Cure #3 Be Washed And Cleansed
Participating in water baptism can help you die to the power of the sin of porn. Death is final. As believers, God provided a way to die to sin, but physically stay alive. Water baptism is a sacrament
It is an act of obedience with spiritual benefits. I also see water baptism as an introduction to deliverance from sin.
Porn is unclean, and when habitually used, the individuals eternal position is in jeopardy if not reconciled. A cleansing for all sin has been provided before the judgment is finalized. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 1 Corinthians 11:31. Maybe you have been water baptized, but you did not understand what it was about at the time.
Easy Ways To Finally Quit Porn
This is the plan I used to stop my porn addiction. This is a real, battle tested, science backed, reality based plan to stop your porn addiction.
This is the plan I used to quit porn and improve my sex life.
This isnt:
- Advice based only on the theory of addiction recovery with no real-life experience.
- Speculation based on a few good ideas.
- A Nofap plan that requires will-power
- Hearsay from a guy whos only got a few weeks in on his internet pornography recovery.
This is a real, battle-tested, science-backed, reality-based plan to end your porn use and the embarrassment that comes with it.
Most literature on the internet talks about inner healing, dopamine, figuring out why porn is your coping mechanism, and finding your deep-seated reasons for watching porn. You find God and learn about the neuroscience of why you cant stop, it wont actually help you to quit.
The more you learn about addiction, the more you learn about trauma.
Ed Latimore
Feeling complete and whole is good, but it doesnt exactly help you solve the problem. They give advice like this because they either lack experience with porn addiction or theyre fakes who are trying to sell you something.
I gave a Ted Talk about addiction and identity. Its not exactly about quitting porn, but it definitely can help.
Tips On How To Successfully Reboot Rewire And Quit Porn For Good
Alright, lets get into the nitty gritty of how to actually quit using porn for good. The tips and suggestions below are based on my research into cognitive psychology over the years as well as from reported experiences of men who have quit using porn. Again, theres no silver bullet. What works for one man, may not work for you. You need to be ready to experiment and try different things.
The advice below can be broken into two parts: mindset and action.
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How To Overcome An Addiction To Porn As A Teenager
This article was co-authored by Trudi Griffin, LPC, MS. Trudi Griffin is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Wisconsin specializing in Addictions and Mental Health. She provides therapy to people who struggle with addictions, mental health, and trauma in community health settings and private practice. She received her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marquette University in 2011.There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 45 testimonials and 82% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 1,845,949 times.
Like any other destructive behavior that disrupts your everyday life, watching porn can become an addiction. Below are steps you can take to find out if you do indeed have a problem you should be concerned about, ways to understand the problem, and tips for changing your habits so that your temptation progressively lessens. Don’t be afraid to seek help from responsible adults and mental health professionals, as they are invaluable resources for overcoming a problem with pornography.
Take A Second And Think Beyond The Images Or Videos Youre Looking At
This is a person, a real woman, a human being created by God, just like you. Shes somebodys daughter, sister, or even mother. Think of what her life must be like in front of the camera day after day, exploited and made insanely vulnerable. Chances are good that shes a sex trafficking victim and your addiction is helping to fund this multibillion-dollar crime. She does not exist for your enjoyment. She is being held captive and more than likely is crying out for help.
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The Reward Circuits Of The Brain
The reward circuit of the brain is also known as the limbic system or primitive brain. This refers to our evolutionary ancient structures contained in the brain. These structures are involved in almost all emotional and physical function you may think of. These structures essentially keep us alive.
Changes in the reward circuits may affect any aspect of behaviour and may even physiological functions. The reward circuit shapes are moods and colours our emotions. Fear, joy and rage all arise from these evolutionary ancient structures. Most of our desires and drives arise in the reward circuit, such as hunger for food, power or sex. The reward circuit also allows us to become addicted to certain behaviours.
Alterations to the reward circuits are responsible for most mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression and social anxiety.
Reward circuit structures such as the hypothalamus and the Amygdala influence or control major functions such as male sexual behaviours, erections, the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system. The bottom line is that chemical or structural alterations to the reward circuit may result in wide and varying effects.
Install A Good Filter Or Accountability Program
Along this journey, youre going to need to gain some self-control in the face of sexualized images everywhere, but that doesnt mean you cant give yourself some reprieve when you can. Download a filter or accountability program such as Covenant Eyes on every device you use phone, tablet, laptop, work computer and dont forget to put some safety controls on your TV, as well.
