Does Imagining Porn count?

I'd say yes. Imagining or remembering the porn lights up the brain just as watching it does, i.e. the brain doesn't differentiate between thoughts of porn and seeing porn. I'd be interested to hear what a neurologist has to say on the subject.

 

This question makes me think of visualizing porn while having sex with my wife, which I think is as bad as PMO, because I am basically using her body as a masturbatory tool. There is no real connection if I am somewhere else. As for MO while visualizing porn I guess that is better than PMO but maybe not rebooting your system as well. What did you MO to in your mind before porn existed? For example I used to visualize or replay sexual encounters with old girlfriends while MOing. Now that I am married I guess that is like having sex while thinking of porn- it might still be kinda cheating. In an ideal world I would like to be able to MO while thinking of my wife but at this point I don't think that is possible. Thus I am abstaining from O all together.

 

Yes,
Imagining porn definitely does count. From my experience, a lifetime of viewing porn has informed my understanding, or rather, lack of understanding around sex. All my visualizations of sex have been pure porn. What is insidious about this is how I rationalized there was a difference between masturbating and sex and when I was viewing porn when there actually wasn't. Without question, this experience is one of the main contributors towards the reduction in sexual response to actual partners and kills much of the actual intimacy and joy in real sexual relations.
My new awareness in this area and discovering this site with its other educational links have made me very aware of when I am "viewing" porn in my head.
I have felt an improvement in my relationship with my partner and my response to the outside world by becoming aware of and not choosing to visualize in porn. I should add that like NoFap, it is a continual struggle and just being aware when I am doing it has helped

 

Answer: yes. Thanks by the way for posting. Reading posts and responding are part of my recovery. Nothing wrong with visualizing a sports performance. I am unaware of any authority for the proposition the human brain can become addicted to sports visualization. That said, pornography is different. Pornography is not real in the first place; it is fake sex the human brains responds to (for those of us with a problem) by pumping out a lot more dopamine than regular sex pumps out. For those of us with a problem with porn, I doubt our brains really distinguish much between visualized porn (closing your eyes and thinking about it) and actually watching. Maybe less of a reward response, but still a reward response, and that perpetuates the problem, which is the opposite of where we want to go. Part of my recovery is deliberately avoiding all sexual thoughts. That of course cannot be done, no one can banish all sexual thoughts, but part of my recovery is expressly not thinking about porn, certainly not MOing to porn or thinking about it when MOing, and frankly, to quit MOing, which I have successfully done until the next time I fail, if I fail. Interestingly, at the height of my addiction, I really had no sexual thoughts for real women at all. I knew a pretty woman when I saw one, but they did not arouse me. Now...that is coming back and it is interesting to watch myself having feelings of attraction for real women. My advice: try and get your brain off the P, and that means keeping the P out of there. Good luck!

 

Yes, porn fantasy is something that should be avoided. As you said thinking about something does have a physical neurological response. It activates sensitized pathways and can slow recovery.

We are not sure how thinking of real women affects recovery but porn fantasy is widely agreed upon as having a negative impact so it is best to stay away

 

It isn't nearly as bad as real porn. But yes, it does count. Imagining it always has a big danger of being sucked back into PMO, and your recovery will take longer because you keep those images alive in your mind.

 

Hi new guy here

 

I can do this

 

Great points. The one about it lighting up the same areas of the brain makes a lot of sense.

 

Yes, imagining porn is just as bad as actually watching it. Stay with me here...

Your analogy with athletes is contradictory.

The athlete imagines the IDEAL circumstance. Thoughts turned into muscle memory. Total perfection.

If perfection, to the porn addict, is NOT watching porn, would thoughts of porn be considered total perfection and mastery over addiction?

No.

To quote Margaret Thatcher:
"Watch your thoughts for they become words.Watch your words for they become actions.Watch your actions for they become habits.Watch your habits for they become your character.And watch your character for it becomes your destiny.What we think, we become."

Cliché...probably. But true.

 

I had an issue with image porn as well. Image porn counts because they are images that your mind didn't create, a cameraman did. Arguably, on the other hand fantasizing about a woman that you actually met wouldn't count because you're using your natural creativity that was once replaced by porn. After all, we want to tap into our natural creativity and not a cameraman's.

Besides, looking at image porn is a waste of time wouldn't you agree? I used to browse my favorite image sight in search of the perfect ass. The site had so many images you could click through them all and trick your brain into thinking it might as well be a movie