Porn Addiction!

@Leanna3333

hi, i hope you find peace of mind. lately ive been doing great regarding to porn. i think i havent watched for at least 3 months now, and havent resorted to uh, doing it to myself.

i think what helped is taking it easy, not getting swallowed up by stress and such.

have a nice day :)

-Mike

I have a similar struggle i was addicted and used it opens a door when you spend your time doing it and becomes an idol

Same to be honest

@LovelyFrog8934

I've had to read through this a few times to make sure I got it straight and I think you're misleading yourself a bit here. From what I've read and as was previously mentioned, it seems like you're rationalizing and justifying your behaviors instead of seeking any legitimate help with an addiction. Maybe I'm reading it wrong but that's how it comes across to me. When I first read the OP I honestly couldn't tell if you were looking for help or celebrating the variety of pornography that you've discovered.

Alcohol is my thing. I've been sober for six days now and I'm pretty miserable in general so bear with me if any of this comes across as harsh or bitter. I've also been through rehab twice and my second time around I had the best addictions counselor ever. The reason I say he was the best was because he openly and honestly addressed the causes of addictive behavior instead of treating addiction like it was a "disease" that you caught from somebody on the subway.

Addiction to anything is first and foremost an escape from ourselves. Yes, physical dependency on chemicals can develop quickly but ultimately addictive behavior is self-medicating for something in each of us that we don't want to feel. Whether it's loneliness, physical pain, emotional pain, trauma, a disagreeable home life, job stress, whatever, we use something addictive to escape those thoughts or feelings that we don't like. In order to effectively treat any addiction you really need to address what it is about you or your situation that made you feel like you needed to escape in the first place. If that continues to exist and fester than addictive behaviors can return very easily.

Despite the negative views that society in general has towards addicts most people in addiction are actually really good-hearted people that just couldn't find another way to deal with troubling thoughts and feelings. Someone or something makes you feel bad, you hurt, you don't want to deal with the bad feelings anymore so you do something that makes the negative feelings go away for a time. Before you know it you find yourself doing the addictive thing more and more because it's better than feeling like garbage all the time. Sometimes your escape is through the use of chemicals and your body develops a physical dependency that can feel worse than the original problem if it's not satisfied. Then you have a whole different problem.

In all likelihood you're not actually addicted to pornography itself unless you can't help but to appreciate the brilliant cinematography and artistic vision of the director. For most people pornography is just stimulation for the real addiction which is sexual gratification. As it is with any other addiction the constant desire for sexual gratification is an escape from something else, whether it be loneliness, insecurity, physical pain, feelings of inadequacy, again whatever. By comparison using pornography as stimulation for "entertaining yourself" seems relatively mild as opposed to addictions to things like alcohol, drugs, and gambling. Rarely has anyone bankrupted their family or robbed a liquor store to quell the urge for a climax.

However, as you may have read in some other posts, constant use of pornography as stimulation for sexual gratification can have some seriously damaging effects on a person's ability to perform or reach climax when they actually do have a physical partner. This can lead to issues with the partner's self-esteem (as well as your own), destroy relationships, and ruin families.

If you want to stop with the pornography then I would urge you to take a good honest look at what it is that you're trying to escape and address that first. You'll find it much easier to stop an addictive behavior if you remove the reason for it.

Good luck.