I am addicted to porn and I need help

Things that have helped me:
The videos on yourbrainonporn.com
Listing my triggers and situations when i used to PMO and then actively avoiding those.
Finding something else to do to keep me occupied.

Take it one day at a time!

 

Cravings are going to stop after some time, you just have to stay away from porn and masturbation long enough.

Delete all your locally stored porn, and setup your DNS to disallow porn site browsing. Google "Open DNS family shield", it is very easy to set up. Don't linger around computer when you are alone with nothing to do. Go outside. Get a pair of walking/hiking shoes and walk, or get a bicycle and get out there.

Keep in mind you don't have to fight it forever. You just have to fight it for long enough, and then it will get easier.

 

I relapsed about 10-15 times this past week and a half. Now, I wonder what the hell i was thinking. Work stress really got to me. other things as well. Yeah, that feeling of whats the use and it doesn't matter now has fallen me. Tomorrow or tomorrow;i'll start again. I have to remember this past year with all the noPMO time I did get under my belt. Just stop now;again. Rubber band on wrist again. Committment to cold showers again. Adds as a good reminder. Get back up on the horse ! I suck at typing, thats why I share so little. I will read and read these posts and wish everyone the best. Should start my own thread to follow my thoughts. I jump on other threads and then just reply when the feeling hits. i went about 165 days. I cheated acouple within those days with porn looking. Very little and no MO. Can't say that any longer.

 

I hate to be the guy that posts a link but you should read this.
http://www.yourbrainrebalanced.com/index.php?topic=15558.0

It is a long post, but it is something everyone on this site should read or have read.

 

For me it is two weeks of nofap now, with at least one wet dream in the mix. I can feel the strength and sense of purpose within myself from just this much. I have learned so much more about addiction psychology during this time, since I am replacing many of the PMO urges with learning about what is causing the urge in the first place. At this point my semi-informed opinion would be this:
1. Addiction is always about self image. There is a deeply embedded sense of not being worthy, and this usually manifests as a powerful feeling of insecurity and need for some form of closure.
2. The addictive substance (porn, coke, C2H5OH, food, work) fires up the reward center in the brain. As a child, the addict stumbles upon this, and finds how pleasurable it feels. So she/he starts repeating the behavior in order to feel the pleasure again and again, simply to achieve the closure that their inner insecurity demands.
3. Long term addiction rewires the reward center in the brain, and only the addictive substance appears to fire up the reward center, but only when the dosage is increased. More coke, more food, more porn or more variety in porn, etc.
4. It is possible to start rewiring your reward center. Being mindful is a very good way to set about this. Each time the open ended feeling of insecurity shows up, which you usually fill with the addictive substance, be alert and mindful as long as you can. If you fail, that's okay, as long as you remember to be mindful just a little more each time.
5. It is possible to entirely reverse the pathology to the brain caused by addictive behavior, simply by being aware of the behavior as it manifests. Again, mindfulness to the rescue. The intense discomfort of resisting your addiction is actually because your addiction related neural network is firing on all cylinders, and your reward center is demanding a hit. Once you start seeing your discomfort as brain rewiring, you start slowly being okay with it. This process takes time for most people.
6. More mindfulness meditation = more results. Learning to simply be in the present moment, and learning to gently nudge your attention back to the present, no matter what thoughts drag it away, is your best bet against any addiction. Once this faculty of moving your attention from a thought to the present moment becomes established, you can do so with ease when the addictive thought shows up.
7. Addiction removal is only a fraction of the story. There is a wonderful life full of love, friends, harmony and energetic accomplishment that being addiction free is all about. To actively start living this life without waiting for the addiction to be gone is the proper way. Every added measure of energy you get from not indulging in your addiction must be devoted to living your ideal life. Now.

 

ds112358: that's a great link, thanks!

 

A few things that I've implemented since joining this site are:

1) Set my homepage to http://www.nofap.org/forum/forum.php
2) I'm keeping my door open at all times to make it hard to PMO. I live with two female roommates.
3) Bookmarked http://emergency.nofap.org - it works best if you don't keep hitting refresh but take what you need from it and move on.
4) I'm taking cold showers.
5) I did some research on http://www.yourbrainonporn.com and watched the Ted talks videos there.
6) I'm reading/posting as much as I can on this forum.
7) I'm keeping a daily journal and created a counter to track my progress.
8) I wear a rubber band on my wrist that I snap whenever I have a sexual thought or become aroused.
9) I flex all of my muscles rhythmically whenever I feel like I'm going to get an erection to direct blood flow away from it.
10) I've watched "Sacred Sexuality" videos on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/user/SacredS...sort=da&view=0

Hope this helps.

God bless!

- vM