General tips about porn addiction and rebooting (extremely long but valuable)

I have been reading about this addiction and recovering from it for 3 complete days now and that's the summary of what I have read.Most are from yourbrainonporn and some from videos and other sites and research papers.
Here we go :
1)
" If you are looking for a set of rules you will not find them - other than: "No artificial sexual stimulation during your reboot." By artificial I mean pixels, audio and literature. No porn substitutes allowed, such as: surfing pictures on Facebook or dating sites, cruising Craigslist, underwear ads, YouTube videos, "erotic literature", etc. If it's not real life, just say 'no.'

2)
Please do not get caught up in, "Am I doing this right?" It is you who decide the length and parameters of your reboot, depending on your goals and current situation.

3)
"It's amazing what you learn doing this. I think I now fully understand the saying that 'knowledge is power.' Once you know how something works and how it affects you, it's much easier to muster the willpower to make a change if you so wish."

4)
Over time my real life perception of women and sex got completely screwed up. It was no longer possible to have one concise view on this matter...due to all the contradicting thoughts in my head! "Women like cuddly sex... no wait, women just want raw hard sex.... no, women want commitment and no sex at all... nonono women just want to project their frustration on us by dressing sexy but being unavailable while they have access to all the sex in the world... women are sexbeasts that demand a penis that is in working order...I must be a porn star in bed. I am a failure!" Something like that. In the end it just wasn't possible to integrate those views, some of which were each other's complete opposite. It confused me and depressed me.
5)
(Story by recovered user) A few months ago the company handed out new smart phones for Navigation to employees who did not already have one. It was only a matter of time before my formerly computer-illiterate coworker discovered the magical world of porn. The other day he was driving down the road in a company car and masturbating on the highway WITH another coworker in the car. That is when you know you have problems. The life of porn is already destroying his relationship with his wife. He was in a screaming match with her over the phone at the job site, talking about kicking her out of their house. One coworker chimed in and said " go home make up with her and stick it in her butt" (sorry for the graphic wording.) My coworker responds with ... " I don't even want to. I am bored of her. I rather go home and jack-off to porn." He was 100% serious when he made that statement, you could see it in his face.
6)
Although very complex alterations in brain structure and functioning occur in all addictions, the following four categories comprise many of the major changes:
i) Desensitization of your reward circuitry: A numbed pleasure response
ii)sensitization - which is behind sexual conditioning-:Formation of addiction pathways
iii) Hypofrontality: Weakening of the impulse control circuits ,inhibition of executive control and decision making
iv)Dysfunctional stress circuits :Stress will easily trigger a relapse
7)
A guy rebooting:
"This will be my last attempt with this and then I'm done. I don't like porn but I like the initial high I get when I tempt myself with it (too bad after that it sucks) which at this point is better than anything I'm experiencing now."
The above short quote encompasses three of the major neuroplastic changes found in addictions: hypofrontality, sensitization and desensitization.
“I don’t like porn” and "too bad after that it sucks" reflect hypofrontality. His more rational frontal cortex wants to recover from porn-induced ED and expects to feel like crap after a porn binge, but loses the battle to cravings. 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 usually wins this battle.
"I like the initial high" and "better than anything I'm experiencing now" reflect sensitization. Addiction pathways associated with porn use are now the easiest and most reliable way to activate the reward circuit.
"which at this point is better than anything I'm experiencing now" is due to desensitization. Low dopamine and dopamine (D2) receptors make natural rewards boring, nowhere near as stimulating as the Internet porn to which he is sensitized.
8)
The main physiological feature of reward circuitry desensitization is a decline in dopamine signaling. Desensitization seems to be caused by a number of factors, including:
1-Decline in dopamine (D2) receptors. Fewer D2 receptors mean less sensitivity to available dopamine, which leaves the addict less sensitive to the pleasure normally found in experiences.
2-Decline in baseline (tonic) dopamine levels. Lower dopamine levels leave an addict "hungry" for dopamine-raising activities/substances of all kinds.
3-Blunted dopamine in response to normal rewards. Dopamine normally rises in response to rewarding activities. Once your addiction is the most reliable source of dopamine, cravings arise urging you to use porn.
4-Decline in CRF-1 receptors, which function to raise dopamine levels in the striatum (only studied with cocaine)
5-Loss of reward circuit grey matter, which means a loss in dendrites. This translates into fewer nerve connections or synapses. A 2014 study on porn users correlated less grey matter with more porn use.
6-Decline in opioids or opioid receptors
Both #2 and #3 may involve increased dynorphin which inhibits dopamine, and weakening of certain pathways (glutamate) conveying messages to the reward circuitry.
What you can do is exercise and meditate. Aerobic exercise is the one thing that increases both dopamine and dopamine receptors. Exercise also reduces cravings and eases depression. One study reports that meditation increases dopamine a whopping 65%. Another study found far more frontal cortex gray matter in long-term meditators.
9)
Rewiring and unwiring refers to neuroplasticity or brain plasticity. Neuroplasticity is the lifelong ability of the brain to reorganize neural pathways based on new experiences. Neuroplasticity does not consist of a single type of brain change, but rather includes several various processes that occur throughout an individual’s lifetime. Brian plasticity occurs on multiple levels and includes (but is not limited to):
Increase or decrease in myelin sheath (white matter): Covers nerve fibers to increase the speed of nerve impulses.
Increase or decrease in number of dendrites (gray matter): These branch-like fibers are where nerve cells communicate.
Increase or decrease in the number of synapses: Helps to determine strength of pathways, information flow, learning and memories.
Increase or decrease in the strength of a synapse: Same as above
The above mechanisms are at work during brain development, learning, memory formation, and the development of addiction. Neuroplasticity works in two directions: it can weaken or delete old connections as well as strengthen or create new connections.
10)
You may have rebooted your brain and returned your dopamine signaling to what's normal for you, but the sensitized pathways may never entirely disappear. They are likely to weaken, however. For example, an alcoholic who has been sober for 20 years may no longer get triggered by beer commercials. Yet if he drinks a beer, his sensitized pathways would light up, and he could lose control and binge. Same thing can happen to former porn users. They need to be mindful of cues for a long time, especially powerful ones.A former porn user will remain hyper-sensitive to any cues his brain associated with porn, for a very long time, and possibly indefinitely. This means that even a casual peek can activate your brain's old response and increase inner conflict. Stay away from porn. Resist the urge to test yourself by "just looking" to gauge how you're doing.

