Informational Videos
Informational Videos
The Great Porn Experiment
Porn Induced Erectile Dysfunction
Your Brain On Porn
Adolescent Brain Meets Highspeed Internet Porn
The Science of Pornography Addiction
The Road To Recovery
When dealing with addiction and recovery, one of the first things and maybe
the most important thing,
that needs to happen is a realization and confession that there is a problem.
So my first point of advice is.
- Admit there is a problem, or that you have an addiction.
-You will not want to give up your addiction if you do not think
there is a problem. And you for sure will not want to go through any pain or
withdrawal if what you're doing doesn't seem to be a problem to you.
Everyone has problems they are unaware of, and most addicts are unaware they
have addictions, either because they are in denial, or they honestly do not
know what they are doing can actually lead to a physical addiction. That's
what happened to me, I had no idea that porn, video games, and being on
Facebook, Twitter etc. had the ability to change my brain in some of the same ways chemical
drugs like cocaine. Giving up porn was an easy decision for me to make (but difficult to follow) once I learned
how much damage I was causing my brain.. Which leads me to my next point.
- Learn about addiction, and that it's about how our BRAIN
changes. -This is so important. Once you learn how your brain has
physically changed, and know the basic mechanisms behind addiction, you will
feel very enthusiastic and motivated to change. You will be more aware of
what is happening to you when you engage in addictive behavior or
substances. To begin learning about addiction you can start by reading,
the "Start Here" article on yourbrainonporn.com - After gaining an understanding of
what drove you into addiction, you will know exactly what you need to do to
drive out of it.
- Replace the addiction with something healthy. -
Obviously this first means quit. When you give up an addiction your brain
will start crying out for anything to fill the void that has been left. Most
people jump from addiction to another because they are not willing to go
through the pain of withdrawal. So to ease the tension they take up
something else and fail to see that they just replaced one addiction with
another. You have to replace your addiction with something healthy. Working
out with weights or cardio, learning how to play an instrument, reading
books, building or creating something, dancing, eating as healthy as
possible, these are just a few but the main point is CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE.
Including your environment, bringing to my next step.
- Change your environment. - If you have an addiction you
need to get rid of EVERYTHING you physically have associated with it, if
porn is your struggle get rid of saved pictures, videos, DVD's, magazines,
whatever it is it has to go! ASAP! Now, I would suggest putting porn
blocking software on all your devices, BUT, only for the "accidental"
exposure of it like clicking on a random email, OR, put the software on for
the sake of others around you, friends and children, so that they may not
get exposed.
Do not simply rely on the blocking software alone. A combined effort to change lifestyle and environment works best. I have seen
hundreds of times where guys rely on the software to keep them from watching
porn and they end up finding a way around the system, or they just use a
different device. You have to make a choice to not watch it. You have to really
want to give it up. I am not saying that porn blocking software
is a bad idea, I am saying that relying on it is. With that being said, here
is a link to one of the best Filtering Software:
"K9 Web Protection". You
might want to move your computer to the living room or a place less private.
- Get Support!- When I first gave up porn, I spent
countless hours (and still do) reading other peoples stories and
testimonies, knowing your not alone in recovery is the main reason I made
this site. I was shocked there were so many guys going through the same thing
as me. I HIGHLY suggest making an anonymous journal, (no one knows who you
are!) where you can share your story and get things off your chest. Ask
questions, and most importantly get support and encouragement through your
recovery! It is not easy to do but it is well worth it. If you have someone
in your life that you can share your struggle with who can hold you
accountable then I would do it. If not, that's what our online community is
for! -
Visit the
Forum here-or go here to
register for
an account! I and the rest of The Reboot Nation team/community will
answer any questions you have, and help and encourage you along the way to
recovery!
- Stay Busy - Keeping yourself busy will help keep your
mind off your addiction. "free time is the devils playground" is a saying
that comes to mind. For most guys boredom is one of the biggest triggers to
watch porn. This is also the case with tons of other addictions. Ironically,
the more we engage in addictive behavior the more bored we become. If you
find yourself bored, a great thing that helped me is just reading recovery
stories or getting out of the house and taking my dog for a walk, playing
basketball, or whatever you enjoy that wont blast your brain with too much
stimulation of course.
- Be prepared for withdrawal- When you give up an
addiction, you almost certainly will go through some very real physical
withdrawal. This not only applies to chemical addictions, but ALSO for behavioral addictions.
All addictions have the same main brain cahnges, addiction is now looked at
as ONE disease. Be prepared for severe headaches, hightend stress
and anxiety, insomnia, depressing thoughts, muscle aches, inability to
concentrate (brain fog), unusual behavior. In my case I'm usually a stress
free guy, real laid back, but I had some panic attacks where no joke I broke
down crying and kicked things like I was a 4 year old who just got all his
toys taken away! This is all temporary though! It will help you stay calm
when some of these withdrawal symptoms show up if you are aware it's just
your brain re-learning everything and your addictive pathways in your brain
are weakening.
- Learn your triggers and avoid them/replace them-
A brain that is addicted has a sneaky way of permitting us to do what we know we should not. Addiction experts call this struggle with self control and decision making hypofrontality. This happens in our frontal cortex (behind our forehead) where our more rational part of our brain wants to recover from porn addiction and expects to feel like crap after a porn binge, but loses the battle to cravings due to really strong pathways we have made in our brains by using porn for years.
With hypofrontality, frontal cortex gray matter and functioning decrease, reducing impulse control. Now, in the tug-of-war between long-term goals and short-term relief, the urge to watch porn can win this battle if we do not recognize it is happening.
So keep an eye out for your triggers, and when found replace them with something healthier or time better spent. The more you re-direct your behavior to something else instead of porn, your self control in your frontal cortex will get stronger!
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