Pornography Effect On The Brain
Excessive use of pornography will have a range of effects over time. As discussed previously, it can have serious consequences for relationships and for your life at home and at work.
However, it also has a range of effects on the brain.
Over time, porn addiction alters neurotransmitters. This means that the brain will come to depend on the chemical surges elicited by viewing sexually explicit material.
You will therefore require more and more to achieve the same effect.
It also means that the brains response to other stimuli will be reduced. This makes it extremely difficult to end your use. The brain will demand the response provided by porn.
Focus On Your Deepest Passions
We typically indulge in addictions to take our mind off problems, painful emotions, or simply to hide our insecurities. These addictions provide us with a sense of control that helps carry us forward through to the next day.
Addictions however only hold power over you when you simply have nothing else to use as a substitute. In other words, you are prioritizing your addictions over other aspects of your life. Your addictions essentially become more important than anything else you could even fathom doing in that moment.
However, Im sure you have some healthy passions. You may even have an inkling of your lifes purpose. Possibly you also have some big goals you want to achieve. What are these things in your life? Do you even have a bucket list?
Why not create a bucket list of things you would like to do this year, this month, or maybe even this week? What things are you passionate about that you could add to your bucket list? What hobbies would you like to try? How else could you distract yourself from your addictions?
When you start giving more priority to your lifes passions and hobbies, your addictions will gradually start fading off into the distance.
Get Professional Help And Support
When addictions get out of hand, they not only put you in harms way but also put the people you care about in danger.
If your addictions are getting out of control, then the best course of action is to seek professional help. Counselors and Therapists are trained to handle addictions and can become a great support mechanism on your road to recovery.
Don’t Miss: How To Break Addiction To Phone
Stick With The Winners
This is similar to avoiding places but is directed towards people. Those people we often drank with or got drugs from or gambled with and so on.
If you really want to stay stopped from an addiction, certainly in the beginning and for some time at the start its best to avoid these people. Just as is the case for most people with avoiding certain places, this is not likely to be forever.
But just until you know in your heart that you can handle the test of being in these places and among these people again. Although when many people in recovery reach this point they realize they dont actually want to go to those places again or be with those people.
Theres a phrase frequently heard in addiction recovery circles that is stick with the winners. It may sound harsh, but really is just to get you considering who youre keeping company with at any given time.
We also need to look out for people who cause us to have strong emotions or who trigger us. This could include family, friends or colleagues.
It would be best to avoid these people in most instances. But if thats impossible, such as with some family members, at least be aware that you need to keep alert.
Also perhaps do some mental and emotional preparation before you see them such as meditate or read something that inspires you to stay stopped from your addiction. As well, try your best to limit the time you spend with anyone like this.
Connect With Sober Support
Addiction self-help groups provide an opportunity to connect with other people in recovery. The most popular addiction recovery groups include Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and SMART Recovery. While each group is slightly different in its approach, common characteristics of addiction recovery groups include:
-
Theyre facilitated by a peer in recovery.
-
Theyre available in person and online.
-
They focus on achieving abstinence from drugs and alcohol.
Research on these groups suggest that they are helpful in maintaining abstinence. Many people in early recovery are nervous or skeptical about attending self-help groups. You can consider bringing a friend or family member to an open meeting if you are apprehensive about going alone at first. Many people feel nervous in the beginning, but they quickly grow comfortable.
Don’t Miss: How To Curb Food Addiction
What To Do If You Slip Or Relapse
Most people try to stop smoking several times before they kick the habit for good, so dont beat yourself up if you slip up and smoke a cigarette. Instead, turn the relapse into a rebound by learning from your mistake. Analyze what happened right before you started smoking again, identify the triggers or trouble spots you ran into, and make a new stop-smoking plan that eliminates them.
Its also important to emphasize the difference between a slip and a relapse. If you start smoking again, it doesnt mean that you cant get back on the wagon. You can choose to learn from the slip and let it motivate you to try harder or you can use it as an excuse to go back to your smoking habit. But the choice is yours. A slip doesnt have to turn into a full-blown relapse.
Youre not a failure if you slip up. It doesnt mean you cant quit for good.
Dont let a slip become a mudslide. Throw out the rest of the pack. Its important to get back on the non-smoking track as soon as possible.
Look back at your quit log and feel good about the time you went without smoking.
Find the trigger. Exactly what was it that made you smoke again? Decide how you will cope with that issue the next time it comes up.
Learn from your experience. What has been most helpful? What didnt work?
