Porn addiction withdrawal is real for people who have an excessive porn addiction. When you are struggling with porn addiction and are seeking help, knowing what will happen can be difficult. This can be a daunting journey to begin.
When you recover from viewing porn uncontrollably, you find a way to return to life and live a more real and consistent way of living that helps rebuild relationships with your loved ones.
This decision to change requires a lot of courage, but it can also cause a lot of anxiety, embarrassment, and even fear. The road to recovery is not always smooth. When you start to recover from your porn addiction, it is important to prepare for it the right way.
The right way to prepare is to educate yourself and recognize the symptoms of porn addiction. Porn addiction does not have to ruin your life.
5 Reasons why you should Consider porn withdrawal
Although most behavioral addictions can ruin your life, porn addiction may be the most insidious, and thereby dangerous, addiction you face today. The primary reason is that there is no limit to consuming it, unlike food or alcohol.
The second reason is that porn is free and easily accessible with almost no regulators to limit your usage.
The third reason that makes it extremely dangerous is that it plays on our brain’s reward system. Porn gives you temporary pleasure and your brain retains that effect every time you watch it. It activates the same reward system as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin rendering it extremely addictive.
The sensitization that the porn creates makes it difficult to quit. Porn addiction actually is the composition of some underlying issues also. As we know it is very addictive , the question that pops in to our mind is how to quit such an addictive habit?
Have you thought of quitting porn as an addict? Well, we give you a few inputs as in the benefits of quitting porn.
Here are 5 reasons why you should consider giving it up today.
#1 Interferes with your productivity
Since there are no restrictions on how pornographic content you can watch on the Internet, one tends to watch it as frequently as they wish.
As one consumes less time on watching porn , it helps an individual to work on different aspects of life. The priority list changes and one can focus on doing the things that matters most and the ones that improve the well-being.
Males with porn or sex addiction watch 4 to 12 hours a week on average. Yes, this is the statistics. Don’t you think this is quite a lot of time that affects your mind and body? Well, if it is , don’t you think it is high time to improve your productivity?
Every minute wasted is time that you will never get back. Porn being a hyper-stimulant, makes one develop a compulsivity, where users spend watching it all day. You’ll end up wasting your hours of productivity on a daily basis.
#2 Kills your motivation levels
When your dopamine receptors get desensitized from frequently watching porn and masturbating, it can have a huge impact on your motivation levels.
When you watch porn and pleasure yourself, your primitive brain thinks that it has achieved its main goal-to spread your genes. It’s hard to maintain motivation because you can’t appreciate happiness and pleasure as you usually would have.
Motivation can actually take us to a different level in our personal and professional life. Addiction to porn can harm the motivation level and it does impact negatively on brain.
Don’t you think it is difficult to move ahead without any motivation. And it is apparent that porn addiction kills the motivation level that is needed to go ahead in life.
Another reason for you to quit porn.
#3 Might create body image issues
When you watch porn, you will unconsciously start to compare yourself with actors, and soon you will have physical insecurity and a bad self-image.
One of the major effects of porn addiction is objectification of men and women. It does invoke a lot of negative self-image and body image as the addicts tend to and aspire to look like the one whom you watch on porn.
It’s not justifiable to compare yourself to porn stars because they are also chosen for their looks. There are tons of makeup, surgery, and Photoshop changes to make them look the way they do. Hence, it will fill you with a false sense of reality.
Poor body and self-image can cause low self-esteem and low self-confidence which can create a negative impact psychologically. Hence being addicted to porn can cause body image issues.
#4 Cause issues like PIED and premature ejaculation
The main reason you should stop watching porn is that it can cause erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and even delayed ejaculation. And all of these sexual dysfunctions can happen from consuming porn
Watching porn will actually result in less satisfying sex, reduce the pleasure of sex life, and ultimately no sex life. This rewires the brain and induces anxiety about one’s own sexual performance. Most men don’t know that watching porn can actually cause brain changes. Many psychological changes occur at the subconscious level.
#5 Psychological issues
Pornography can question many things; your bedroom skills, your appearance, your relationships. There is also a genetic stigma to watching porn.
You don’t feel good subconsciously.
For men, watching pornography and excessive masturbation can reduce testosterone levels and increase prolactin levels. Changes in these hormones can lead to higher levels of anxiety and decreased self-confidence.
It is easy for anyone to just list the reasons why you should just quit porn. However, porn addiction can be a burden to deal with. You need to know how to manage those symptoms in order to make your journey to recovery a lot smoother.
When you start the process to get yourself out of porn addiction, it is important to know how to deal with the porn addiction withdrawal symptoms first.
Porn Addiction Withdrawal Symptoms :
It is inevitable that sometimes alcoholics and substance addicts can suddenly fall apart and have withdrawal symptoms if they go “cold turkey” on drugs and other substances. Similarly, porn addicts can also experience withdrawal symptoms.
