Anyone successfully overcome a porn addiction?

I've deleted my vid & pic collection so many times, only to start it back up in a few months. Just like an alcoholic that's quit drinking a hundred times, I always fall back into bad habits.

For the longest time I had a strict No Porn On the Phone rule, but I even broke that a few month ago.

I've tried to do my own psychoanalysis of "why I'm this way". My main conclusion is that I am very very shy. How I ever got a gf or a wife is actually pretty astonishing considering how guarded and shy I am. Porn lets me by pass actually having to talk to women beyond superficial conversation.

I suspected it was having that effect on me. Over the years I've stayed up late watching hundreds if not thousands of videos. Not every day, not even every month. But Porn has always been part of my life. Thankfully not in a at work or on my phone at lunch way. Only ever on my desktop. But I had the corresponding bouts of ED along the way.

Last year I found myself with a new partner. And whilst she was (to my eyes at least) really hot, and she was trying. I couldn't get hard. She wasnt judgemental. She didnt need to be. I was harsher on myself.

Dejected, I went home and put on some porn. (A particular genre that I have gotten off to a lot in the past) Instant erection! Also I can wake up most mornings with wood, so I didnt think this was a physical thing as much as a mental thing.

From what I read online, obviously the male brain runs on images. Problem seems to be that over time, your brain "rewires" itself so you ONLY get hard to porn. And not the actual real life person in front of you! In my case ED also stunted my desire to get a new partner. The fear of failure when it comes to the first night is quite strong!

My NY resolution was to not watch any Internet porn video. Managed to keep that up so far. But I suspect I need to move away from non hardcore pictures too. It's tough with Instagram and social media. As inevitably some of my friends are pretty hot when they want "the likes"

But I suspect this is not going to be a quick process. And if my run training has proven anything, its that I can commit to a plan and stick to it if I want.

When I was in University, a Born-Again Christian outreach group came to proselytize at my fraternity.

They expounded the evils of pornography, masturbation, and extra-marital sex. (Though they didn't cover whether positions other than "missionary" were permitted).

The general view was sex is for making babies.

But I already knew that from watching "The Meaning of Life" ;

Husband: "Look at them, bloody Catholics, filling the bloody world up with bloody people they can't afford to bloody feed!"

Wife: "What are we dear?"

Husband: "Protestant, and fiercely proud of it."

Wife: "Hmm. Well, why do they have so many children?"

Husband: "Because... every time they have sexual intercourse, they have to have a baby."

Wife: "But it's the same with us, Harry."

Husband: "What do you mean?"

Wife: "Well, I mean, we've got two children, and we've had sexual intercourse twice."

Sex is to express love and desire between a husband and wife, and for having kids.

I've got a young dog, a male, who tries to "go to town" on another male dog I have every chance he gets.

This is how men are wired, no way around it, and if not none of us would be here.

From paintings in caves, to those on historic building ceilings, to woodsporn, to modern advertising, clothing fashions, and the WWW, there will always be a shiny ring out there, and you can't rewire biology.

Don't be a freak, and have at it. Or, as mentioned, get a young girlfriend. Which is worse?

I can't believe all the replies, I didn't realize this was an actual issue. I haven't seen any since I was a teenager.

It was a funny story though. When me and my friend were 16 his dad brought home a big box of VHS tapes and said, they were just going to throw these out, they're all full of pornos but we can tape over them. Of course we put a couple on that night. The next day his dad asked him "who all was over here last night, and what was with all the swearing"? Too funny.

I know this is a very sensitive topic for many, but I need to point out that these are all poor comparisons.

”Porn Addiction” is not a mental health disorder, nor a drug addiction, nor a socioeconomic status.

Many try to lump it in with other addictions - alcohol, drugs, gambling - but studies continue to show porn does not light up our brains like those other substances or activities do. This is why “porn addiction” is not in the DSM.

So, what does that mean? It means “Porn addiction” is NOT an addiction, but a symptom of a true mental illness.

Could that change? Sure! But, I think it’s telling that “internet gaming addiction” is actually mentioned in the DSM while porn is not.

For me it was coming to the realization that porn & jerking off was nothing but a negative in my life. My wife is a very sexual person, and I need to be on my A game. Wanking it makes it nearly impossible for me to climax during sex same day. I decided to choose my wife and my marriage over porn.

In general too, I become sluggish and unmotivated when I wank. It's similar to regularly having 2-3 alcoholic beverages a day. It doesn't destroy my life, but it keeps me from being at optimal health.

I Googled: "What percentage of American men watch porn?"

"In terms of basic results, they found that 73 percent of women and 98 percent
of men reported internet porn use in the last six months, for a total
of 85 percent of respondents. For porn use within the last week, the
numbers were lower: 80 percent of men and 26 percent of women." -Psychology Today

The other 2 percent didn't have internet.

Still, startling to learn, but some poster's reckoning, that 98% of American men have a mental illness and sinful addiction.

Someone explain the logic behind the Brojos make this porn addiction thread a highlighted board thread. This is an example of the low level trolling that gives LRC a bad name. Really, porn addiction? 1/10 for originality. LetsRun has become more and more puritan ever since the hotties thread got deleted and yet we have Instagram with billions of photos of half naked hotties

Ye$

Excellent video;

70% of Americans consumed alcohol in the last year. Far fewer Americans are addicts.

Porn is something that negatively impacts your life when you indulge too much, but some people can’t restrain themselves. If that’s not obvious then I don’t know what to tell you.

You can call it a compulsion. Either way it’s nearly impossible to quit.

If I told you to stop watching porn for the next 6 months… could you do it?

Only those that suffer from this compulsion can understand it. Just like most people can't understand how someone could stand to drink a fifth of Jack Daniels every day, but an alcoholic will call that "a good start".

I'm older and I have always suffered with this. When the internet came along my god, it went into super overdrive- hyperspace.

Dumb Things I've Done:

-purchased magazines and videos- this was pre-internet

-gone to numerous adult book stores, back in the day when you had to rent dvds the worst part was having to go back again to return them. Often these places are in seedy parts of town, I was always worried I would get robbed or have a wreck either going to get a vid or return them. No way to explain why I was in that area or at that store. Could be very embarrassing.

-pic collector of the highest order. I've had entire HDs dedicated to my pic collection. I cant just look at some hot pix, I always end up saving "the good ones"

-stayed up very late 2-3 am to specifically download pics and vid.

-visited chat rooms dedicated to pics and vids.

-catfished- (just another way to collect pix) this one makes me feel the worst and the lowest. it's so creepy, stupid and risky.

Can one be addicted to breathing? To existing?

The strongest compulsion in nature is to procreate and we are flooded with hormones, especially in relative youth, driving us to want to --ck, all day every day. To call it anything other than normal is unhelpful at best. Having constant access to porn simply facilitates that drive and redirects it. So what? Who cares if a person gets off once a day, or five times a day? If there is dysfunction that develops that can be dealt with, but again, so what? Partner issues, including ED or premature ejac can be dealt with as needed, but again, so what?

What's sick in our puritanical society is the demonizing of the most biologically driven compulsion and resulting drives/activity that have ever existed. We ONLY EXIST because of the compulsive horniness of our ancestors. Get over your puritanical garbage folks. You want to beat the meat at will in the privacy of your own space? Do it. It's nobody's business except yours.

The fact that you'd be embarrassed about others knowing any of this has more to do with our sh-tty society than it does you. You are biologically compelled to be horny and to try to get off as much as possible. Simple as that. Modern technology facilitates pursuit of what is a biological imperative. If anyone around you has a problem with your lifestyle, it's their problem, not yours.