Chaser Effect

strongfuture89

Active Member
Very good question. There are many tactics so you´ll find out which tricks work best for you. So your chaser effect is caused by your brain begging for another fake dopamine shot because it just had one and is hungry for another one. First of all, know that the chaser effect is temporary. Tell yourself that this annoying chaser effect will decrease on it´s own. In two days you´ll probably think ´damn that was a difficult moment back there, luckily I feel better now´. When the cravings hit you bad, go to another room, that changes the mindset, the frame as some would call it. Then, you can do some meditation or breathing exercises to calm down. For others, doing a fitness exercise does wonders, like push-ups. If you are at home and you think the chaser effect will be there a longer time, do the Wim Hof techniques: hyperventilation-hypoventilation and a cold shower (the colder the better, but you better train it over time to go colder). If all those things are not enough, I´d say give yourself a tiny amount of dopamine from another source, like playing a game or eating something you like. Be aware not to give too much dopamine to the body at that moment, just enough to cool down the urges until the chaser effect passes. (The idea is not to change one addiction for the other, it´s about reducing your dopamine peaks gradually. Your mind wants unnatural amounts of dopamine, so you can give it small amounts of dopamine from healthier sources to handle the worst withdrawal moments better.) After some weeks, you should learn to calm your mind without dopamine alternatives.
 

Escapeandnevercomeback

Respected Member
Very good question. There are many tactics so you´ll find out which tricks work best for you. So your chaser effect is caused by your brain begging for another fake dopamine shot because it just had one and is hungry for another one. First of all, know that the chaser effect is temporary. Tell yourself that this annoying chaser effect will decrease on it´s own. In two days you´ll probably think ´damn that was a difficult moment back there, luckily I feel better now´.
This.

The urges/chaser effect etc. pass. In the moment it doesn't feel like that, it feels like an urgency, "I need to do it now!", because porn abuse creates impulsivity and instant gratification syndrome. Impulsivity, according to doctor Gabor Mate (which I recommend for anybody dealing with childhood trauma), is when between the urge and the acting out there is no space. That space is what we need. It's a good short-term tactic. One thing that works well as a short-term tactic is dopamine management. Dopamine management is when you ignore/don't give attention to the stimulus that releases the dopamine. Porn thoughts management here can become crucial, as after a PMO session, for porn addicts, dopamine doesn't drop to baseline, it drops below the baseline and you crave dopamine like crazy. But it can be done. Today I went through an episode of massive, massive urges, unbelieavable urges to edge to porn but if you learn one thing from all this is that you can actually wait until it goes away.
 

Escapeandnevercomeback

Respected Member
Actually, according to Anna Lembke (whom I recommend for anybody who wants to study dopamine and addiction), what happens to porn addicts is that their baseline of dopamine gets lower than the normal. Your baseline ends up being even lower than what it should be. And I can talk from experience what being at that level of dopamine feels like...
 

K1998

Member
Very good question. There are many tactics so you´ll find out which tricks work best for you. So your chaser effect is caused by your brain begging for another fake dopamine shot because it just had one and is hungry for another one. First of all, know that the chaser effect is temporary. Tell yourself that this annoying chaser effect will decrease on it´s own. In two days you´ll probably think ´damn that was a difficult moment back there, luckily I feel better now´. When the cravings hit you bad, go to another room, that changes the mindset, the frame as some would call it. Then, you can do some meditation or breathing exercises to calm down. For others, doing a fitness exercise does wonders, like push-ups. If you are at home and you think the chaser effect will be there a longer time, do the Wim Hof techniques: hyperventilation-hypoventilation and a cold shower (the colder the better, but you better train it over time to go colder). If all those things are not enough, I´d say give yourself a tiny amount of dopamine from another source, like playing a game or eating something you like. Be aware not to give too much dopamine to the body at that moment, just enough to cool down the urges until the chaser effect passes. (The idea is not to change one addiction for the other, it´s about reducing your dopamine peaks gradually. Your mind wants unnatural amounts of dopamine, so you can give it small amounts of dopamine from healthier sources to handle the worst withdrawal moments better.) After some weeks, you should learn to calm your mind without dopamine alternatives.
Thank you man
 

K1998

Member
This.

The urges/chaser effect etc. pass. In the moment it doesn't feel like that, it feels like an urgency, "I need to do it now!", because porn abuse creates impulsivity and instant gratification syndrome. Impulsivity, according to doctor Gabor Mate (which I recommend for anybody dealing with childhood trauma), is when between the urge and the acting out there is no space. That space is what we need. It's a good short-term tactic. One thing that works well as a short-term tactic is dopamine management. Dopamine management is when you ignore/don't give attention to the stimulus that releases the dopamine. Porn thoughts management here can become crucial, as after a PMO session, for porn addicts, dopamine doesn't drop to baseline, it drops below the baseline and you crave dopamine like crazy. But it can be done. Today I went through an episode of massive, massive urges, unbelieavable urges to edge to porn but if you learn one thing from all this is that you can actually wait until it goes away.
Thanks man
 
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