Is YBOP (Your Brain on Porn) outdated ?

Sources pls?

 

Hi,
It's not outdated brother . Some severe cases need more time than others. 95% cases are cured within a time period of 90 days rest few cases need somewhere around 6 months to 1 whole year.
It totally depends on how severe your porn addiction is and how much damage it has caused to your brain.
Eventually just like any other addiction even this addiction is totally curable by abstaining from PMO. Time taken for full recovery might vary from person to person but definately it's curable.

 

I have for 4 years tried to believe i could heal. All i know is when i started Nofap i got superpowers and after that i got severe social anxiety, loss of libido, and anhedonia. They have stayed with me ever since and yes ive had a few relapses. But many 6+ month hard mode streak without binges. Im 50/50 at the moment whether i think im permenantly damaged or not. But ill never masturbate again or watch porn, i need to see if i can still heal or it will get better Sometimes rarely i have a good day but it never stays

 

Very interesting points raised by all.

I think the issue with NoFap in general isnt that it "doesnt work," its that people are so different that there is no one thing that will work for everyone. All anyone here can do is suggest things that worked for them and then hope they work for other people. Sometimes these ideas are sound, sometimes they are nonsense. We are essentially on a new frontier when it comes to this kind of thing and it will likely take a long time for the mainstream to catch up or for any meaningful consensuses to be reached.

I do 100% agree that 90 days it not enough for all but the mildest of cases, and honestly at this point I consider the 90 days reboot concept to almost be harmful in that it offers a false hope that once 90 days are reached, your problems will vanish. This is obvious a load of rubbish but people buy into it because it sounds more realistic than treating NoFap/not using porn as the lifestyle change it is, and not the equivalent of a fad diet.

I want to address this specifically because I think that a lot of people do NoFap and dont do enough of other things to actually see tangible improvement. Being able to attain a "pure" (for want of a better word) sexuality is much more than just not watching porn or masturbating. If it was only that then surely anyone who watches a decent amount of porn or masturbates a lot, which is A LOT of people, would experience the same issues we do, but many dont. This is because recovery can also be affected by diet, exercise, general lifestyle, mental health, brain chemistry, or even your current situation in life, just to name a few. There is a lot of crossover between porn addicts and people with poor social skills, lack of experience with women or people in general, and/or people with mental health issues such as anxiety or depression. If you are incredibly anxious or depressed a lot of the time, you wont have a normal sex drive, and you wont be able to perform even if you did manage to acquire a sexual partner.

This brings me onto my final point. I honestly believe an effective way to overcome porn addiction is to have meaningful sex with a person you actually care about, thus rewiring your brain BACK to desiring real people and not porn. I cannot verify my theory because I have not done it myself (and its easier said than done,) but I feel like going on a super long streak and basically becoming totally celibate just puts you in sexual limbo where you no longer desire porn but you dont desire real sex either.

 

Man I'm scared if I'm damaged for ever. 6 years on nofap with some good streaks and I'm still having PAWS. I forgot my old self and can't function normally in society.

 

Some of the changes I've noticed since 2011 include the increase of camsites, niche personal porn services, even more specific fetishes and, in particular, a rise in the kind of pseudo-relationship provided by the likes of onlyfans and connections to your favourite 'stars' via social media (etc). All of this provides an even more addictive environment than the traditional porn that was the most common form of addiction back in 2011. It's also a good way to drain your bank account.

There are also an increasing and alarming number of guys who have been regular porn users since they were young children. Not progressing to hardcore after an adolescence enjoying magazines, music videos, etc. like me.

It's a starting point, for most, but it certainly helps. If nothing else, having a loving partner is a strong motivator to sort yourself the fuck out!

 

The 90 days figure is very useful early on if you are wondering about nofap, whether you have a proper addiction or not. If you fail multiple times to reach 90 days, then you have a problem. If you struggle to last 90 days and fall right back into your old habits, you have a problem. If you last 90 days without an issue, and discover that porn no longer appeals to you, then I guess you never had that bad a problem to begin with.