 

11)
Sensitized pathways and withdrawal...ugh
Let's say you decide to make the ultimate sacrifice and stop using porn. You'll probably feel rotten for a while. Remember, your brain initially perceived your heavy porn use as a genetic bonanza. It thought you were making babies with each climax. It laid down the super-memories so you wouldn't abandon your "valuable" bevy of beauties (or whatever you were climaxing to).
Now, as you defy your brain by abstaining, your already low dopamine/sensitivity to drops further. Also, libido-squelching brain stress hormones CRF and norepinephrine shoot up. Your desensitization is in overdrive, so a real partner doesn't stand a chance. No wonder most guys experience such intense withdrawal symptoms. They're feeling less pleasure than ever in response to normal stimuli, feeling more anxious, and trying to quit the one thing that can still goose their reward circuitry. There are solid physiological reasons why addictions are so tough to beat.
Worse yet, during abstinence the sensitized "goosing" pathways grow even stronger. It's as if your pleasure center is screaming for stimulation...but only the addiction can hear the call. The branches (dendrites) on nerve cells processing addiction-related reward signals become "super spiny." This overgrowth of little nubs allows for more synaptic connections and greater excitation. It's like growing four extra pairs of ears while being stuck at a "Spinal Tap" concert. When cues or thoughts (glutamate) hammer your reward circuit, the craving scale hits eleven.
12)
Recovery turns sensitized pathways into paper tigers
Despite their enormous power, sensitized pathways eventually lose their grip as your brain returns to normal, and everyday pleasures become more satisfying. Staring at pixels begins to register as an empty exercise, and eventually the brain allows the sensitized pathways to weaken at the same time it strengthens the pathways related to other promising rewards (such as real partners).
13)
The tasks our prefrontal lobes perform are referred to as executive functions:
Abstract thinking
Motivation for goal-directed activity
Planning and problem-solving
Attention to tasks
Inhibition of impulsive responses
Weighing consequences of future actions
Flexibility of responses (rule shifting)
Reflective decision-making
Normally their exists a balance of power (picture to the right) between our urges/desires and our awareness of consequences of our actions
What is hypofrontality?
Hypo mean less than normal or deficient. Frontal refers to the frontal lobes, or prefrontal lobes. Alternately the terms frontal cortex or prefrontal cortex are also used. However, cortex refers to the thin outer layer of densely packed nerve cells, which appears gray. Hypofrontailty means the the frontal lobes are under performing. Structurally, this manifests as:
Decline in gray matter (the cortex)
Abnormal white matter (the communication pathways)
Decreased metabolism or lowered glucose utilization
Simply put, addiction-related hypofrontality is a decline in executive functioning, which manifests as:
Impaired decision-making arising from direct interference with reasoning, logic, and the ability to weigh consequences.
Drives, impulses, and craving are not inhibited because of direct compromise of brain-reasoning ability.
The mind overvalues reward, fails to appreciate risk, and fails to activate systems that warn of impending danger.
The mind misjudges using one's addiction as “worth it” by being unable to appreciate adverse consequences.
For an addict, it's an imbalance of power: Weakened self-control systems (hypofrontality), are overwhelmed by the cravings emanating from sensitized addiction pathways and a desensitized reward circuit. In other words - your willpower has eroded
14)
Thoughts on whether to drastically reduce or eliminate masturbation during a reboot:
If you have porn-induced ED, your brain is saying: "I can't do this anymore". Understand that your urge to masturbate is not true libido - you are addicted to porn, or your sexuality is conditioned to pixels. If you need porn to masturbate, or have a partially erect penis when you do, you are not horny or in need of "release". You are addicted and seeking a fix: a temporary dopamine high.
The majority of men with porn-induced ED recover faster if they temporarily reduce masturbation and orgasm - at least for a while. When you have a medical condition you usually need to do more than just eliminate the cause - in this case porn use. You don't generally break a leg by putting weight on it. However, once it's broken you have to cast it, use crutches and eliminate walking while you heal. With porn-induced ED, you may need to give your brain time to heal, free of intense sexual stimulation.
