Hi. I don't know much about the workings of addiction and there is clearly something I am missing here, but I recently noticed people taking supplements of caffeine and of nicotine to help them get away from their addictions to coffee and smoking. I read the packet of the nicotine supplements and it claimed that it was a healthy way to get the nicotine without the "hit" thereby reducing the dependency, or something like that. If so, there should be a supplement for dopamine, or whatever other chemical the body gets when I fornicate, thereby reducing the need for the actual women in the story. Which bit am I missing?
Thanks.

goldfish wrote on 15 Jul 2025 19:11:

Dopamine isn't exclusive to fornicating (great choice of word there). You get it when you eat highly palatable food (that's why it's hard to quit junk). It's your brain's way of saying, "This is good, I want more of this." It's the natural pleasure reward system.

Smokers get a dopamine hit when they smoke. Porners get a hit when they porn. Unlike nicotine, it's not something you can take; it's the brain's response to an experience it learned is pleasurable.

The path you're looking for is retraining your brain to recognize other (healthy) activities as pleasurable, and release dopamine for a good workout, learning, etc.

The challenge is that sexual activity is, by design, highly dopaminergic (it feels great with almost no effort), so it can be very hard to get your brain to climb down from that ladder and learn to enjoy other things.

Basheferspeed.

That's actually a really thoughtful question that shows you're thinking analytically about addiction - and you're not entirely off base with your reasoning!

You're right that nicotine replacement therapy (patches, gum, etc.) works by providing the addictive substance (nicotine) in a controlled, less harmful way. The key difference is delivery method - cigarettes give you nicotine plus a rapid "hit" that reinforces the addiction cycle, while patches provide steady levels without that reinforcing spike.

However, sexual addiction is neurochemically more complex than nicotine addiction. It's not just about one chemical like dopamine - it involves multiple neurotransmitter systems (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins) working together in intricate ways. More importantly, it's the process and experience that creates the addictive cycle, not just the chemical reward.

There actually are some medications that affect these brain systems - things like SSRIs that modulate serotonin, or naltrexone which blocks opioid receptors - and they're sometimes used to help with compulsive sexual behaviors. But they're not "replacement therapy" in the same way nicotine patches are.

The deeper issue is that sexual addiction often involves psychological components - escapism, emotional regulation, trauma responses - that can't be addressed with a simple chemical substitute. That's why the most effective approaches tend to be behavioral, therapeutic, and spiritual rather than purely pharmaceutical.

Your analytical thinking is spot-on though - you're just dealing with a more complex system than nicotine addiction!