Thoughts made during recovery, will they stay with you forever?

[hokipa]

Hi community, I’ve experienced some sad and void/depressive sensations in the last month, surely amenable to withdrawals cause I’ve never felt something like this before
I wanted to ask you, when I’m fully recovered and withdrawals completely disappear, do bad thoughts disappear too? I mean, once your brain produce a thought it’s impossible to erase it, you can try not to think about it but once you have this thought it may occur from time to time

I’m afraid that this void I still feel sometimes that I never felt before I started my journey may stay even when I’m fully healed, cause thoughts can’t be eradicated from you brain once you “create” them
can someone who made through full recovery let me know if it happens or you’re gonna bring some withdrawals -induced thoughts with you forever?

 

[Jefe Rojo]

I overcame my addiction to P 13 years ago. Thoughts disappear, memories fade. I never think about P anymore and I can vaguely remember the stuff I used to view. So be of good cheer, your mind erases the stuff you no longer think about. The key is to stop thinking about it! Chin up brother! You’ve got this.

 

[SilentWolfSong]

When I had a gf, I went like 1.5 years without pmo. My mind was pretty much fully healed. I also hadn't been "into" p that long... so recovery time depends on length of addiction.

Why does a person pmo? If a person's life is full of meaningful things, after healing from p and knowing why they don't want to do it, they normally avoid it. Relapse does not have to happen.

You have a good streak. But healing is still happening. You have gotten many benefits but long term healing, mentally and physically, is still ongoing. In the healing process, you're probably halfway complete. As you get to a year, and further, you'll forget more. Do I still remember some of the first p images I saw? Yes... but when you're involved in a real relationship, you start to have real emotional connection and feeling with someone, and this will start to give you more "fun" than p. The farther away you are from p, the less you will remember it. You're 25, you're doing well, just keep doing what you're doing!

ETA: It also depends on the genre of p you watched. If you were watching hardcore p and had various fetishes, it will take longer, because the difference between that and normal is a lot. If you watched vanilla p or p sub, that's closer to a normal relationship and will take less time to clean, imo. The most important part is replacing the p with something else. If you're avoiding p but nothing else gives you dopamine stimulation, then your body is longing for p. Find something that drives you and gives you natural stimulation - friendships, exercise, nutrition, career, anything.

 

[Meshuga]

Are you talking about thoughts of self harm?

You’ve had pressure, distress in your life. One of your go-to methods for coping with that distress was to numb it with PMO. Now you aren’t numbing it, so you’re feeling it more acutely than ever. Added to that, quitting itself can create distress.
You need to find ways to deal with that stress instead of running from it, pretending it isn’t there. With PMO, you didn’t even have to think hard about it. You didn’t need to know where it was coming from, you barely had to feel its existence and you zapped it with lurid fantasy. Now you’re going to have to figure out why you feel bad, and come up with a plan for how you’re going to deal with that. It’s a skill you’re learning late.
If you’re having thoughts of self harm as a result of NoFap, that’s your brain not recognizing any alternatives to your distress. Self harm is an expression of hopelessness. There are ways to deal with distress, though, ways that don’t involve PMO, or alcohol, or drugs. Staying hooked on a poor coping mechanism is not a good answer. Neither is letting thoughts of self harm burn a neurological path in your brain.

Figure out why you’re in distress. What happened? When did you start feeling bad? Why did that upset you? It made you feel something, maybe s about yourself. But feelings can lie. Is it true? If it is, can you do something to change it?

Don’t worry, you can figure this out. You can learn how to deal with these things.

 

[hokipa]

I overcame my addiction to P 13 years ago. Thoughts disappear, memories fade. I never think about P anymore and I can vaguely remember the stuff I used to view. So be of good cheer, your mind erases the stuff you no longer think about. The key is to stop thinking about it! Chin up brother! You’ve got this.

Yes I get it but I don’t mean thinking about P, I mean thoughts of void and hopelesness, will they go away when I’m fully healed? Or will they stay occurring from time to time?

 

[Jefe Rojo]

Yes I get it but I don’t mean thinking about P, I mean thoughts of void and hopelesness, will they go away when I’m fully healed? Or will they stay occurring from time to time?

I used to cry myself to sleep back then. The hopeless and void also went away. Life is a lot happier now, to say the least.

 

[hokipa]

I used to cry myself to sleep back then. The hopeless and void also went away. Life is a lot happier now, to say the least.

Thanks for your reply, stories like yours give me hope that my life’s gonna be better
can I ask you what did you experience during your reboot (both physical and psychological symptoms) and after how long you felt you were healed with the disappearance of all withdrawals
Just wanted to let you know that the fact that you keep writing on this forum even after 13 years makes me think you still care about other people who are going through the same things you tackled and this makes you a really good person

 

[Jefe Rojo]

what did you experience during your reboot (both physical and psychological symptoms) and after how long you felt you were healed with the disappearance of all withdrawals

For me, my symptoms of withdrawals included chills, shakiness, headaches, racing thoughts, negative thoughts, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, depression, extreme sadness, loneliness, I missed PMO, I missed the chances to PMO and felt like I was missing out on an opportunity. Something weird that I experienced was that when I had made up my mind to give up PMO, I felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend and I was sad about it.

The withdrawal symptoms lasted about a year for me. It’s different for everyone. The brain will heal itself but we must do our part by abstaining.

Just wanted to let you know that the fact that you keep writing on this forum even after 13 years makes me think you still care about other people who are going through the same things you tackled and this makes you a really good person

Thanks . Although I’m here on NoFap to both support and encourage others, I am also here to improve myself. I may have been able to leave P behind, but I still struggle to leave MO behind, which seems much more difficult to get rid of apparently. I also have a few fetishes that I developed back when I was addicted to P. I’m working to overcome those eventually.

Take care and best of luck to you!