Question for drug addicts

In some ways PMO addiction is worse than drug addiction, because most people have a sex drive. Nobody has a heroine drive until they abuse heroine.

On the other hand, it seems like most addictive drugs are more difficult to quit than PMO, but it depends on the individual. Some people are more likely to become addicted than others.

 

In terms of severity they're almost the same. It takes around a decade for each of pmo and drugs to turn a healthy person into a wreck. Only symptoms might be little different.

In terms of quitting pmo is much harder to quit. pmo is linked to a survival instinct which is deep rooted in our genetics. Drugs are only linked to pleasure and that's not necessary in terms of survival.

In terms of moral pmo is also worse. People know drugs are bad. Those who consume probably know what they will turn to in couple of years. Porn is considered safe and even promoted by science.

 

I'm an alcoholic with four years of sobriety by the grace of God.

First of all, make no mistake that drug addiction will destroy your life much worse than sex addiction and it's not even close. You are poisoning your brain, central nervous system, and organs. You have the potential to kill people and/or spend a substantial amount of time in jail if you are driving. You are completely destroying your finances. It wrecks your personal relationships and your career. I got bad enough that when I stopped drinking cold turkey it nearly ended up killing me and the withdrawal was the worst agony I've ever experienced by far. Drug addiction is no joke and not to be taken lightly.

The main problem with sex addiction is that it is insidious. By and large people probably don't consider it an addiction and I would go as far to say that most people ON THIS SITE don't even treat it like an addiction. A large portion of people freak out because their dicks stop working, find their way here, post for a bit whining about how they're not cured after 5 days, start bitching about how nofap/retention is bullshit, and then disappear.

The only reason I've had success with my own retention goals is because I'm familiar with addiction and already got sober once. I had to stop drinking because I knew one way or another death would be coming for me quickly if I didn't. If I had never been an alcoholic I probably wouldn't have been able to achieve a week of retention.

 

Another difference that I've noticed is that drug or alcohol addiction is less embarrassing to discuss in real life than porn addiction. Have you found that to be true? Alcohol addiction is understood to be an illness with genetic predisposition whereas porn addiction is considered to be entirely a weakness of character. There are far more support groups for alcoholics such as AA meetings than there are for porn addicts even though porn addiction is probably more common than alcohol addiction.

On the other hand, the fact that alcohol use is culturally acceptable and openly practiced makes it difficult. I know a lot of people whom I consider to have drinking problems, but they merely consider themselves to be fun-loving drinkers.

All these forms of addiction seem to have unique challenges. Congratulations for your success in fighting your addictions. Your counter shows a pretty amazing streak.

 

Being able to get things off the chest is a gift. Many former drug addicts confess their addictions freely. The most famous and important one to me is Robert Downey jr.
Society acts cool if you were a alcohol addict but not that cool about porn addiction. At least you can't talk about it freely and this sucks because it remains a dark area of our life and you are always scared of it to be revealed. Also confessing lessens the pain and we don't have this option either.

 

I just see it as two different outcomes. An unchecked drug addiction can potentially lead to death or jail time. An unchecked porn addiction can potentially lead to jail time and being an outcast from society for the rest of your life. But I see both addictions as an unhealthy way to seek comfort from the real world.

as far as which one is worse that’s a matter of perspective. Would you prefer potentially being dead from an overdose or living with the shame of being an offender but having at least a chance to try and redeem yourself to a world that may see you as irredeemable? Obviously I’m looking at the extremes not all drug addicts overdose and not all porn addicts act out on horrible things. But we do know both can escalate and both can lead to very dark places.

 

I hope one day society will start seeing porn addiction as a real thing. I don’t think that’s gonna happen until we have a day when there’s more people in prison for sex crimes then there is for anything else. The concept of internet porn is still fairly new to us as a society and I think as of now we are starting to see the effect it’s had on us. It’s probably going to get worse. But it’s gotta get worse before it can get better right?

 

I concur with the statement that support is more readily available to drug addicts than sex addicts. In my past life I would overwhelmingly get looks of sadness from other people (both acquaintances and strangers) as opposed to disgust when I would act the drunk fool. It is not easy to watch anybody, even a stranger, willfully try to commit suicide in the slowest most agonizing way possible. I'm not a crusader for sobriety and I don't go around preaching but I have opened up to people regarding my past. Whenever I do people seem to appreciate it.

Going around telling people I used to wax my carrot too much and that I'm done forever?!! Yeah no thanks...

I'll reiterate again what I said earlier about sex addiction being insidious. With drug addiction, over a long enough period of time you get to a point where you realize "if I don't stop doing this I'm going to die soon". My hunch is there is a higher success rate of beating drug addiction as opposed to sex addiction strictly based off that fact alone.

 

Because of alcohol I went to jail 3 times. And lost 2 really good jobs. Cause mayhem to my family and friends. Alcohol made me physically sick. Makes me throw up. I have to take medicine if I drink too much. I can get mentally unhealthy if I drink too much. I loose my temper easily and say things I don't mean. I crashed 2 cars and got 2 dui.

