No dopamine released by porn

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escapeandnevercomeback

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universe1 said:
Stay strong! I worked with a therapist and he mentioned something that really stuck with me.

the trauma that you cause to yourself through mental and emotional stresses manifests itself as symptoms of anxiety and depression up to 3 days later. So if you compound that with the years of negative behavior reenforced by dopamine and pmo, think about how long your recovery may take!

Thats not to say its impossible, this theory looses its usefulness when we get into extreme patterns (5+ years, etc.) but what I can say is that it took me a year to get to a better place after awakening from a porn addiction that I was blind to for over 15 years. I have still had struggles even after divorcing myself from porn, but what I can say is that with faith in the science and support systems we develop we can make it to a better place and turn our backs on the pain we have caused ourselves. 

It is amazing to me after self-reflecting how much self-harm I caused myself (thinking it was self-pleasure at the time!) in the sense of emotional abuse and turning away from friends and family over and over again.

best of luck!
M.

That's right, man. It's crazy how we inflict damage to ourselves while we think we experience pleasure.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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One week without doing anything stupid but it's getting tough. It's on from now on. The craving started.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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Jack89 said:
Don?t do it, the pleasure is tiny compared to how you will feel when you?re free and the feeling afterward will be awful. Try to do something to keep your mind off it and treat your mind like a school bully.

That's right, man. The short term pleasure doesn't deserve the days of misery.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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Understanding how this addiction works is the key of success. Porn is a button we push to give ourselves a dopamine high. The solution then becomes clear: We must stop pushing the button to get a dopamine high. Complete starvation of the addicted brain is the way to go, until porn dies in our head. It's one simple thing to do (but hard to do at the same time): No dopamine released by porn. It's very important understanding what porn is: Video, pictures and hyper sexual thoughts (porn flashbacks, porn induced fantasies). We can't make flashbacks and fantasies not come to our head for now because it's a symptom of withdrawal but we must not engage with it because this releases dopamine. We can't control porn because the definition of addiction is that the drug is in control. Therefore we must not try to control porn use, we must eradicate it completely. The one who has a different opinion about this is trying to give himself an excuse to avoid the inevitable suffering that comes with completely starving the addicted brain.

 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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Very tempted to forget about everything and go for the dopamine pleasure.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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Damn, man, yesterday was hard. I had craving and urges all day long and mentally I was pretty messed up. It's probably the fact that I'm trying to quit alcohol and porn at the same time, a thought that didn't occur to me until later. I was agitated as fuck all day.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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My mood fluctuates from being agitated to being depressed, anxious and then feeling completely fine. The craving for porn is strong. This manifests in hard arousal and the voice that tells me: "Masturbate to thoughts because it's not the same as watching. Make it work somehow. Don't make it too pornographic. Don't watch the video from your head as a third person view. Do it in first person and it's not a relapse." This is a trap to get me binge. I've been there. This withdrawal makes me feel like I must grab the pleasure now or relapse just to stop the pain of having to endure arousal and mood swings.
 
Hey mate,

Just seen your reply to my post... thank you so much for the support. Well done for getting this far, the urges do die down after a while. If I were to give you advice I would say you should have a phrase to repeat to yourself when you get the urge to PMO. Whist I have lost most of my urges now, on the second week I used to repeat "I will not let porn ruin my future relationships". The reason I said this is because I suffer from P induced delayed ejaculation, and if I don't quit PMO now I will have a hard time having normal relationships. Maybe work out what phase you should use.

I hope this is at least slightly useful, and hope to hear back from you. Have a good day and stay strong.

Best,
Matt
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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mattmatt1998 said:
Hey mate,

Just seen your reply to my post... thank you so much for the support. Well done for getting this far, the urges do die down after a while. If I were to give you advice I would say you should have a phrase to repeat to yourself when you get the urge to PMO. Whist I have lost most of my urges now, on the second week I used to repeat "I will not let porn ruin my future relationships". The reason I said this is because I suffer from P induced delayed ejaculation, and if I don't quit PMO now I will have a hard time having normal relationships. Maybe work out what phase you should use.

I hope this is at least slightly useful, and hope to hear back from you. Have a good day and stay strong.

Best,
Matt

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

Guest
Yeah, I relapsed to flashbacks. I couldn't resist the urges anymore but I decided not to watch porn and only do it thinking about porn. I've realized I don't have a plan to deal with hard urges and I thought I had one. Fuckin bullshit. When the high is over, the misery takes over. Now I'm depressed, tired and anxious.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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I am not too fucked up, maybe because I didn't binge yesterday. It's better that I did it to flashbacks and not watching but it pisses me off  :mad: I need to make my plan better. Earlier I heard in my head: "You could do it again to flashbacks because you are not fucked up so there is no problem." Fuckin sweet talk, man! I can't believe it. I won't keep counters and count the day anymore. The idea is that I started on February 14 and starting with this day I don't want to watch porn anymore. I haven't so far, I haven't watched anything but I need to stop playing porn in my head.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

Guest
Second day masturbating to porn flashbacks. I can't stop this shit. It's so much a part of me like walking. I've been doing it since I was a kid. It took about 5 minutes. 1 months without alcohol this is the only good thing in this shit. FUCK
 

TheHeartacheKid

Active Member
Hey man.  Hang in there.  You're not watching P so that is a good thing, but you can see how your mind is trying to get you to settle.  It's the same tricks and bullshit.  But you're making progress.  Not watching P IS progress.  So remember that.  And use that good feeling to help you stave off the other temptations.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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TheHeartacheKid said:
Hey man.  Hang in there.  You're not watching P so that is a good thing, but you can see how your mind is trying to get you to settle.  It's the same tricks and bullshit.  But you're making progress.  Not watching P IS progress.  So remember that.  And use that good feeling to help you stave off the other temptations.

Thanks, man. I appreciate the support.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

Guest
I have an annoying, lingering craving. It's sad how yesterday I gave in to a small craving that was nothing in comparison to what urges and craving I had resisted. Maybe because I haven't actually watched porn for two weeks. But I need to do something about giving in to masturbation to flashbacks.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

Guest
Mentally I actually feel pretty good. My mind works pretty well and my anxiety is surprisingly low. It's like those two MO sessions to flashbacks didn't even happen and maybe I should really act like they didn't even happen. But I need to stop doing that shit. They are my brain's attempt to get dopamine and this is porn behavior that I try to avoid. I've been tempted today to watch porn because I haven't actually watched porn for 2 weeks and the brain craves real, visual porn. But I've made the decision to actually never watch real porn again, even if it happens to MO to flashbacks, I don't want to watch again. Of course I don't want to MO to flashbacks anymore.
 
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escapeandnevercomeback

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I've felt like shit all day long. I don't know why this shift all of a sudden. Yesterday I felt pretty good. I've felt lethargic, with a lot of anxiety, no mood for anything.
 
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