Are you using a medicine to help you quit? Call your doctor if you start smoking again. Some medicines cannot be used if youre smoking at the same time.
Believing A Higher Power Can Restore Your Sanity
In the second step, you need to have complete belief that the higher power would help you restore your sanity. The wordings might be difficult to digest because no addict wants to admit that they have lost their sanity.
Ask yourself or even others, Is it normal to watch porn? and you will realize that normalcy doesnt include repeatedly watching porn to an extent that it begins impacting your life.
To know how to break an addiction, you need to admit how badly it has a control over you and that a power greater than you can help restore the state of psychological wellness and normalcy in your life.
Indeed, this higher power might have different meanings for everyone. It completely depends on your experience and beliefs who or what that higher power can be.
Keep in mind that this step is mostly about admitting the fact that you need help to recover from your addiction. You tried before but failed, which means you need someones help to assist you through this journey successfully.
Read more about porn addiction
You May Like: How To Conquer Food Addiction
Ways To Stop Watching Porn
Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Watching porn can be a sign of a healthy sexual appetite. However, if you find yourself watching it excessively, this might signify that you have a porn addiction.
While having a porn addiction might seem harmless, it can be detrimental to your general well-being. People with porn addictions often use it as an unhealthy coping mechanism with stressors in their lives or as a replacement for having a healthy sexual life.
If you recognize you have a problem with the amount of porn you consume, here are some tips to help you stop, along with signs of porn addiction, and potential treatment options.
Turning Over Your Life And Will To The Higher Power
In order to successfully stop watching porn, you need to be highly committed to your recovery plan. This step is linked with the first step.
After admitting that you need help to break the porn addiction, you have to give the control of your life to the higher power. This step is about showing your willingness to make positive changes in your life.
To help you with this step, it is recommended that you keep repeating the following prayer:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.
You must have complete belief that the higher power will assist you towards the right direction and transform your life for the good.
Recommended Reading: How To Break My Sugar Addiction
How Do Addictions Typically Arise
Addictions manifest in our lives in a multitude of ways. People, for instance, indulge in alcohol addiction, food addiction, television addiction, video game addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction, porn addiction, work addiction, shopping addiction, social media addiction, hoarding addiction, to name just a few. All these addictions arise from specific life circumstances that trigger compulsive behaviors.
An addiction can, for instance, arise from unexpected social, emotional or environmental pressures. Sudden changes in our environment, family circumstances, or work conditions can threaten our comfort, security, and way of life. When under threat, we succumb to painful emotions that prevent us from dealing with the situation in optimal ways.
Dwindling self-confidence, low self-esteem, and a strong desire to relieve anxiety and stress, drive us toward compulsive habits and behaviors that we use as a coping mechanism to deal with the uncertainties of life. These behaviors provide us with a sense of control, while at the same time redirecting our attention away from our problems.
Sometimes, though, addictions arise because of a desire to feel important or to fit in with our surroundings. We want to win people over and be accepted as part of a community or group, and as a result, we indulge in behaviors that we feel will help us win other peoples approval.
Decide When You’re At Your Weakest
It’s not that hard deciding that you want to quit eating junk food after just finishing eating a pizza, chocolate cakes and drinking soda as your blood sugar is peaking. You just feel sick from even thinking about eating anything else with sugar in it ever again. It won’t last.
Be sure that you want to quit the addiction, even at the same moment that you’re longing for a fix. That is a way to be sure that you have enough willpower. If you don’t have the will, there’s no reason to even try. Instead, focus on finding the reasons.
Don’t Miss: How Many People Are Addicted To Alcohol
Do You Want A Life Without Addiction
We hope you have found this guide useful in your fight against addiction. The Life Process Program is a systematic, proven methodology for beating addiction. Whether you are battling an addiction to drugs, alcohol,food, porn, sex, or gambling, our program is a hands-on, practical guide to overcoming addiction of any kind. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction we can offer additional help and support through our online Life Process Program.
I originally developed the Life Process Program as a residential program involving intense experiential learning, including exercises and feedback from counselors whom I personally trained. The treatment program was licensed, welcomed by insurers, and awarded the highest commendation for addiction treatment programs. Most people obviously cannot afford the time and expense of participating in a residential treatment program. My online LPP provides the same learning experience as the residential LPP program, but in an affordable, convenient package you can access on a home computer, laptop or mobile device.
So, please, explore the Life Process Program here and embark on your personal path to recovery. I believe you will never regret doing so.
