36 months - Will I ever heal ?

Not true. Porn really messes with the brain for some of us and it takes a really long time to recover.

The only thing that will progress recovery is abstinence from porn and masturbation. Everything else you wrote doesn't have anything to do with it.

 

While I agree that porn really messes up with the brain for some/most of us, people really should take action and get a job or go back to school once the anhedonia and PAWS symptoms get lighter the longer you go on a streak. I'm not saying it'll completely solve the issue, but it's important to self-care and be pro-active in life when you can and are able to.

Also, it'll help with implementing habits in your life so you don't relapse.

 

...or they can just play videogames for 18 hours a day, it doesn't matter.
If you stop PMO progress will eventually come with time no matter what you do. That's what I learned after 14 months abstinence.

Anything else is mental masturbation.

 

I'm not denying that. I'm just saying that abstaining from pmo alone isn't enough. Abstaining from pmo plus being productive is gonna work. If he's gonna watch series all day long he will eventually get back to pmo.

 

How do you know he will get back to PMO?

 

There's a great chance because if he's watching series all day long he's bombarding his brain with dopamine rushes and soon these movies won't do enough for him anymore, they won't bring him pleasure like they used to because the brain eventually adapts to whatever situation that's in front of it. So, he'll get bored with watching series and crave pmo. Pmo isn't the only source of dopamine rush. Although it's the most potent, but there are also other things such as watching movies, playing games all day long, eating lots of sugar, junk food and so on. If you're abstaining from pmo that's great, but it also depends what you're doing all day long that's going to ultimately determine whether your reboot is going to be successful or not. Watching movies or series or whatever all day long can spike the same amount of dopamine as watching p for half an hour for example. For best results it's better to combine abstaining from pmo with other healthier activities such as running, traveling, training, studying and so on. This way recovery will be much faster and more efficient.

 

I don't think what you've saying is true. I've played videogames much more than watched porn and never got any withdrawals when I stopped

 

I agree 100% with this and the other responses that mentioned dopamine detox. I had the same exact thing happen to me a couple weeks ago. I watched a couple sports games on tv- I then came out of paws for a couple days and experienced immense pmo urges for a full week. I think it was from the numerous dopamine hits I was getting. I'm trying to craft a lifestyle of the things you mentioned: studying, reading, exercising. Have you been able to sustain this long-term? Also, what are some the differences you see if you cut the other high stimulus activities out vs not?

 

That is true, but wouldn't someone (or you) want other habit outlets to cement into your brain only once you start feeling the brain fog lifting and your mood starts changing, giving you signs that the neuroplasticity of the brain is changing and then you can start branching into other habits to cement further abstinence streak progress?

I don't think 18 hours of gaming a day is good for anyone, I don't care who you are. However if you're so brain fogged and feeling like shit, I get why you would do that. I would want to do nothing but game all day too. I actually do that and go to a part-time job. It's not easy, so believe me I feel your pain.

My plan is to get out more this summer as I abstain while gaming and working at once.

 

Ok then, play games all day long and you'll see where this is gonna get you. Playing games isn't gonna get you anywhere. But to where you are right now... At losing place.

 

Playing games for 18 hours a day is far worse than doing pmo for half an hour and you study or work out for other 17 hours.

 

Well, reading and exercising really helps and I try to do them both every day. Also, when I'm not eating sugar and don't watch tv as often and eat healthier, I start to see that I dont have such big urges. I always used to have enormous urges when I drank energy drinks, so I stopped drinking them and I feel much better now.