Stop at once or little by little?

Different people hold different views, but personally, I think that porn's the problem and it's abstinence from that you'd want to concentrate on. Given that you have a partner, I've heard of a few people abstaining from porn and masturbation in order to fully focus their sexuality back on their relationship, where it arguably belongs. That's ultimately your choice, as for whether you can taper down from porn?

No.

Not in my experience, and not in the experience of... Well, I can't actually recall reading a success story from someone who managed to taper off porn. It does such messed up things to ones' brain, you just have to excise it completely and just keep walkin'.

That stuff's crazy isn't it... That, to me, is absolute proof that watching pornography is a legitimate addiction with legitimate withdrawals. The brain does crazy things when starved of any addictive substance/process... When I struggled with drinking I'd find that I could go a few days while on holiday or whatnot and not even feel it, but as soon as I tried to stop for a few days all hell broke loose.
There are a lot of strange things happening in addiction that aren't fully understood yet, but I can definitely vouch for the fact that porn has a withdrawal syndrome just as prominently as alcohol and meth do (I have the dubious honour of having withdrawn from both of them over the last 5 years...)
It's directly comparable in terms of some of the symptoms. Porn doesn't have the horrible physical withdrawal symptoms attached to it but it makes you bloody CRAZY trying to get through it.

Unfortunately I can't speak as somebody who's recovered from porn as I'm really just starting out now after having left the forum earlier this year thinking I could get by without support. How wrong I was.

 

I think the answer is both.

many people give up with abstinence because they try to do everything all at once. No planning. No steps. No tempering their expectations.

nothing in life actually works like that. Lottery winners aside , let’s get real.

to drive a car you cannot start out driving without crashing.

to master any math or science you will have to make mistakes.

to create a musical composition you will need to experiment.

so is true in conquering mental apathy, escapism, and pmo warped sexual habits.

plan for it.
Also—
Plan to fail some amount of time.

This is called Grace in religious terms but ironically it’s rarely applied in defeating decade old sex habit problems.

you need to apply grace to how this will work.

porn has taught you instant gratification on a celular level in stimulating you to orgasm at supernormal speeds. To reset your speedometer and odometer you need a reset through abstinence yes , but you also need to be moderate in your expectations so that a slip does not spell doom.

Being self aware is extremely helpful because it will lead you to challenge your habits.

focus on that self awareness to make mindless habits harder to do —- the streak will come as you spend time exposing your heart. At some point you will define for you what an acceptable first try will be.

The nature of this problem means it’s impossible to shame yourself into recovery. You cannot RUSH to undo what took years to do.

It’s like bio degrading a styrofoam cup in a day. It’s not naturally possible. Nor is it realistic. You can make huge progress in a day, a month, 90 days, but you will still have a cup at the end of it.

 

I'm not a doctor but that looks like a panic attack or a case of extreme anxiety. Perhaps you should seek professional help.

Regardless of what you do, there is a question you need to ask yourself: do I get anxious because I stopped PMO or was PMO a way to relieve anxiety? This is important. If there is a baseline anxiety and you resorted to PMO to escape from it, you need to address that anxiety because no amount of abstinence is going to cure it.

People sometimes see PMO as the root of every problem when sometimes it's the other way round. PMO or other addictions, for the matter, are the consequence of problems. For example, it is no coincidence that I don't PMO whem I'm on vacation.

That said, porn addiction still needs to be addressed because it is a serious problem. You being on the forum is a good start. It means you want to address it. However, as I said, question yourself if there are other problems that also need to be addressed.

Don't give up hope. We're here for you.

 

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That is good. Therapy takes time but the fact that you acknowledge your issues and are seeking help to deal with them is a very wise decision and shows you are committed to solving them.

You are right about the holistic approach. Human behavior and the human mind are very complex and problems are seldomly isolated from each other. In my case, I am aware that if want to quit porn for good other changes have to be made in my life. I am working on making these changes but not everything depends entirely on me and even the ones that do take time. In the meantime, I find it important to continue my struggle against porn. When a lot of aspects in your life are problematic, even small achievements can be important. Of course that quitting porn would be a huge achievement, but the fact that I am here, seeking help and trying to help others to the best of my ability tells my that at least I am addressing this issue and that I took the decision to fight this addiction. I believe that making decisions is usually a step forward towards something important.