Because of porn. I feel bad and depress sometimes. I like to hide and not socialize. I can sexualize woman on the street and it can be embarrassing if I get caught staring. Growing up all my clothes was staind. I felt weaker than my friends. I missed out on real life events because I wanted to stay home to pmo. My confidence gets low.

Overall alcohol was much worse in my life than porn. Not being able to quit porn does suck. But being in jail because I drank too much is not fun.

 

I can say alcohol and pot were so, so, so much easier to tackle down than pmo, as I'm still struggling with it.

 

Hard drugs are worst than PMO even feel better than sex because they release more dopamine in the brain, it's constant gratification and they create dependency it means the body physically needs it just like it needs water, if the body suddenly stops its use you could die. If you go cold turkey on heroin you could have seizures, the same thing happens to heavy alcohol users. They need drugs like methadone to be able to endure leaving the drug.

People on hard drugs usually are unable to function and live a normal life they live on the streets their life its all about the next fix nothing else matters.

Also the extreme damaging effects hard drugs have on your body and brain you could even die because of them, it's more bad these effects than the ones of PMO.

And much harder to quit drugs than porn, very few people are able to leave crack cocaine.

 

I don't think you can compare one addiction to another for this simple reason: You can't even compare one addict to another, including those with the same addiction.

Certainly there are those who have been addicted to some kind of substance (which?) as well as porn, (which is not the same as actual sex) and even with that person you have to ask are they predisposed to one or the other more for whatever reason?

Someone I know who is a retired addiction counselor, he told me of a well respected figure in the recovery world who has admitted to a sex addiction. So apparently this is a person who has kicked all substance issues but currently or as of the time this was told to me has an issue with sex addiction. Does that automatically mean sex addiction (which is again, not identical with porn anyway) is 'worse' than drugs? Or does it just mean it is, AT THIS TIME more of an issue for this person for various reasons?

Know your enemy is of course a figure of speech, it isn't literally a person or even a "thing" that is your enemy. Trauma and psychological issues all contribute to a given person acting out on whatever addiction.

Why should we think in terms of some imaginary single metric that measures every addiction as to what is 'worse' (meaningful in what way ..?) anyway? I would think the goal is to overcome it, which is going to require specifics that are different (to a degree) depending on the addiction, and also depending on the individual. If the individual and individualized consideration didn't matter 12 Step groups would not need the sponsorship model, and counseling wouldn't be a thing in the professional recovery world right?

 

Suppose somebody put a gun to my head and gave me a choice: either relapse and drink a bottle of whiskey or relapse and rub one out. I would choose to relapse to sex addiction ten times out of ten. With sex addiction I can always climb back on the horse. With alcohol my next drink could lead me into a downward spiral that ends with my premature death.

The example might be a little outrageous but I can't think of an easier way to get my point across.

 

I agree 100 percent. If I relapse on pmo I can feel better in about 21 days. If I relapse on alcohol. To be truthful I won't feel better for months. In my opinion pmo can be extremely damaging as well and is better to just quit all vices.

 

Believe it or not the point already got across and there is no questioning the details of this kind of first hand experience. It's interesting there is Porn Addicts Anonymous though, which of course implies it doesn't include actual sex and other fellowships actually has the word sex in the name.

PMO is of course simulated sex. There is no simulated drinking that consists of some of the sensory stimulation of alcohol without actual alcohol. While this site sometimes does talk about things like going to escorts and the like, if we leave drugs out of it and just compare sexual behavior obviously actual sex with another person of whatever form also cannot be compared with PMO - and the OP does mention porn, not sex addiction.

So with porn it's even one step further removed from sex addiction. We can't seriously think only the screen/visuals matter and the chemical exchange of phermones etc. doesn't. With drugs and alcohol of course there is a direct influence on the chemistry of the body. PMO does stimulate your own body to produce certain chemicals but there is not a direct external input. I think about stuff like opiate receptors and similarly with pot, the body does something with it without directly taking those drugs but obviously the order and magnitude of stimulation can be way bigger and disproportionate if you ingest vs. your body making it by itself. (of course, internet porn is a super stimulus and you don't have a video that can make you high like you do from taking a drug, but still it is an indirect path physically/chemically speaking)

Side note: Behaviorally there's another dimension especially if we get into relationship issues like codepency (and cross addiction) which is another topic, but it's interesting people don't compare with that. Of course, you don't really have to deal with a real relationship if it's strictly porn, maybe a little bit when it gets into camgirls and something with some kind of social interaction. Although that makes me wonder how people in PAA does a 4th Step. Of course there's still the neglect of the relationships in your life if nothing else but as far as anybody who you interacted with online live and not through recorded porn that may be interesting to look at.

 

Very interesting for sure. Great points you make. On porn and sex addiction. In my personal opinion I have to stay away from all sexual behaviors that I have to hide. Because that makes it worse for me when it becomes a secret. Is like giving my addiction more power to control me. Alcohol and pot dont do that but are just as addicting. I started using pot before porn but I would get high and watch porn since I was 12. Im preety sure I did something to my brain. So I have to quit everything In order to be free from it all. That's what I'm doing now. Porn without weed or alcohol has less power over me. Also letting others know im an addict help tremendously.