(023) Disinformation on pornography effects on erectile function led to iatrogenic Reboot/NoFap "treatment"

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Dozens of studies concluded that pornography does not cause erectile dysfunction. A laboratory study (2022) studying actual partners reported that partners who reported viewing more pornography in their daily life also reported higher sexual arousal to the real partner. Similarly, the partner being manually stimulated in that study exhibited higher galvanic skin response/arousal associated with increased sexual arousal when more pornography had been viewed in their daily life. Yet, most sex addiction therapists and Reboot/NoFap coaches claim that their clients’ sexual dysfunctions are caused by pornography viewing. Qualitative interviews with followers of Reboot/NoFap found that the framing of pornography as an “addiction” by these groups was actually maintaining clients’ distress. This raised the possibility that disinformation from these “treatments” regarding sexual functioning actually was the cause of ED. Objective Examine whether engagement with Reboot/NoFap “treatments” might actually be causing or perpetuating sexual arousal problems attributed to pornography viewing. Methods Data were collected via (1) a pre-registered, online survey and (2) scrape of the Reboot/NoFap “support” group /r/NoFap. Men (n = 693) who had heard of Reboot. The Reddit scrape included 1,219 unique users and 10,971 unique r/NoFap posts. 2.3% of users had to be excluded for spontaneously posting that they were under age 18 due to not documenting parental knowledge, consent, or assent to post. Posts were subjected to a sentiment analysis, a form of natural language processing. Results Survey: Those who personally participated in Reboot/NoFap treatments were significantly younger, more sex negative, and sexually less experienced than those who chose not to participate. Those who participated the most in /r/NoFap forum, paradoxically, reported significantly more symptoms of erectile dysfunction, depression, and anxiety. They also were more likely to report being told to “kill or harm” themselves in the support subreddit /r/NoFap and reported more suicidal ideation at their last relapse. Erectile difficulties were predicted by respondents’ anxiety symptoms, and that relationship was not mediated or moderated by their pornography viewing. The strongest predictor of identifying as a pornography addict in this sample was higher narcissism. Reddit scrape: The users who posted over time in r/NoFap, on average, included the same or more posts containing sad, angry, disgusted, or fear words. Emotions in the post were not predicted by the support (upvotes, comment count) received. Conclusions Treatments that conceptualize pornography as causing erectile dysfunction appears to paradoxically cause distress and erectile problems to worsen. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Mind Measures LLC