Will we ALWAYS be recovering PMO Addicts or Are we EVER Cured?

[DeltaFosAware]

Personally I think once addicted to anything you can never be cured, only in a state of recovery!

Even if you deal with the reasons behind the addiction, even when you identity your triggers, I would say you were never free of the addiction. It's simply no longer affecting your life, no longer distracting you from activities of daily living, affecting your work, detracting from your human relationships.

What are the views of others? Can we be cured?

 

[Married with children]

Unfortunately there is some science behind what your saying. Pathways in the brain are not erased. You can however create new ones and strengthen them through reinforcement. It is up to you to define how you look at this. If you win a victory, you should celebrate it, not focus on the scars.

I think you should try to make the best out of your life. My gut feeling is that it will be better without porn.

 

[rebootme!]

I think it's probably like being an alcoholic. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, even if you've stopped drinking.

 

[Viper]

I think it's probably like being an alcoholic. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, even if you've stopped drinking.

I believe that once you're an addict, that the potential to back slide will be there.
Does not mean that you can't back slide, but you have to change your outlook
about why you go to porn and masturbate before any long term abstinence
take place.
We've got some on this forum who have been PMO free for quite some time.
So of course it's possible. I'm just saying that the potential is there.
It's up to you not to trigger it.

 

[Needs Coffee]

It kinda depends on your definitions of "recovery", "addiction", and "cure".

I can't speak for others, so I'm just expressing my opinion. With my opinion and $4, you can buy a small coffee at Starbucks!  ;D

For me, I don't have the addiction personality/genes. No alcoholism in my family, no smoking, no drugs. I drink sometimes and usually have alcohol in the apartment, but I haven't had any alcohol in a week or so. I've never smoked. Although I "needs coffee" to keep me awake sometimes and I like the taste of "my coffee". I can go without it for days when I'm sick (and need to sleep) or on vacation. (Because I'm very picky and don't really like Starbucks.) The closest I've had to an addiction was sugar and junk food. As I've gotten older and learned about the damage it causes, I have no junk in the apartment and am careful when dining out.

However, PMO was indeed an addiction of mine. I just didn't realize it was an "addiction" and the damage it was causing. Once I learned the facts, it became an ex-addiction, as far as I was concerned.

"Recovery" is something I consider myself still in the process. Comparing PMO to my junk food addiction. P is something that has to go, like the junk food. When I first cut out junk food, healthy food tasted bland and was more work than opening a box of junk to shove in my piehole. After time, my tastes have adjusted. Now when I eat out, I realize how much salt, sugar, and oil are dumped into those foods I was addicted to... and were designed to make me addicted to them. At that point, I realized I'd recovered from my addiction to those "foods". Could I go back to being addicted to them? Of course, but why would I do that now?

Now as I recover from my porn addiction, I can tell my tastes are changing. I don't want to keep watching that staged stuff. I want the real thing, where I participate and am touching someone else, not myself. That's my idea of recovery--lose the desire to go back to that.

The end goal is to be "cured". For me, that's particularly when I don't have PIED. "Cured" also will be when I can really see progress in my life and relationships that had been hindered by PMO.

 

[marfap]

I have been addicted to cigarettes, marijuana and had a drink problem . For many many years  I haven't partaken in any of them.. Yes I get the odd rare craving but it is not a problem at all.


Also one positive to Nofap is people rarely offer you porn in bars or at events 

Although only being on day Nine of Nofap I assume that like all addictions, "This  Too shall pass"

Another thing to note, I still like cigarette smoke, I am always  aware that I will never be 100% recovered even after 10 years, this way when the exceptionally rare craving occurs I am prepared for it and avoid a relapse. 

But honestly I think about these vices so little now that they have absolutely no influence or affect on my life.