So I have a question, that i'm curious about everyones thoughts regarding.. do you guys believe there are healthy levels to P or M? And if so, what does that look like to you? In other words, what do you think the ideal relationship to either P or M is? Something i've been thinking on a lot.
Basically, it would be if both came out of your own mind instead of someone elses - without the effect of previous conditioning. The latter qualifier makes it a question of content rather than "level," although clearly there's a ton of conditioning to undo too. If you've always masturbated to twisted stories and both the biological response and the psychological thinking are conditioned to those stories, then a level of M that would have been normal and not harmful to your health is probably still too much
at this point, AND it probably triggers memories of the stories and images from porn. In other words, what is a normal healthy level of masturbation with erotica has a different effect on someone who has been down a long road of PA (and likely weird stuff) and M with hours of edging over a long period of time.
Look at it this way, if you are recovering from an injury you don't do the same exercise as healthy people.
Funny I actually just read this part from Your Brain On Porn that speaks to this:
"The risks of very frequent porn use are familiar to many users. Less well known is the fact that intermittent use (for example, two hours of porn bingeing followed by a few weeks of abstinence, rinse and repeat) can
increase compulsion to use. The reasons are biological and there is much addiction research on intermittent use, including studies involving drug and junk food use.[240] Periods of abstinence (2 to 4 weeks) lead to neuroplastic changes[241] that don’t occur in other users. These alterations increase cravings, heighten stress responses[242] and can produce severe withdrawal symptoms.
.. intermittent bingeing can do the same thing as continuous use, and
in some cases do more."
