For the past 2 weeks, I have tried and failed to stop watching porn. I've been masturbating excessively to where I have pain. I cant seem to fight the urges to watch porn. It is ruining my self esteem and my life. I need advice on how to overcome urges, what you did to stop watching porn, and just general motivation, etc. When I was on nofap a month ago, I made it 178 days without masturbating. I have since tried to masturbate without porn, which was working great. But then if course porn came onto the equation and I'm back at square one. Here's some backstory on my addiction. My parents got divorced when I was in 3rd grade, and it was and still is deeply traumatic for me. My dad and his mom used to emotionally and psychologically abuse me, and they still do. Needless to say, I dont have a good relationship with my dad. I developed severe anxiety, especially social anxiety. I also developed a stutter that makes things even worse. I found out about porn shortly after and used it to cope. I have been addicted to porn since I was 9 years old. I cant stand it anymore. I wany a better life for myself. Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
100% yes. Porn is a drug. And like other drugs it helps to mask the pain. I know a lot of my addiction has to do with family/childhood issues. I’m really sorry to hear that you are back in your addiction. But you had a super long streak going. Much longer than I have ever gone. Have you sought out professional help to discuss your childhood trauma? The reason I ask is that I didn’t start changing my mindset or having any success around my addiction until I sought a trained sex addiction counselor and started processing.
I would, but given that I'm just a teenager, I'd have to talk to my mom about it. That would be pretty awkward haha
Understood. That would certainly be a tough conversation. But it may be worth it if you can get the help you need. You don’t necessarily have to tell your mom you are dealing with porn addiction. You can simply be honest about the effect your parents divorce had on you and that you need some help. Any professional counselor will be able to help you deal with the after effects of the divorce and help you deal with the porn addiction. Trust me you don’t want to take these issues into adulthood if you can deal with them now. Porn addiction does not get more mild over time.