Hello, I have two weeks since I took my final decision to quit watching pornography and masturbate on it. But today I felt a hard craving while I was alone at home and I ended up masturbating, but I tried to do it without watching any porn just me and my brain doing it, and even avoided recalling old scenes that came to my mind. I’m asking if what I did is ok, because it really helped me overcome my craving to watch pornography, well it didn’t feel that good I used to feel while doing it OP but I would do it once every two weeks until I overcome it for good. I hope I get some helpful answers.
I wouldn't recommend it my friend, at least for a very long while. I tried to just masturbate w/o porn not too long ago, and I thought I was fine at first immediately after. There was little guilt and no eye strain from staring at the images. However, not long after, I woke very sore and unmotivated to do anything productive. It was also not long after that I found myself craving more and more for P-Subs, and unfortunately even porn at one point. Imagine a sugar addict taking sip after sip out of a can of coke. Eventually he's either gonna drink the whole thing out (relapse but slower) or he's gonna try to drink a big sip out of it (full indulgence). Either way it will lead to a loss-loss situation and leave you completely drained of energy. So I wouldn't recommend doing it for a VERY long time (at least give it 3 full months idk) for your body to recover.
My doctor said it is healthy to do it once a week when you wake up with morning wood you can do it. But let me remind you, just like alcohol can be okay for use in moderate use, any alcoholist cannot stay put on this moderate use, it returns him sooner or later back into his addiction. So its all up to you, if you are strong enough to not slip back, and if you even consciously decide that this is the right thing to do or if its just your inner addict trying to lure you back in step by step.
Masturbation begets porn honestly. I think 100 years ago it was probably easier to manage, but now, especially if you have a history of masturbating with porn for >one year, masturbation often leads to porn. I think the best analogy is alcohol as well. Alcoholics are trying to quit heavy drinking and a dependence on alcohol, not having a social drink once a week, but successful quitters usually don't have any at all. You have one beer your inhibitions will be lowered and it will be easier to have more and more. Same with masturbation, in your aroused state your inhibitions are also lowered immensely, so porn is much harder to avoid using. Before nofap, I had stopped to quit porn for a long time and just M, but each time I came back to it, because it is too hard to no watch porn in that aroused state. It wasn't until I decided to also quit masturbation that I was able to successfully break away from porn, and I couldn't be happier with that decision. I don't think masturbation is necessarily unnatural or shameful (though it can on itself become addictive), but it leads to porn which in my opinion is. Plus I guarantee all of the social anxiety/confidence/motivation benefits of quitting both are much stronger without any, while perhaps sexual dysfunction could be solved by just taking out porn on its own. IMO those benefits are huge so I would definitely recommend doing no PMO, not just no porn. But I will say if all you are capable of is just no porn and you truly are able to have masturbation not lead to it, by all means cut out porn for sure, its 10x worse. Its just cutting out porn is easier and more effective by also cutting out masturbation/arousal through fantasy.
that would be better than masturbating alone, but many here can truely benifit from the rewiring that comes from hardmode.
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with me, I will definitely follow your advices. I guess It's a bit too early for such a thing, I'm 18.
I had those urges on the first month to comeback to M but no P, i would say no. It will start giving your fantasies and slowly you'll comeback to the entire pack thing
No, it's not healthy. And besides, masturbation for a porn addict is like a beer for a heroin addict. Just don't. (This is true, they can't drink wine or beer it's dangerous for them and it can cause a strong relapse.)
Every single time I tried to MO without P, I slowly but surely descended back into full time PMO. Absolutely not an option for me. Some people do it though, and honestly I would encourage you to find out what works best for you. Although, like others have said, I also think comparing this to an alcoholic trying to just have a few drinks on a saturday makes a lot of sense. It's a nobrainer for many. Take care and good luck.
Yes I was thinking like you at first that's it's OK but then I realized that the momentum however is created and that led me to have even stronger urges and then I found myself relapsing over and over again just because of that one single relapse.
Depends on what? Please be more clear. I appreciate everyone who gave me an advice, I really took them on consideration.
There is a fundamental difference between quitting substance abuse (like alcoholism) compared to sex addiction. The goal of the former is to never drink again but the goal for recovering from sex addiction is not becoming a monk. Initially it is recommended to avoid all kinds of sex for a period 90 days to let your body & brain have a break from sexual stimuli, followed by re-claiming your sexuality by carefully start practicing healthy sexual behaviors. That includes having sex with a partner or masturbate without porn if you are single.
What does healthy mean? How often do you plan on doing it? What method do you plan on using (prone vs standard, death grip or not, lotion vs dry)? Do you have negative opinions about MO? Does your religion/culture allow it or forbid it? Do you plan on quitting PMO eventually, or do you only want to quit P? Do you only have a problem with P? When people ask very open-ended "should" questions, I tend to reply with one-word answers. Is it okay for me to drink alcohol?
Maybe. I have shifted my priorities to quit porn but I don't think ejaculating is something that could help someone quit porn in the long run. Having the energy(protein) to do daily activities or regular work is important. It helps you gain control over you emotions like boredom or depression
No matter how strong one person becomes that is not going to help, if you become/are addicted to a substance, thing, alcohol, gambling or in our case pmo. Because everything is starting to go downhill from that point on. So the idea of doing pmo to feel happy is imaginary as it might feel as happiness at first (although it's not, it's just dopamine superrush) but at the end all it remains is regret.
Yes sir, that's what I exactly was referring to. My body is requesting M even without porn and I was asking how can I manage it or if It isn't healthy anyway. I don't really care about religious or ethical beliefs about it, and I don't think it's the right place to discuss this, I'll leave it to myself! What I understood from your answer and from everyone's else is that I better quit everything for good and just wait for the right moment to have a natural sex. Thank you very much for your answer!
This is a big trap, I really think you should reformulate it, I get your idea but people can misunderstand this. I tell you why! Because personally I thought I was managing watching porn once a day and 15 minutes average, but, when I decided to quit it wasn't only an activity that I manage. I fell in my brain's trap. When I navigate porn sites, I'm conscious doing it and I know what comes after, but am I the person who took the decision? No! It's my desire that I'm following, I was feeling it was me, but the reality is that I'm a slave to my demons ( metaphorically ).