Extinction Training - does it make sense?

I like Gary but this doesn't sound like good advice to me.

 

This totally makes sense as its a training. But one needs to be very wise about it.
You are not supposed to train yourself when you are feeling strong urges. Rather best time would be during your flatlines or when you almost feel no libido. If you train yourself, then brain will be habitual about it and when you actually open it and about to relapse, your brain would first try to close it unconsciously

 

i tried this and successful at first some times but eventually a big urge came and i failed.

 

I agree with the principle of this but it does feel like a pretty extreme test. Those who are further into a reboot will have experience they can share. Opening up a porn site does feel risky I’d agree with the comments above.

from my perspective training your body or mind in anything is about pushing yourself and doing a little damage and then Recovering . Lifting weights destroys muscle and then you builds it back stronger when you rest, fasting pushing your system, cold showers are uncomfortable, mindfulness practice challenges your ability to calm your mind. These are all kind of mini stressers for your body and mind in different ways. I assume this approach of viewing and closing P is being proposed as something similar. A small dose of ‘poison’ to help you build strength. They say small amounts of stress are build strength, but chronic stress is what’s destructive.

I also think with the addiction we have, it’s practically impossible to not expose yourself from anything triggering in the long term. TV, adverts, social media, spam, people you meet/see…. Sexual imagery is everywhere and used to sell things and attract people on a subconscious level. part of my recovery plan is being able to be exposed to that without a strong reaction, to try and function normally in the world. If stopping PMO meant that I could never watch TV, use a computer or go out again, I doubt I’d be able to sustain that and live a happy normal life.

so I think I get where this is coming from, it’s a stress test to build strength, but a very risky one. If you manage to get to a level where you can open a porn site and close it stay in control, then your gonna find it much easier over time to see social media/adverts/people and not have a hypersexual response.

just my 2 cents.

 

The concept makes sense. However a caveat is spontaneous recovery of the conditioned response.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_(psychology)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_recovery

I’ve tried several methods of behavioral response extinction:

1. Set time limits of a few seconds to view porn before closing it. And then how many seconds to wait between views, etc. In the end, I had to approach 0 seconds of viewing porn to avoid relapsing.
   
   
2. Tried viewing porn, as long as I didn’t MO. Despite my willpower not to MO, I ended up with frequent spontaneous ejaculations. Not sure if this was a relapse, but I considered it a reset.
   
   
3. Went on monk mode and avoided everything sexual. The problem with that was I became easily triggered by anything even remotely sexual.
   
   
4. Finally, tried reconditioning my sexual response to PG-13 movies, TV-14 shows, and ESRB-Teen/PEGI-12 video games. I’d still get turned on now and then. But it’s a bit easier to pause, relax, and calm down. Yet, I’m not ready to try this method on rated-R stuff, and definitely not with porn.

Hope that helps.

 

I think it's best to avoid temptation as much as possible. Running towards temptation sounds like a terrible idea. If you want freedom from this, one part is to identify everything that gives you sexual satisfaction, your thoughts included. And stay away from it. Our problem is lust. And you don't get rid of lust by feeding it. You get rid of it by starving it.