Masturbation and porn use are tightly wired together. Like Pavlov's dog that salivated when it heard the bell, you will start drooling for porn when masturbating. Time is needed to weaken the neural connections intertwining wanking and watching.
Recovery may be easier without masturbation/orgasm. Remove masturbation/orgasm from the equation and most guys experience a sharp decline in sexual desire, we call the flatline.
When you also eliminate orgasm/masturbation, not just porn, it seems to precipitate a more complete and deeper withdrawal, and thus healing.
Masturbation and orgasm strongly reactivate cravings to use porn. It has been surprising to witness that most men have an easier time eliminating masturbation than they do porn. For most guys with porn addiction, masturbation is simply not that interesting without porn, and they are amazed to discover that porn, not their libido, was driving their constant search for relief.
Key point: Our information comes from those who have posted rebooting accounts. There may be many guys who easily recover while continuing to regularly orgasm
Key point 2: Longer is not necessarily better, when it comes to complete abstinence from ejaculation. You need to be flexible and monitor the effects of orgasm as you progress in your reboot.
Caveat: Some guys with porn-induced ED eventually need to orgasm in order to jump-start their brains after a reboot or extended flatline.
15)
the time is completely dependent on the severity of your condition, how your brain responds, and your goals. Time frames found in rebooting accounts are all over the place because brains are different, and some men have porn-induced ED or DE. The men who reboot reverse porn-induced ED use their erectile health as a parameter.
Guys without ED must use other benchmarks . It's not uncommon for younger men to experience improvements long after the end of their rebooting phase.
Think of a reboot as discovering what's you and what was porn related - whether it be ED, social anxiety, raging sex drive, ADD, depression, etc. Once you have a clear understanding of how you were affected by porn, you can steer your own ship.
16)
Recovery is non-linear (repeat this several times)
"You must have long range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short range failures." — Charles C. Noble
When you begin the reboot you may feel rotten...for weeks. Cravings and anxiety about all kinds of things may be intense, or paradoxically, your libido could "flatline" for a while, and it may be a couple of months before it bounces back. "Testing" with porn to make sure you're still functional tends to increase the time needed to reboot, so you have to brave The Void of not knowing how you're doing—or risk slowing your progress. That said, people usually start experiencing good days, too, after a couple of weeks—especially if they use the other Tools to produce good feelings in new ways.
But progress is not linear, and good days can be followed by miserable days. Miserable days can also precede excellent days. It's almost as if there's a pendulum deep in the brain, which frequent, intense stimulation has anchored at one extreme. When you stop using Internet porn, the pendulum swings back and forth before settling in the middle. The process is disconcerting because the neurochemical fluctuations affect your mood, your perception of your life, your ability to socialize with others and even, possibly, your sexual responsiveness. Be patient and the situation will stabilize.
"Some tumultuous events happened in my family when I was in junior high, which was around the same time I first discovered a porn magazine. I think something snapped. I just stopped trying. I stopped caring. And I started to let my sexual impulses totally sabotage me for the next 20 years. Right now, I feel like I'm getting back that old junior-high self. I feel like I'm picking up where I left off and finally becoming who I was to become had I not lost my way: a disciplined, kind, intelligent, respectable, hard-working, strong, caring, gentleman."
Finally, try not to get too rigid. Be gentle with yourself. Rebooting is a funny thing. The people who do it the most smoothly keep a sense of humor, accept their humanness, love sex, respect their sexuality, and gradually steer themselves into a new groove. They don't bludgeon themselves, or threaten themselves with doom. Sex is a very fundamental drive. It's best to ease your way through this shift, to forgive yourself if you slip, try again, and so forth. Bottom line: Rebooting requires a big commitment and a lot of courage.

