Dropped porn, but mental imagery persists

hi,im new here and also in the same situation,maybe we can be friends here and help each other quit masturbation

 

I had the same issue at the beginning, or rather porn images popped up in my head or names of actors.
I took the following counter mechanism, which I found online somewhere:
1. acknowledge that you think of porn in some way
2. close your eyes, turn your head, focus on another image (a friend, family member, dog, whatever, something that makes you happy without sexual relation or someone who would be proud of you, if you quit and overcome your addiction)
3. give yourself a mental high five that you kicked the imagery out of your head
4. say to yourself: I thought of this by accident, I acted quickly. I am X days clean now and I will stay this way.

Through this procedure I manage to reduce images from invading my mind.

Good luck!

 

I had the same exact response to getting porn out of my life - It is crazy how the brain works. I decided to add no masturbation to my goals to help reboot. The mental imagery is still there but I am less likely to conjure it up because of the correlation of masturbation and pornography (still jumps into my head at inappropriate times, but less so). Guessing it is similar to Pavlov's research -- In this case bell and salivating are replaced with porn and masturbation.

 

You are right. I recommend to watch "Your brain on porn" on youtube. That explains how the addiction is built and what happens with the brain. The Pavlov mechanism is exactly one of them, nevertheless, it can be overcome.