These will help you avoid gateways to binge sessions, as well as find some space to focus on more important things. Like the next thing on the list.
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Psychological And Emotional Needs
It is important to remember when working towards recovery that your addiction is routed in complex emotional and psychological causes.
Treatment must identify and address these causes. It is also essential that you maintain a focus on these causes as you continue your recovery. So it may not be always easy for you to quit porn cold turkey or gradually on your own.
You may need to alter your life in other ways to help you in your recovery. There may be certain relationships or habits in your life that jeopardize recovery.
It may also be necessary to consider how you process and express emotions and how you communicate with those around you. A professional treatment centre will help you to do this.
Good treatment centres will also offer porn addiction aftercare services which will help you to maintain your focus on recovery.
What Causes Failure In Porn Addiction Recovery
Before closing out with some helpful resources, there are two key obstacles that prevent many people from successfully recovering from porn.
The Negative Side Effects of Quitting: You may initially experience some negative side effects as you detox from porn. Like a substance addiction to alcohol or drugs, your brain and body have been conditioned for porn. So it may take you a while to get back to normal. See 10 Symptoms of Porn Addiction Withdrawal and How to Manage Them.
The Amount of Time It Takes to Recover: The amount of time it takes to fully recover from porn addiction can be daunting. Ive heard some incredible testimonies from lifelong porn users who stopped their addiction immediately once they made the decision. It does happen. But normally, it takes time to adjust, rewire your brain, and establish new and healthy lifestyle patterns.
For more details on a realistic timeline for porn addiction recovery, check out How Long Does It Take to Recover From Porn Addiction?
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What Is Porn Addiction Relapse
A porn addiction relapse is described as a return to porn use after being porn-free for some time. A relapse can feel self-defeating, however, many people, who recovered from a porn habit , had at least one relapse on their way to lifetime recovery. For these former addicts, the key to long-term success hinged on knowing how to properly manage the relapse once it occurred.
These individuals did not wallow in self-pity, blame someone or something else, or allow the addiction to reclaim their lives. Rather, they took ownership of the mistake, removed the triggers , and immediately sought porn addiction help. In other words, they got back on the horse and kept trying until they were could successfully ride it .
Understand, however, that any time you make positive changes in your life, there is a chance you may relapse. In other words, improvement never comes without risk the risk of returning to bad habits, which in this case is excessive porn use or porn addiction. Why? Because we have been taught since birth to repeat behaviors that get us what we want behaviors that bring us joy. In other words, we have been conditioned to relapse if it serves a purpose for us.
Install Filtering And Accountability Software
Filtering software is a tool to help you avoid a website that could trigger a relapse.
Sometimes youre online to simply buy something on Amazon and the next thing you know youre reading the news you see a pop-up and something goes off in your head and before you know it youve forgotten that you came online to do one thing which is buy something on Amazon.
So filters will not allow you to access those websites which could ruin your day and cause you to relapse.
Accountability software is similar but one major difference is that accounting software can be set up to notify your accountability partner off when youre visiting a pornography-related site.
Some accountability software even notifies your accountability partner when you try to bypass or uninstall it.
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Look At What Besides Porn Turns You On
If you only ever watch porn to get turned on, Kerner says, sometimes men get over-accustomed to that stimulation. Sexeven with yourselfis a richer experience when you have more to draw on, like going through your mental library of images and partners, reading erotica, or noticing things in your environment that turn you on.
If you are using porn in an unhealthy way, stop worrying about it and use the strategies above. Kerner says, everything is really correctible.
Understand More About Porn Addiction By Learning Its Definition Associated Controversies And Effects
Despite differing opinions regarding whether porn addiction is a diagnosable psychiatric condition or simply a public health issue, it is a growing concern in America and around the world. About 40 million Americans visit porn websites on a regular basis and a third of all internet downloads in the U.S. are related to porn. Despite risks of job loss or legal problems, millions of people access porn at work every year.
As with drugs, some people use porn for the first time just out of curiosity and do not progress to regular use. Many turn to porn during periods of increased stress and stop when their stress levels go back to normal. For other people, porn use can become an addiction.
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Practical Steps For Breaking Pornography Addiction
- May 1, 2020
Pornography found me when I was 13. What started as innocent research for a school science project began a battle with pornography that followed me through high school and into college. At first, I felt it qualified as a safe expression of my sexuality I had no risk of STDs or an unwanted pregnancy. But as I entered my senior year of high school, I realized I had a different problem I couldnt stop.
