What is the difference between masturbation and sex? Continuation.

Both sex and masturbation physically evoke the same reactions. The main difference is mental. Sexual pleasure is a natural motivator to reproduce and build bonds with other people, competition for the object of desire. Masturbation allows this mechanism to be abused to a greater extent than sex: the rewards and costs are incomparable, which leads to the danger of addiction, both physical and mental. A person receives powerful doses of neurotransmitters of pleasure, and their volume is less limited than during sex (the Coolidge effect also helps). This causes inhibition of the relevant receptors, resulting in a weakened response to standard sexual stimuli, dependence on super-stimuli (hard pornography for example), depressed mood due to a reduced response to positive events, not only sexual ones.