating neurotransmitter, and most people would not report feeling more energetic after engaging in sexual activity.