Every day after school, I would come home and watch pornography for hours on our family desktop. At school, I would read erotica on the school computers. After my mom went to sleep, I would stay up watching the adult channels . As I lost sleep, my schoolwork started to suffer and my perfect GPA was in jeopardy.
I tried many different techniques to break free from pornographys hold. Instead of finding freedom, I felt myself getting sucked in even more. The shame and stigma seemed like quicksand. With every failed attempt to break free, I felt more trapped.
I struggled for years. I had to hit rock bottom actually becoming someone elses porn by choosing to share nude photos of myself before I finally found freedom. Many people who struggle with pornography are desperately searching for a formula of easy steps to break free from it. I searched time and again for the simple one-two-three solution.
What Happens If You Leave A Porn Addiction Untreated
Like any problem thats left untreated it can get worse. Those using porn excessively could be neglecting their own personal relationships as theyre supplementing a genuine connection for a sexual one. This neglect then leads to relationship breakdowns or divorce.
On the career front, Vu says it can affect your work performance if youre spending countless hours and nights in search of the perfect porn clip getting fired for porn addiction is very real these days.
The other side is that excessive porn use has some unique consequences. For some, their sexual interests change. Its not necessarily a bad thing but it can be bad. Vu says you could find yourself seeking out porn that doesnt align with your values or worse, thats considered illegal.
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What Does Porn Addiction Look Like
And there are some common signs across the board that indicate you have an addiction to pornography or youre developing an unhealthy relationship with it:
Ignoring Responsibilites:
You frequently ignore other responsibilities in order to watch porn.
Feeling Ashamed
You feel ashamed or frustrated after viewing sexual content but still continue to watch it.
Many people who suffer from porn addiction may feel embarrassed by their obsessive use and often lie to their friends or loved ones about watching it. They also tend to lie about what they are doing in order to continue watching it.
Need Extreme Porn
You have to keep finding more and more extreme porn in order to get the same release.
You can start watching some erotic movies or so-called soft porn. Then, you may stumble upon some hard-core examples. The pleasure you get from the hard-core porn may exceed the one you get from soft porn and you may start to seek excessive examples of exploitation of adult stars.
Spending Too Much Money on Pornography
Youre spending large amounts of money on pornography consumption, and neglecting other expenses in your life.
The Internet may seem to offer free sexual imagery whenever you search for it. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. To satisfy yourself and your eyes, you will start to seek different types of movies or genres.
Taking Risks to Watch Porn
Youre taking risks in order to watch porn in inconvenient places.
Less Satisfied by a Partner
Relationship Issues
Pornography Can Affect Satisfaction From Sex
When a person is constantly viewing the bodies and intimate relations of others, it isnt uncommon to make comparisons. Soon, they may begin to consider their physical appearance and sexual abilities weaker, in contrast with professional sex workers.
Other times, this dissatisfaction may be targeted at their partners, who may measure themselves against the actors their partner watches.
People with porn addiction may also place an unhealthy amount of pressure on their performance during intercourse which significantly affects their sexual experience. While theyre constantly watching people engage in sex, this person may find that their sex lives may feel less satisfying.
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What Does Withdrawal From Porn Look Like
Like any other addiction, theres an emotional, physiological, and even physical dependence, and people can experience withdrawal symptoms from quitting pornography.
Symptoms include signs such as:
Sudden irritability, mood swings, or depression: Since a lot of extreme porn abusers may use sexual content to cope with other negative emotions in life, the early days of sobriety can bring up these suppressed feelings. Its not unusual for an addict to feel irritable, depressed or even anxious after theyve gone without porn.
Insomnia: The longer youre away from pornography, the more you may think about it. Initially, addicts may have trouble sleeping at night or feeling to need to masturbate.
Intense feelings of loneliness: Sometimes, porn usage can mask underlying issues that addicts may have, especially related to emotional or physical intimacy.
Without the release that explicit sexual imagery provides, feelings of loneliness and longing for a physical connection can begin to bubble up.
A desire to use another addiction to replace pornography: With a porn addicts coping mechanism gone, they may begin searching for a new one, especially when theyre new to recovery.
As a result, this can create a cross-addiction, where they turn to another substance like alcohol, drugs, or food to cope with the uncomfortable emotions theyre experiencing.
After witnessing bizarre and intense sexual intercourse scenes, having a soft, romantic experience may not seem enough or attractive.