 

17)
Common withdrawal symptoms include:
Anxiety
Restlessness
Irritability
Insomnia
Fatigue
Headaches
Poor concentration
Depression
Social isolation
Loss of libido (Can take days to manifest, and last a long time)
18)
PAWS, or post-acute withdrawal symptoms, refers to withdrawal-like misery that recurs periodically for months or even years after the initial withdrawal process is complete. The term evolved in connection with recovery from substance addictions, but some people who quit porn describe a similar phenomenon. This is not surprising, as all addictions cause some of the same fundamental brain changes, and withdrawal brings on additional neurochemical changes.
In recent years men of porn recovery forums have hypothesized that lingering symptoms such as low libido, depression, anxiety, and lethargy may be PAWS-related.
One guy said:
I used to be a heavy porn user for many years but i pretty much stopped doing porn about 3 years ago. I guess i was very addicted, which is probably why i am still having lots of trouble today.
Since then i have been suffering from PAWS:
-depression
-Anxiety
-Irritability
-Insomnia (occassionaly)
-repetetive negative thinking
-loss of lipido
-somethink i would describe as craving for being "high"
Things are getting better with the time but the progress is very slowly.
19)
Edging:
Some men attempting the rebooting process believe that as long as they avoid ejaculation, they are successfully rebooting. This bizarre logic leads to a practice common to Internet porn users, called edging. This is masturbating up to the edge of orgasm, then stopping to cool things down, then revving up again. Three common versions of edging:
Watching porn without masturbating
Masturbating while viewing porn, but not ejaculating
Masturbating without porn and without ejaculating
Since a reboot is defined as no porn or porn substitutes 1 & 2 make no sense. Edging while viewing porn (or fantasizing about porn) is far worse than simply having an orgasm and getting it over with. Why is that? It all comes down to dopamine.
Addiction-related brain changes and sexual (Pavlovian) conditioning are initiated by:
-Dopamine levels which are higher than levels attained through natural means (drugs, for example)
-Moderate dopamine levels that remain elevated for long periods
-Combo of 1 & 2
If you are edging to porn you are combining naturally high dopamine levels of masturbation with the dopamine raising abilities of 1) exciting, novel visuals 2) searching the net for porn 3) finding surprising or shocking genres. Edging can keep dopamine levels elevated for hours, and train the brain to require constant visual stimulation, rapid-fire novelty, clicking from scene to scene, and your own hand. None of this matches real sex.
High dopamine tells the reward circuit that "This activity is really, really important, and you should do it again and again.” Forget the possibility of addiction-related brain changes. Chronically high dopamine is conditioning your sexual arousal to everything associated Internet porn use. You are now training for the wrong sport. It's like spending your time hitting golf balls in order to become great basketball player.
Worse than training for the wrong sport, you may be taking yourself out of the game all together. Dopamine is odd. It really shoots up when something is better than expected, but drops when expectations are not met. Rewiring your sexuality to Internet porn means you unconsciously expect to be a voyeur controlling your dopamine with a mouse. When real sex doesn't match porn, dopamine plummets - along with your excitement and erections.
What about edging without using porn? Depends on your goals I guess. Keep in mind that YBOP is about Internet porn, not masturbation (hello nofap/reddit). Is it similar to simply staying close to the edge with a partner? Not exactly, because you are wiring your sexual response to your own hand. Having sex means you are wiring your sexual response to another person. This may be significant to visitors who are are dealing with sexual dysfunctions.
