Saturday, March 23, 2024

How To Reduce Porn Addiction

A Bad Solution To An Underlying Problem

Escaping Porn Addiction | Eli Nash | TEDxFortWayne

While some are more prone to addictionbinge eating, gambling, substancesthan others due to genetics and brain chemistry, the initial driver for most folks is situationalthe addiction serving as a bad solution to another problem, such as depression, PTSD, or anxiety. Unfortunately, the addiction works: As soon as Jack clicks onto his favorite websites, he feels better. So, starts the downward spiral.

If Youre Concerned About A Loved One

It may be a problem if you notice that your loved one:

  • watches while at work or at other inappropriate places and times
  • is unable to keep up with their social, occupational, or other important obligations
  • is experiencing relationship difficulties
  • has tried to cut back or stop, but cant keep themselves away from it

If someone you care about shows signs of a compulsion or addiction, it may be time to open the lines of nonjudgmental communication.

Meet The Coolidge Effect

Internet porns endless supply of sexual novelty is an unnatural stimulus exploiting something thats been termed the Coolidge effect. This effect is best explained by an example. When you drop a willing female rat into a males cage, the male will continuously mate with the rat until he becomes bored. However, when you drop a different female rat into the cage, the males sexual appetite is awoken once more. You may repeat this process over and over again until the male rat collapses in exhaustion.

Why do the males become bored with the same female? Well, because the brain excretes less and less dopamine in respect of the current female, but a surge in dopamine occurs in the males brain when a new female is introduced. This mechanism helps promote genetic diversity and ensures no female goes unfertilized.

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What Do We Mean By Bringing Kingdom

Heres some background to paint the picture of how God has intended for us to live here on earth. It goes back to the 1st century. When the Roman Empire conquered a new territory, they would send out heralds or messengers to bring the good news or the gospel and inform the new territories that they were now a part of the Roman Empire.

These new territories of Rome were now subject to Caesar and were expected to pay taxes, among others things, as members of this new government.

When Jesus Christ came to earth, he ushered in the Kingdom of God. Jesus brought the Good News and the Gospel that said we are all children of the King! We have been adopted into his family and we are to live as Beloved Sons and Beloved Daughters of the King! How cool is that?

The Good News and the Gospel are more than just about salvation in Christ! Thats just the beginning. Theres so much more to living in freedom as a child of the King!

Jesus made it simple for us to live as members of his kingdom when he said there are really only two commands we need to follow:

Psychological And Emotional Needs

Porn Addiction  Lare Dye, PhD, Clinical Psychologist

It is important to remember when working towards recovery that your addiction is routed in complex emotional and psychological causes.

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.

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Activities That Speed Up Your Reboot

Hypofrontality also reverses, but this takes time. You may speed up this process by engaging in activities such as meditation that are known to engage your frontal lobes. This will help reverse hypofrontality and thus strengthen your willpower. This will mean urges will become easier to ignore and healthy choices such as exercising and socialising will become far more appealing.

Deltafosb And Genetic Survival Via Memory And Repetition

Sensitisation begins with high levels of dopamine. This tells our primitive brain that this activity is really valuable and you should engage in this activity again and again. Dopamines goal is to have us remember and repeat behaviours that further our genetic survival. Dopamine achieves this by triggering a protein known as DeltaFosB. DeltaFosB remains in the brain for around eight weeks following your last binge.

DeltaFosB also activates certain genes that change the physical and chemical structure of the brain. As DeltaFosB levels rise, this protein begins to rewire the brain to crave for the substance or behaviour that led to a rise in DeltaFosB levels in the first place. This creates a circular process where wanting causes doing. This causes a surge in dopamine which leads to even more DeltaFosB being accumulated. As DeltaFosB accumulates, so does the urge to engage in the behaviour that created its accumulation in the first place. And so this cycle continues until you make a conscious effect to cease the addictive behaviour.

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What Is Samhsa’s National Helpline

SAMHSAs National Helpline, , or TTY: is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations.

Also visit the online treatment locator, or send your zip code via text message: 435748 to find help near you. Read more about the HELP4U text messaging service.

