I've fried my brain since age 8 or so. I've read the introductory articles. Mostly makes sense. I have bad anxiety and depression and ED. I have no clue to what degree it's all porn-related, but to some degree it must be. Tell me, does anybody go on a reduction course? Or does everybody go cold turkey? (I got off opioids and benzos a couple years ago, and it took a long time to reduce safely.)
Welcome, Congrats on coming here! There are people going on reduction course, do that if that's what useful to you. I had ED and PMO played greatly in it --> stop pmo and you'll probably see ED no more or at least greatly reduced : ) (a healthy lifestyle and body helps in that case too )
There's no danger in going cold turkey like with certain drugs or alcohol. It will still be hard (lol), but I think a lot of people would recommend it. Ultimately, whatever helps you make progress to quitting is good!
There is a difference in the type of addiction caused by PMO and opioids. Opioids give you a physical dependency, your body starts to need them to function and it can be dangerous to just stop them. PMO is more if a psychological addiction, you don't physically need it but your body is addicted to the rush. It is still difficult to go cold turkey but the danger if you don't is that you don't let your brain reboot fully and you risk slipping back into bad habits.
I knew I had to go cold turkey after many many many resets and relapses. I would start just looking and not masterbating, then it was just masterbating to images, then M to non-hard core, then I would be right back in it because after a while the non-hardcore wasn't arousing enough.
Thanks, guys. I wonder if there are any data, or if it's even possible to estimate, how much a relapse hurts your streak?
Damn, I see now that somehow I have posted this in the wrong thread. I don't know if I can move it myself.
Thanks! You can set up a counter using the link at the top ^^ "Update Day Counter". Here's a link too: https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?pages/pmo-counter/ Once you fill that in, it should automatically add to your signature.