We all know that it is difficult to come out of any addiction, so is this. But always remember this is your first path of recovery. Recovery, that will lead you to a peaceful and productive life. All it matters is one step forward.
We also give you a heads-up to the facts that you may or may not face on the path of recovery.
Porn addiction might not be as serious as substance use disorders, but it is important to manage it on time before they get out of control. The following are some of the most common porn addiction withdrawal symptoms:
Affects mental health : Anxiety, Irritation, Depression & Irritability
Most porn addicts experience extreme emotional discomfort at the beginning of their sobriety. Among those who abuse pornography and use sexual content to counter other negative emotions in their lives, the first few days of sobriety can awaken these depressed emotions.
It is not unusual for porn addicts to feel depressed, frustrated or even anxious after quitting pornography. Once pornography is taken from them, they no longer have these simple means of numbing and escape. Without this, they would have to face their emotions.
Needless to say, this can be extremely inconvenient and uncomfortable to experience. Like mentioned above not all will face the same symptoms. The severity depends on the level and intensity of addiction.
Intense feelings of isolation & longing for human connection
Sometimes the use of pornography can mask hidden problems that addicts may have, especially those related to emotional or physical intimacy. Without the liberation provided by explicit sexual images, loneliness and the desire for physical connection will arise.
The addicts are skeptical to develop any connections with the outside world thinking of being judged by others. Those who are either the family members or friends of the addicts , should ensure to seek professional mental health support to help them to lead a steady and normal life.
Without the continuous distraction of sexual fantasies and images, this long-term condition may appear and lead to a strong sense of loneliness, fear, isolation, and unhappiness. These feelings are completely normal and expected. It is important to note that these are part of the post-acute withdrawal syndrome that will disappear with persistence.
Those who are on the path of recovery are expected not to be alone or get isolated. Family and friends play a major role in being with them and make them feel belonging.
Urges to switch to another addiction (Cross Addiction)
Many obsessive/ addictive porn users will replace (or want to replace) their pornographic content with other obsessive or addictive (and therefore very distracting) activities when they just start recovery and treatment. This sometimes manifests as a cross addiction.
For example, porn users who stop suddenly will usually experience a burst of uncomfortable emotions (as described above), and without porn to stop the wave, they can turn to drinking, smoking, compulsive eating, or any other pleasurable/evasive substances or behaviors.
One must understand that recovery path for the addicts is not easy , they need emotional support and professional mental health support.
With this in mind, it is very important for recovering porn users and their supporters to pay attention to their other behaviors, especially during the first few months of the recovery process.
Sudden loss of sex drive
After they live in a fantasy world for so long, addicts may find it difficult to establish a relationship or physical intimacy with their partner at first. Watching all the strange and intense sex scenes on porn, the gentle and romantic experience does not seem to be attractive enough.
They might lose erections and have a lower sex drive at first as they would have been conditioned to feel pleasure only by watching porn.
However, this period of time finally ends at some point, and the recovered person begins to enjoy his sex life again. Once that happens, the person is able enjoy a happy sex life again.
Weak ability to focus
In the first few weeks after you stop watching porn, you may not be able to work effectively. Constant fatigue can make you a little anxious, and the work that usually takes 30 minutes would take you at least an hour to do the same task.
You will find that you have no interest to focus on the task at hand.
In addition, due to ongoing anxiety and depression, you may also feel that you are not interested in activities you previously enjoyed.
Because your brain is experiencing a lack of dopamine hits than before, you might enter a sluggish and a slow zombie-like state. The low energy level is expected to last for two weeks to two months.
How Mental health Support groups can help?
Support like are recovery meetings that support you to achieve the behavior change goals of your choice. One can involve in attending face to face ( or online ) meetings , sharing and listening to other people’s experiences of addiction.
The people in the support groups are like extended family who are all working together to overcome the suffering caused by addiction.
Support groups makes you feel that you are not alone in the journey. This adds a lot of boost to your confidence and recovery path.
YOU CAN Overcome Porn Addiction!
If you stop watching porn and stop giving yourself into instant pleasures of a short orgasm with a couple mouse clicks. Instead, go out and do something worthwhile to get the same enjoyable experience. That’ll be the best thing for you.
Whether you are a man or a woman, if you stop watching porn, you’ll get to increase your value to attract real partners. You will become successful in both relationships and in life.
When you become addicted to something, it usually ruins your life until you stop doing it. You don’t know how many things you can improve until you stop becoming prey to porn addiction. There are so many ways to get better by removing one harmful thing from your life, which is really amazing.
This seems so obvious and crazy that not everyone does it. But pornography is so addictive and alluring that most men never give up. But you can. You can have an advantage over the millions of people in the world as there are very few people who would step up and do something as bold as this.