Dr. Stanton Peele, Ph.D
Helping Someone Quit Drugs
Watching someone you care about use drugs is stressful. Their behaviour can be erratic and talking to them about their problem is challenging.
Here are some tips on how you can help:
- Learn about the effects of drugs this will help you understand why quitting can be hard.
- Show that you care without judging being calm and respectful may encourage them to be open and honest with you.
- Be positive and encouraging rather than negative and nagging remember relapses may happen, but they dont mean the person cant try again, and succeed.
- Offer practical support sometimes just being there is enough, but you can offer to go with them to parties or join them for a walk or run.
Find more tips on helping someone quit drugs on the Alcohol and Drug Foundation site.
You May Like: Can You Get Addicted To Vyvanse
Greater Goals: Pursuing And Accomplishing Things Of Value
We began this guide with a discussion about values and the many ways in which they help people find their path out of addiction. We identified a variety of valueshealth, independence, self-control, religious faiththat strengthen peoples resolve to escape destructive behavior. I am now calling on you to function on a higher moral level by living according to values that have a positive impact on other peoples lives.
8.1. Revisiting the Sources of Addiction
Addiction does not stand alone. It is not an isolated biological fact of your life. Who you are, where you are situated, what you believe, and what company you keep are fundamental factors in the addictive equation.
Trying to understand the eating disorders of college women without accounting for their anxious, encapsulated environments is a pointless exercise, just as it impossible to comprehend drug addiction without understanding peoples lack of opportunity and hopelessness.
Obviously environment is critical in addiction. But what is wrong with assuming that addiction is a disease that simply happens to people like yourself? For one thing, even in cases of severe addiction, it just isnt true. Furthermore, throughout this program, we have seen that there are costs to thinking of yourself as powerless against your addiction.
8.2. Addiction Is Self-Centered
As you probably realize by now, you are behaving selfishly while you pursue your addiction this is a powerful reason for you to quit,
8.3. Your Personal Goals
Get The Proper Mindset For Recovery By Tricking Your Mind
The most difficult part of breaking a bad habit is starting. The beginning is always the biggest challenge. The biggest step actually takes place in your mind. The conscious decision to beat an addiction is the most important step. Sometimes, the thought of quitting an addictive substance or activity for good is very intimidating. However, you can actually trick your mind into beginning. An effective way of doing this is to tell it that you are only going to commit to the addiction change for 30 days and then you will be free to go back to it. This is a very controversial way of going about recovery but it works. It puts your mind at ease by eliminating the intimidating nature of the recovery process such that it does not seem so difficult anymore. Once you begin and stay the course for 30 days, you find that you do not want to go back into it. You will have discovered an easier, healthier, more fulfilling way of life.
Learn More : 8 Easy but Powerful Ways to Break Bad Habits
Read Also: Why Is Social Media So Addictive
When Should You Seek Treatment For Porn Addiction
Generally, its a good time to seek professional porn addiction help when:
- Youve already tried to stop watching porn, but you cant quit.
- Youre constantly thinking about viewing erotic content and masturbating all the time, even when youre working or socializing.
- You feel as if you have to hide your porn consumption from your partner.
- You feel as if your addiction is keeping you from having a satisfying sex life with your partner.
Since its an addiction, quitting porn on your own can feel impossible, especially since a long-term addiction can affect brain chemistry.
However, a good addiction treatment center will take an individualized approach and provide aftercare services that help you heal and recover from pornography.
Replace Your Old Habits With New Similar Ones
Finding something similar to your bad habit can help you easily replace it. If you only have the choice to give into your habit or stay at an equilibrium, your habit will likely influence your choosing. If you have two choices, one new choice and one old choice, you have a better chance at picking the new choice that will help you form a positive habit since it puts you at an elevated level compared to where you were before.
For example, when someone who uses drugs feel stressed, they are more inclined to use the drugs than to not use the drugs and deal with stress on their own. Using the drugs puts them at a higher point than before but not using keeps them at the same stressful level. Instead, if you have the option to use drugs or go for a walk to get rid of stress you might pick going for a walk since the walk will likely de-stress your mind and body and put you at a better state than before.
If you drink alcohol when going out with friends and want to get sober, try a new non-alcoholic drink. You will still enjoy having something in your hand and tasting a good drink , but this time it wont be giving into your bad habit. As you start to replace your bad choices with better choices, you will likely reach for the better choice first, without even contemplating it!
You May Like: How Does Nicotine Make You Addicted
