NoFap Remastered – A Guide on How to Quit Porn and What to do After

NoFap Remastered – A Guide on How to Quit Porn and What to do After

Foreword

I joined the NoFap forum recently but had heard about that movement long ago. This community is a really great thing for many people. Nevertheless, very fast, I noticed reappearing patterns of posts in the NoFap forum of general frustration about pornography, failures to quit and a lack of knowledge about pornography and addiction. In this essay, I try to educate people affected by an unhealthy and addictive pattern of pornography consumption. Additionally, I want to give a holistic and comprehensive guide with many tips and tricks that might help to quit porn. I understand that not everyone has the recourses to seek a professional therapist or something similar. Last, I want to give my opinion on how the NoFap approach unknowingly fails the community. I think NoFap should not be a goal or lifestyle, but a means to an end.

This essay will be pretty extended, but I would appreciate it if you would take your time and mindfully read through it. I do not claim I know the answers or am flawless. Therefore, I would love to hear your opinions and corrections.



Who am I and What Qualifies me?

Let me start by saying that I am probably just like you but a little different. I am a 22-year-old guy trying to live my life with all the wonders and hassles it provides. Like most readers, I, too, am wrestling with an unhealthy relationship with pornography. For years I have been on and off porn. Even though I can say that porn never violently dominates, it still impedes my quality of life and tortures millions of people.

Unfortunately, pornography addiction has not been recognized as a use disorder by the American Psychological Association and The WHO. It has not yet been added to the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) nor to the ICD (International Classification of Disease). However, challenging psychological and neurological patterns that resemble substance use disorder are clear. Nevertheless, I do not doubt that pornography use disorder will be admitted in the next generation of the DSM and the ICD. The current category of Compulsive Sexual Disorder is too broad of a diagnosis to effectively treat more specialized incidences, e.g., Pornography Use Disorder. This progress would open new possibilities to scientists to conduct qualitative studies of the nature and treatment of Pornography Use Disorder. Unfortunately, millions of people, especially young adults, suffer a tremendous amount at the present time. I try to share a short summary of my knowledge and experience with these people. Some practical tips and tricks are backed up by scientific research, while some are backed up by my own experience.

I have decided to write this essay with the aim to:

1. Educate about (porn) addiction.

2. To provide tools and insights to help people overcome their problematic pornography usage.

3. To provide an extended perspective on NoFap in areas where I think the current NoFap-mindset is disadvantageous.

You may now ask why I think I am qualified to do so. And that’s the exact right thing to ask when someone on the internet tells you what to do. Let me first tell you that I am not a trained professional in any form of medical or clinical practice. My audacity to speak publicly is based on two things.

First, my intrinsic and honest interest in biology, psychology and neuroscience which let me study psychology. I gathered much knowledge about psychological and biopsychological topics through my studies and private investigations, based on the academic striving towards truth and benevolence.

Second, I consider myself to be part of the NoFap community (whatever that actually means). I know the malice and persistence of pornography from personal experience. Therefore, to the scientific perspective, I can add a human perspective, I can relate, and I can share my own experience I made on my way to this point.

Before we start, I want to make one annotation to the kind of references I use. You will only find resources I trust to be reliable and/or scientific. Many sources are secondary sources and not directly scientific journal articles. I will quote my favourite podcast a lot, namely: Huberman Lab. I cannot recommend this podcast enough if you are not already familiar with it. Even though I will link it on YouTube, it can also be found on Spotify etc. As he is a scientist and professor, I value his word as one of the most reliable sources you can find on the internet.

If you see an in-text citation in brackets you can go to the end of the essay and find the related source in the reference list.

Once again, I am not a professional. I am not a doctor, psychiatrist or clinical psychologist. I am just a young man trying to help my peers.


Thoughts on the cause of Pornography Use Disorder

I think I do not have to make anyone aware that pornography is widely used and often abused in our society. And I think most people have theories about how pornography is such an addictive drug and why so many people become hooked on it. My answer is relatively straightforward: It depends, and it is multifactorial as it is with any other use disorder. In this section, I want to discuss what I believe are the primary causes of the pornography pandemic.

Misapprehension of Survival Mechanism – Sex and Dopamine

This point seems to be the most well-known fact about pornography, and I doubt I have to explain it to you. I will do it anyway, just for the integrity of the essay. Dopamine is not really the molecule of pleasure but rather the molecule of drive. More specifically, it is the neurotransmitter released if one needs to act, e.g., find food, socialize or mate. So far, so good. From an evolutionary point of view, it also makes sense that the practice of such survival behaviour feels good. That way, the individual is motivated to engage in this similar behaviour again.

What only a few people know is that dopamine…

Unfortunately this post allows for 3000 words only. If you want to read the full essay you can easily download it down below. Thank you for taking the time!

 

Hello,
Thank you very much for your feedback. I appreciate the proof reading. Some mistakes just slip by if you only read the text yourself. I have updated the post and integrated some of your suggestions.
Let me also comment on the video games and energy drinks as a reward. I am well aware of the hypocrisy in this passage. But I argue that claiming ownership of dopamine releasing behaviours/substances and deliberately using them as a tool is quite effective. This might vary of course from person to person and situation to situation but this is the most efficient way to use conditioning.
Have a good weekend.
Yours truly,
Machine Elf Lover