It's important to realize that sexual stimulation is by far the highest level of dopamine naturally produced. Dopamine is at its peak when on the verge of orgasming (edging). In the pre-Internet days, guys would usually masturbate, orgasm and be done with it - it might take 10 minutes or so. At orgasm, prolactin rises, which drops dopamine to baseline levels and inhibits its release. That normally spells some relief.
Placing your foot on the dopamine gas, without ever hitting the brake (prolactin) results in a continuous state of cravings without satisfaction. This practice of edging calls to mind the earliest experiments on the reward circuitry of the brain in which animals would stimulate themselves over and over, braving electrical shocks and ignoring willing mates.
In the end, chronically high levels of dopamine (in conjunction with a specific stimulus) are the trigger for addiction, as over-stimulation of the reward circuit leads to the accumulation of DeltaFosB, activation of genes, and specific brain changes. As the sustained molecular switch for addiction, DeltaFosB initiates both behavioral and chemical addictions. It rewires the reward circuit to sexual cues in the environment and makes "sex" even more enticing. If your sexual environment is Internet porn, that's what your reward circuit expects....and craves.
One guy said:
"I stopped watching porn on June 8, 2011 and haven't seen a naked girl on my screen (in any form) since then. However, a crucial mistake that I was making, up until 32 days ago, was EDGING. I saw very little, to no, progress for the first 6 months or so, and never completely contributed this to edging (partly out of denial, and partly because it was second nature and something I didn't think about very much when it was happening). So, for the past 30 days, I've been seeing massive progress."
20)
It's quite possible that drugs can cause permanent damage to dopamine systems, which behavioral addictions do not.
That's why it drives me nuts when websites or speakers state that Internet porn is just like meth or crack cocaine. Such analogies lead people to think that that porn use can cause damage just like meth use. For some, kicking porn addiction may be harder than kicking drug addiction, but this does not indicate it causes greater neurological damage. The difficulty in ending an addiction may simply correlate with the level of neuroplastic changes caused by use.
21)
There are no scientific studies that say porn is addictive, right?
Not anymore. At this time, two studies have examined the brains of porn users:
-Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption: The Brain on Porn (2014) - A German study which found 3 significant addiction-related brain changes that correlated with the amount of porn consumed. It also found that the more more porn consumed, the less activity in the reward circuit, indicating desensitization, and the need for greater stimulation (tolerance).
-Cambridge University: Brain scans find porn addiction. This first in a series of studies found the same brain activity as seen in drug addicts and alcoholics. It also found that porn addicts fit the accepted addiction model of wanting "it" more, but not liking "it" more. One other major finding (not reported in the media), was that over 50% of subjects (average age: 25) had difficulty achieving erections/arousal with real partners, yet could achieve erections with porn.
The results of the Cambridge study, and the German study provide very strong support for hypotheses put forth here a few years ago on YBOP. Together the 2 studies found:
The 3 major addiction-related brain changes discussed in YBOP videos & articles: sensitization, desensitization, and hypofrontality,
Less arousal to sexual imagery (the need for greater stimulation).
The younger the porn user the greater the cue-induced reactivity in the reward center.
Very high rates of ED in young, compulsive porn users.
Why so few studies on porn users? Sexual politics discourage isolating porn use from other forms of Internet activities. Unfortunately, this could be obscuring the increased vulnerability of those pursuing cybersex/porn. A 2006 Dutch study found that erotica had the highest addictive potential of all Internet applications. No wonder. Internet erotica is an extreme version of a natural reward that we're all wired to pursue: apparent mating opportunities.