Sensitised Pathways Remain Even When You Quit Your Addiction

Let’s Talk On PO*N ADDICTION

Thus, its really DeltaFosB that causes sensitisation and it does this by creating stronger and more powerful nerve connections in the brain. Long after an addict has quit using and DeltaFosB levels have returned to normal, these sensitised pathways remain. This explains why alcoholics who have been sober for many years may still suffer from strong cravings when they walk into a pub.

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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.

Love Your Neighbor As You Love Yourself

Did you see those last four words of the second command? We blow right past that and have little idea what that really means. I cant possibly love others if I dont love myself. Its not a selfish, arrogant or narcissistic love. It is realizing that we were all born to be loved by a tender, loving Father who relentlessly pursues us whether we see it, feel it, or know it.

As a citizen of this new kingdom that Jesus has ushered in, we are called to live life loving the Father and loving others.

Bringing Kingdom happens every time a citizen of the Kingdom of God loves another human being as they love themself. Going one step further – this ministry is about men realizing who they are and not what they do, and unlocking the Truth of what it means to live out of their identity as a Beloved Son of the King.

PO Box 4132 Suwanee, GA 30024

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Engage In Physical Activity

Engaging in physical activity has been shown to positively impact the reward center of the brain which promotes overall well-being. Exercise is known to improve the physical and mental health of individuals by controlling the reward impulse, which may help explain its ability to mitigate internet addiction.45

Do I Need Health Insurance To Receive This Service

Pin on Quit Porn Addiction

The referral service is free of charge. If you have no insurance or are underinsured, we will refer you to your state office, which is responsible for state-funded treatment programs. In addition, we can often refer you to facilities that charge on a sliding fee scale or accept Medicare or Medicaid. If you have health insurance, you are encouraged to contact your insurer for a list of participating health care providers and facilities.

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What Are The Consequences Of All This Dopamine

If you have managed to read this far, you may be wondering what damage all of this dopamine has on your brain. The consequences are mainly in the form of brain changes. These changes cause the symptoms and conditions listed earlier. These symptoms and conditions are physical and psychological in nature.

Get Some Online Accountability

Use software to monitor your online activity. Covenant Eyes is a great resource. It allows you to receive your accountability partners reports weekly for the sites they visit and the searches they make. It lets you know when you need to follow up with each other on questionable activity. Finally, it allows you to celebrate with each other in putting online struggles to death.

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Have Goals You Keep Working On

When your trying to overcome an addiction, or even just stop a bad habit that is very powerful, it is absolutely crucial that you have some goals that you keep working on.

And by this I mean that can, and should not, be your only goal.

Why?

Well, because

only trying to build your life around something that you want to get away from is not a productive way to go about it. It makes your life empty and, on top of this, it actually also increases your risk of failing with that one thingeven though that’s the only thing you’re trying to achieve.

How Desensitisation Occurs

Disconnected Brains: How isolation fuels opioid addiction | Rachel Wurzman | TEDxMidAtlantic

To understand desensitisation, you must understand how individual nerve cells communicate. Dopamine-producing nerve cells affected by desensitisation originate from the beginning of the reward circuit and make connections with other nerve cells in the reward centre. Nerve cells send messages using chemicals such as dopamine. Nerve cells bond to each other to form a reward pathway.

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Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

Our monthly givers understand that changing hearts and minds takes time. They help us ensure the Freedom Fight is always available and always free. If you give monthly, you will receive our special monthly updates on how Freedom Fight is helping the church win the battle for the next generation of young men and women and this generation of marriages and regular opportunities to pray for us.

Can Affect Daily Functioning

Being glued to a screen displaying pornographic material can be very obstructive to your daily flow. It can hinder productivity in the workplace, at home, and in social settings.

The overwhelming need to watch others engage in intercourse can become more important than the meeting scheduled with a client, attending the doctors appointment, or even taking much-needed time to relax and enjoy the day.

