NoFap and Mental Health

DETWK · Jul 14, 2020

Can NoFap improve your mental health? Can it help cope with or even possibly help cure certain disorders such as depression, anxiety, panic, and paranoia? If yes, is there any proof? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PegasusKid · Jul 14, 2020

Well I'm kinda new to being on a decent streak(believe it or not this is my longest streak so far) but generally I would advise caution with depending on NoFap to improve mental health significantly on its own. It can certainly play a part, but as the getting started guide says, rebooting isn't necessarily a treatment for all kinds of psychological problems. As a matter of fact, after a while you may experience what's called flatline, which can feel similar to depression as you have pretty much no libido and in some cases, general fatigue and low energy which is already how depression can feel. This goes away though and the lack of libido can actually be a relief so I wouldn't worry too much about it. The same way exercise alone or therapy alone or socializing more alone won't cure mental issues, same goes with NoFap. These things together however can be extremely powerful. The real power in NoFap isn't just not masturbating, its redirecting that time and energy into more productive, healthier habits. NoFap can give you that boost of confidence and self-control that enables you to go after the other things you want in life. And for context, I've dealt with depression, anxiety, paranoia, and ptsd for about the last 10 years so I'm also using NoFap as a piece of the puzzle to heal myself.

DETWK · Jul 14, 2020

PegasusKid said: ↑

Well I'm kinda new to being on a decent streak(believe it or not this is my longest streak so far) but generally I would advise caution with depending on NoFap to improve mental health significantly on its own. It can certainly play a part, but as the getting started guide says, rebooting isn't necessarily a treatment for all kinds of psychological problems. As a matter of fact, after a while you may experience what's called flatline, which can feel similar to depression as you have pretty much no libido and in some cases, general fatigue and low energy which is already how depression can feel. This goes away though and the lack of libido can actually be a relief so I wouldn't worry too much about it. The same way exercise alone or therapy alone or socializing more alone won't cure mental issues, same goes with NoFap. These things together however can be extremely powerful. The real power in NoFap isn't just not masturbating, its redirecting that time and energy into more productive, healthier habits. NoFap can give you that boost of confidence and self-control that enables you to go after the other things you want in life. And for context, I've dealt with depression, anxiety, paranoia, and ptsd for about the last 10 years so I'm also using NoFap as a piece of the puzzle to heal myself.
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Hey man, very much appreciate your reply. I hear you. I need more in my life other than NoFap to really improve. I've implemented a lot of other self improvement techniques to my daily routine. Martial arts, weight lifting, running, breathing exercises, meditation, cold showers, primal scream therapy, reading, writing, drawing, etc. and I also take SSRI's for major depression and general anxiety. I think the other things I experience like paranoia and OCD are caused by those so I'm trying to kind of eliminate them at the source. I guess I kind of made this post out of desperation, to be honest. Hoping that NoFap could be kind of the final piece of the puzzle. I think maybe CBT could be useful too so I may try that out. I just came out of my longest streak too. 1 month. But that was just my first try, I'm thinking if I did that on my first try and now kind of know what to expect I can make 90 days. I'm about a week in right now. Thanks again for your reply, brother, and congratulations on making your current streak your longest. Keep up the good work!

ahighertruth · Jul 14, 2020

yes it does. mental disorders are a challenge for many of us with them because masturbation does aggravate existing conditions. i would cut out masturbation period from your life if you suffer OCD/anxiety. its going to make it worse.

DETWK · Jul 14, 2020

TheOA said: ↑

Hey, this subject hits home so get cozy for a rant.

Healing is not easy, ups and downs. I myself have been dealing with OCD for many years, sometimes mild depression, social anxiety etc. I think no PMO can really help, not only is watching porn very distressing, at least for me, I get loads of obsessions etc. I'm guessing others too, it also destroys self-respect and honor, which is disastrous when it comes to mental health IMO. Then physiologically the semen retention aspect also most certainly has many benefits to it (dopamine, serotonin, etc.)

All in all I would say if you're hoping to improve mentally you need to think about your way of living in general:
How you eat, sleep, exercise, meditate, do you hate your job? Do you have supportive and strong relationships? Are you maybe close to nature?
All of these don't need to be perfect, you might not be able to change your job right now, but you can improve other factors. Maybe you don't need to start living in the mountains but you can implement spending more time in nature. You may not want to start looking for new friends but you can try improving the relationships you already have, being kinder, trying to serve people.

The way you see life and yourself dictates how you feel, and bad food, bad environment, toxic people, or toxic things (porn), can, by messing up your brain, make you see life and yourself very poorly: depression, OCD, anxiety, etc.
I think by implementing all of those things, you can heal most of it, not striving for perfect but for better mental health. So I, myself, strive to be a person I can respect and honor, PMO isn't allowing me to do any of that so I cut it out, and I also try to improve all of the other aspects.
Godspeed!
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I really appreciate your insight, brother. You've given me a lot to think about. I've focused a lot of time working on internal improvement but haven't given the external as much thought. Definitely need to sit down and evaluate what I could work on changing in that aspect. Being more in touch with a nature is a big one I'd like to change. I want to plan a bow hunting trip soon and kill my own food to gain a better respect for the animals and the process. Thank you for your reply. Also, as for the OCD, as far as I'm aware its relatively new to me. At least the current severity of it. Do you have any advice on dealing with the more intrusive and uncomfortable thoughts? I've heard ERP is big but I haven't looked much into it yet.

Renew_1990 · Apr 23, 2021

I think ultimately it does.
But for me, the first 2 weeks of a streak actually make me less stable, more anxious and generally feel like shit.
Once I get through that im better off than I was pre-nofap
So for me, if im going to do nofap it has to be for long enough to see the positive effects. Little 5-10 day streaks actually makes me worst.

MagoriumsEmporium · Oct 20, 2022

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NoFap and Mental Health

DETWK Fapstronaut

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