 

I may add some other information in the future.

 

Wow, Kurapika, this is a great resource. I learned a lot. Never considered that the reason P imagery has such staying power in our minds is becuase we have a biological drive to support the woman who gives birth to our children.

 

Nice, good luck with the reboot, mate

 

Excuse my French but holy shit, I'm slain. Let me tell you, I've seen A LOT of tips masterposts, but this is alien level.

 

Is it alien in a good or a bad way ?

 

Like, scarily good, ebook level. Really don't have to say, I'm still in awe.

 

This was posted by one of the most successful people here and I find it really precious , so I will add it here:
I am sure you have heard the phrase "to conquer your enemy you must study your enemy." You have some studying to do. You do not know your enemy. First understand, this is very important, you are not addicted to PMO. No one is. Nor are you addicted to porn. No one is. It looks like you are, feels like you are, sounds like you are, but you are not. Porn, PMO, MO, those sexual thoughts of porn in your head, all of those are just a button you push to get a hit of the thing you truly are addicted to: dopamine.

For a dopamine addict, hypersexual thoughts lead immediately to a dopamine release, and nothing creates hypersexual thoughts like porn. This is completely, 100%, in your head. Totally a brain condition. It is Pavlovian, cause and effect, stimulus and response. Our brains reward sexual thoughts with a dopamine rush to encourage reproduction. That is why we like thoughts of sex, thoughts of sex lead to a dopamine rush, and that brain chemical feels, well, just about as good as anything we will ever feel. On some level it feels like being beautifully alive. But something in our environment has changed in the last 20 years. In the last 20 years we, as a species, have come to experience High Speed Internet Porn. One aspect of HSIP is that it allows for the constant "search". That is why Playboy etc is not addictive. It is a finite source of visual stimulation. You can only search a magazine for about an hour before you have found everything there is to see that is sexually interesting. But the internet and HSIP...that is new, that is different, and it is so vast that now you can sit alone in a room, closed door, with your computer, and search forever, and you never have to see the same image twice. You see dopamine is not merely released in normal amounts in response to normal sexual thoughts, and in much increased amounts to hypersexual thoughts, but dopamine rewards the search for the new, the novel, the different, and even the shocking. That is why many of us begin at what we call vanilla porn; pornography that on some level looks like how we would like to see ourselves, but that then becomes boring and we move on to something different, a bit shocking, and when that bores us we move on to other "categories," all a bit more hardcore than the last, as the addiction leads our sexual tastes further and further away from where this nightmare began.

This has to do with brain plasticity. Unconsciously, through a dopamine reward, you have conditioned your brain to reward porn, so much so that for some guys the brain will no longer reward sex, resulting in Porn Induced Erectile Dysfunction.

I want you to watch this video. This video saved my life. Before it I thought, like you, that I was addicted to porn. After it I knew I was addicted to dopamine. When I finally quit fighting porn and began fighting my true enemy, dopamine addiction, I found success.



Next, quit aggressively, not passively. Don't sit alone at home "hoping" it is going away. It isn't. Make a plan. Understand it will take at least 90 days, but the 90 days is just the doorway through which you must pass to achieve a permanent life change. Beating dopamine addiction requires a permanent life style change. Right now you live the "porn lifestyle". You do it every day, multiple times a day. You plan on it first thing in the morning, you feel you cannot go without it. The idea of going without it is about as alien to you as sprouting wings and flying. For an addict, going without...forever...is the "impossible thought." You have to embrace the impossible thought. You cannot beat dopamine addiction and keep porn in your life because that button, if near, will always be pushed by the addict. You have to embrace the concept that you are putting porn down forever and will never go back to play with it again. If you have to get angry to do this, get angry. You see, we come to rely on porn, it feels like it is making us feel better, and it does; dopamine feels great. But like Gary Wilson said, if it did not cause problems, we would not give it up. It causes HUGH problems eventually, and you are having some of those in your life. Porn is not your friend; may feel like it, but no. Porn does nothing, absolutely nothing, positive for you, and only does negative things. The only way to beat this is to quit it 100% so you need to count on that now.

You have to make a plan. What kind of plan? Well, could be as simple as moving the computer into a public space. At work, keep your door open and move your computer to where people in the door way can see what is on the screen. If being inside a alone is a problem time for you, go outside, go to the mall. Take your laptop to the mall and sit in a crowded cafeteria. Use it in places where you would not dare access porn. Hell, if you have it bad enough, give up your computer during the hard 90. If you have a smart phone, get a dumb phone. Remember, this is not permanent; the hard 90 is a relatively short period in your life to fix a problem that will hang around your neck for the rest of your life unless you take time to beat it now. If not now when? When you are a 75 year old virgin being wheeled into a retirement home? Dude, pathetic. Now is the time. A big help: porn blockers. K9 seems the most effective and recommended. Also you need a better, positive, attitude. The attitude to many of us have is "I can't do this." No, that won't work. And while I am all for the good college try, "I can do this" isn't good enough either. You have to understand what this addiction is: It is a mother fucker, a son of a bitch, it does not fight fair, it fights dirty, and it lies to you. The attitude you must have to beat this addiction is: "I am going to beat this mother fucker to death, every day, if it takes that long, for the rest of my life, even while, in the beginning of the fight, it is the one beating me up." You are going to have to learn to fight dirty and take a punch. No one quits this addiction without split lips, black eyes, and broken bones, emotionally and psychologically. There are physical symptoms and pain too. It is not called an addiction because it is as easy as giving up chewing gum.

OK, get tough, get mean, get ready to be a SOB , and to suffer for the hard 90. Piece of cake.

Much love

Will I AM

 

Coping with withdrawal symptoms :
http://www.futuresofpalmbeach.com/drug-detox/coping-with-withdrawal-symptoms/