Clinical Psychologist Doctor David J. Ley PhD takes issue with Billie Eilish’s wild claims — and the uncredentialed “neuro-scientist” interviewed by the BBC to legitimize them.

In December, 19-year-old pop sensation Billie Eilish went on record to the BBC claiming that she was devastated from her exposure to porn as a Tween.  Eilish said it “destroyed” her brain, caused nightmares, and that it’s a “real problem” creating confusion on what “normal” sex is.

The Grammy-award winner also told Howard Stern that porn was a “disgrace” and lambasted the industry on how pornography depicts women’s bodies and sexual experiences.

Wow.

First things first, the porn industry has never condoned children watching content. There’s a reason it’s called the ADULT industry.

However, what’s most disturbing, next to the fact that Eilish was watching porn at the tender age of 11, is that the BBC – considered to be a beacon of legitimate, factual news – reinforced Eilish’s pseudo-scientific claims that her brain was destroyed by having Dr. Trish Leigh, “a cognitive neuroscientist” on the show.

This did not sit well with Dr. David J. Ley.

Ley, a world-renowned clinical psychologist, who serves on the board of the Sexual Health Alliance, is known as one of the top in his field, has been interviewed by Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, The New York Times, Washington Post, and more, and has been a strong advocate for the porn industry, made his distaste heard on January 8 via Twitter to over 20,000 followers.

Taking umbrage at the fact Leigh was not in any way qualified to be making statements about how the brain is affected by porn, Ley further said she was jumping on the Eilish bandwagon to make money and promote her “neuro coaching” (which he snidely tweeted “whatever that is?”) and porn addiction treatments:

Leigh has these sites and links and money hooks all over the place. YouTube, instagram, Patreon. 7. pic.twitter.com/0qxvuNOgVy

— David J. Ley PhD (@DrDavidLey) January 8, 2022

He also condemned the BBC for their lack of ethical journalism:

“Why didn’t BBC verify Dr Trish Leigh’s credentials to be able to offer expertise on issues of porn, sex, or neurology? Because they wanted to sell porn panic and credible researchers won’t say things like “porn fries your brain cells.”

Humorously, by way of analogy, Ley further tweeted a photo of the old classic egg-in-a-pan advertisement that the anti-drug coalition used for years.

Wow. Cognitive neuroscientist says porn fries our brain cells! Sound familiar? 5 pic.twitter.com/AURFQaNvjA

— David J. Ley PhD (@DrDavidLey) January 8, 2022

Ley, on a roll, numbered his tweets a wonderful, rant-worthy 1-20 and started with targeting Leigh’s false qualifications.

Some of the best include:

#8 “Leigh has a PhD, but it’s in communication disorders. She identifies that she “did training on cognitive science track” but I’m uncertain how that works or what it means. Her degree isn’t in cognitive science, neuroscience or psychology.”

#10 “Leigh says she has a certification as a Brain Coach from The Amen Clinic. Given the general skepticism and concerns about Daniel Amen’s science and treatment, this might not be a good thing.”

Case in point, NPR interviewed T.J. Abraham, a former patient of The Amen Clinic who spent close to $150,000 for a cure: “I’ve done brain therapy, brain rehab, changed my diet, worked out. Everything they’ve asked me to do, I’ve done. And I haven’t noticed a drastic improvement. If anything, I notice feeling worse.”

In #11 Ley notes that “Leigh has a ‘BCN’ which is a certificate in providing neurofeedback. Neurofeedback isn’t a licensed service, and people trained in it are not brain experts or neuroscientists.”

To tie it up with a big fat bow Dr. Ley drove his point home by throwing a few other charlatans under the bus:

Gary Wilson, founder of Your Brain on Porn introduced self as former science teacher or an anatomy teacher as he promoted idea of porn brain changes. But Wilson never graduated college, never formally studied or taught neuroscience, & taught anatomy in a massage therapy school.18

— David J. Ley PhD (@DrDavidLey) January 8, 2022

Donald Hilton is a Mormon neurologist who’s never published actual research on sex or porn use & wrote about how only belief in Christ could break bonds of porn addiction. But Hilton’s theories are cited as gospel by porn addiction true believers. 19

— David J. Ley PhD (@DrDavidLey) January 8, 2022

Damian Sendler was a media darling, talking about sexuality, mental health and porn addiction, who claimed to have an MD/PhD. from Harvard. Turned out, he had a bachelor's degree, a fake website, and lots of big lies. 20 https://t.co/FiNRDBOuqr

— David J. Ley PhD (@DrDavidLey) January 8, 2022

Gizmodo, who reported on Sendler, said that many top publications were fooled into publishing “his bizarre and irresponsible studies on necrophilia, zoophilia, lethal erotic asphyxiation, and sexual assault.”

Ley was so worked up he had TWO number 20s as he ended his tirade with the million-dollar question:

“Why is the porn addiction industry such a hotbed of fraud and misrepresented credentials? Because snake oil and moral panics always draws out the grifters – they know that fear makes you an easy target. Sadly, media needs to do their job, before citing so-called experts.“

Ley’s full scathing and intelligent response to the false allegations that porn wrecks your brain begins here.  Enjoy!

Photo by SHVETS production from Pexels