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Are There Treatment Options Available

Many individuals benefit from who can help them overcome emotional difficulties and make positive changes in their lives. Usually, treatment incorporates:

  • : This therapy focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions and behaviors, improving emotional regulation, and developing coping strategies that target current problems.
  • Individual therapy: One-on-one therapy sessions offer a unique and transparent space for those in recovery to express their challenges, emotions, and hopes.
  • Couples therapy: When behavioral addictions break apart relationships, both romantic and family ones, couples counseling can help restore trust and rebuild relationships, which can be essential for support in long-term recovery.
  • Group therapy: Speaking about challenges, emotions, and troubles in a group environment, can offer a sense of fellowship and support and provide a space to build sober relationships.
  • Self-help groups: Usually, addiction is a lifelong journey self-help groups can offer aftercare support once someone ends treatment. Usually, these 12-step programs provide a sense of structure that can help with long-term sobriety.

There Are Other More Specific Lies That Your Addiction Voice Can Throw At You As Well

Overcome Porn Addiction Guided Self Hypnosis, Break Free from ...

In addition to the prediction, there are other more specific lies your addiction can try to pull on you as well.

Some common lies the sensitized pathways were whispering in my ears, back when I was struggling with my own addiction, a few years ago could look something like this

  • Come on, just one last time, then I’ll start a new life on Monday
  • Just a few more times wouldn’t hurt, besides, everybody does it
  • We’re not going to relapse, just check this one thing quickly

Now, your job is to become super aware of your inner voice, and recognize all the lies the sensitized pathways are whispering to you.

It takes some practice to become aware of the lies, but with a little effort you’ll be able to do it fairly quickly.

so, it’s clearly a big, fat, life.

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Dont Beat Yourself Up If You Fall Off The Wagon

Trying to break a habit or recover from an addiction is a journey. Unfortunately, on that journey, you might find yourself slipping back into old habits. Whenever that happens, dont waste any time beating yourself up.

Do your research, try more coping mechanisms and treatment options and get back on the wagon.

It Can Affect Your Partner’s Self

When a partner observes their partner drawing away physically, preferring instead to turn to pornit can be a heavy blow to their self-esteem.

Questions around their abilities in bed, the interests of their partner, and what other areas they may be falling short might consume the significant other of a person with this hypersexual disorder.

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Nerve Cells That Fire Together Will Wire Together

Sensitisation and learning are governed by this simple principle: nerve cells that fire together will wire together. When nerve cells experience pleasure, nerve cells carry that message to the reward centre by join together. Overtime, this pathway that carries this message becomes fixed. When a memory or cue activates memories related to this pleasure, a powerful craving arises because the pathways that allow this pleasurable cue to reach your reward centre are well established.

This is illustrated by the image below:

Install A Good Filter Or Accountability Program

The Cycle Of Addiction – Unf*ck Yourself From The Modern World (E442)

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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Seek More Than We Are Satisfied

However, our dopamine system is stronger than our opioid system. This means that we seek more than we are satisfied. Seeking is more likely to keep us a live compared to sitting around in a satisfied heap. In summary, dopamine compels animals into action. This is why scientists refer to dopamine as the seeking circuit. Dopamine provides the motivation for us to pursue our wants and desires.

We receive a bigger burst of dopamine when we look at foods containing a bigger proportion of sugars and fats. This is because these foods are most likely to keep us alive when we are threatened with starvation. This is why you believe you are full until the waiter offers you that chocolate pudding. The anticipation for that pudding is fuelled by dopamine. Dopamine surges thus override feelings of satiety.

Delete Your Browser History

Those of you with a background in psychology will recognize this as a type of Pavlovian conditioning. Pavlovian conditioning as defined by Wikipedia :

Classical conditioning refers to a learning procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus is paired with a previously neutral stimulus . It also refers to the learning process that results from this pairing, through which the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response that is usually similar to the one elicited by the potent stimulus.

The only way around this is to delete your browser history.

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It’s Important To Be Reminded That We Are Loved

We all need to be reminded that we are loved by someone, whether its a spouse, family member, or friend. But sometimes, we need to be reminded that we are also loved by God.

That’s why we are making available these new Bringing Kingdom shirts that say, “I got you. – God.” Buy one and be reminded, and remind others at the same time.

Because when we are reminded that we are loved, it gives us hope. And hope is what this world needs more of, and that only comes from Jesus. Hope is what will change the world.

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