How to Quit Porn Addiction and What Does NOFAP Mean

By Thomas

Posted 2 years agoSEX

There is nothing wrong with turning up the heat in the bedroom by watching some erotic scenes. The problem begins when you spend more time watching porn than maintaining real human relationships.
How to Break a Porn Addiction

Before the Internet made pornography readily accessible, porn addiction was practically non-existent. Of course, there have always been some people that collect adult videos and magazine subscriptions featuring women in sexual poses, but fifty years ago it was rare to see nudity featured in a magazine.

Today, we can access hundreds of websites and watch hours of pornographic material organized into over 200 different categories.

The rise of the Internet created a huge opportunity for the porn industry and became a threat to the traditional mediums of viewing pornographic material. Many people, even if they are in a happy relationship and have children, watch porn. And nothing is wrong with that unless it’s becoming like drug or other serious addiction, which impacts your life and relationships with others. How to quit porn addiction?

Some facts about porn:

  • 25% of Internet searches are pornography related.
  • Every second approximately 372 people are typing adult terms into a search engine.
  • 11-years old – the average age of first exposure to Internet porn.
  • www. whitehouse.com was a porn website until 2004.
  • A University of Montreal study was unable to examine the differences between men who watch porn and those who did not because they were unable to find a single man who had not watched porn.

How to Break a Porn Addiction

How to Quit Porn Addiction: Why Porn and Masturbation Are Actually Bad for You

Researchers say that those who have a compulsive lust for porn were more likely to have severe social problems. 47% of research subjects watched 30 minutes to three hours of porn per day. The Internet generation has become obsessed with easy sex.

Because sexual content is so easily accessible, they have lost the desire for the real thing, and have become desensitized to sexual stimuli. Easy access to Internet porn has affected many men, causing a new syndrome called “Sexual Attention Deficit Disorder.”

Porn watchers get so accustomed to the high levels of visual stimulation that comes from watching Internet porn that they’re unable to focus while having sex with a woman. As a result, these men have problems maintaining erections, and may even experience delayed or premature ejaculation.

Many of these men have trouble reaching climax, and have to be aided by manual or oral stimulation. Because watching porn can rewire the male brain to crave instant gratification, men who have been exposed to too much porn tend to get bored or impatient during sex with a real woman..

Are you addicted to porn?

Porn addiction has not yet been listed as an official mental disorder. But if pornography is keeping you from finding fulfillment in real human contact or is affecting your relationships with other people, you should take the issue seriously. Porn addiction may also be related to sex addiction. Just as an alcoholic needs to progressively increase the amount of alcohol they drink, a porn addict needs to consume more and more sexual content. It can only get worse.

How to Quit Porn Addiction:  4 Proven Methods

1. Setup a security block on your computer

The first step is to ask a specialist to setup an adult content filter on your computer. When you are tempted to view porn, you will be blocked from accessing websites that contain pornography.

This has become an increasingly popular solution among parents wanting to protect their children from inappropriate websites. It has also been used in many offices to keep employees focused on their work-related duties.

2. Join a support group

If you think that you may be addicted to porn, get involved with a support group such as Porn Addicts Anonymous, No-Porn.com, or choose from any one of the many other groups popping up all over the Internet dedicated to overcoming porn addiction.

It might seem illogical to turn to the Internet for help with this problem, but many addicts have found comfort and healing through sharing their stories and experience with others suffering from the same condition. It may even help you to come to terms with the problem.

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3. Seek professional help

The best and most costly way, of combating any addiction is seeking the help of a personal therapist. Any qualified psychologist or psychiatrist will be able to properly diagnose the problem and be able to provide you with effective methods for reducing your dependency on pornography.

Like all other forms of entertainment, porn is fine when viewed in moderation. For most of us, viewing pornography is an occasional pleasure, but for those who are driven to view porn compulsively, it can turn into a trap. Fortunately, through a combination of research, Internet filters, and professional therapy, it is an obstacle that can be overcome.

Want to know more? Watch: The Great Porn Experiment

4. NOFAP

You may or may not have noticed that thousands of men have announced they’re doing “Nofap November” on social media this month.

In fact, the hashtags #NoFapNovember and #NoFapChallenge even began circling on Twitter, as thousands of men tweeted them out.

Nofap 101: Why Men Are Quitting Porn and Masturbation Altogether

But just what is nofap, though? Does it have any benefits, or is it all based out of anecdotal evidence and pseudoscience?

Well, in this article, I’d like to present you with a beginner’s guide to nofap, and explain how it can help change your life.

What is Nofap?

The idea behind nofap is simple: no porn or masturbation. That’s it—nothing more, nothing less.

Despite these simple rules, many men still struggle with following it for a few days, let alone for a whole month.

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Are these benefits real, though? Or are they based out of science? Well, before we come to a conclusion, let’s take a look at what the research has to say about this interesting phenomena.

Mr Mind Blowing has compiled all the biggest benefits of NoFap.

Nofap Research

To understand how nofap works, and why men do it, we first need to understand the effect that pornography has on your brain.

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These effects vary, but can include:

  • Erectile Dysfunction
  • Increased Risk of Depression
  • Desensitization to Sexual Stimuli
  • Anxiety (Especially Around Women)
  • …and more

What’s interesting however, is that this isn’t just anecdotal evidence, or “bro science,” as it’s sometimes called. These are facts.

Less Relationship Satisfaction

It seems like common sense that men who frequently watch pornography may feel unsatisfied with the sex they have with their partner.

However, in a scientific paper published in Human Communication Research, Volume 43, Issue 3, researchers stated the following:

“Pornography consumption was not related to the intra-personal satisfaction outcomes that were studied. However, pornography consumption was associated with lower interpersonal satisfaction outcomes in cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal surveys, and experiments.”

Human Communication Research, Volume 43, Issue 3

In other words, men who watched porn were more likely to be lacking satisfaction in their relationships with other people.

Another study, conducted at Florida State University, found that frequent pornography usage can lead to less commitment to your partner:

“We examined whether the consumption of pornography affects romantic relationships, with the expectation that higher levels of pornography consumption would correspond to weakened commitment in young adult romantic relationships. Study 1 (n = 367) found that higher pornography consumption was related to lower commitment, and Study 2 (n = 34) replicated this finding using observational data”

Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, Volume 31, No. 4

As if this wasn’t bad enough, another clinical study conducted at the Department of Sociology, at the University of Oklahoma, found that pornography usage drastically reduces marital quality over time:

“In terms of substantive influence, frequency of pornography use in 2006 was the second strongest predictor of marital quality in 2012. Interaction effects revealed, however, that the negative effect of porn use on marital quality applied to husbands, but not wives.”

Archives of Sexual Behavior, Volume 46, Issue 2

In short, pornography has a very detrimental effect on your long term relationships, especially when it comes to your loved ones.

Sexual Dysfunctions

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In addition to the negative effects that pornography has on interpersonal relationships, it also has a lot of negative effects on your health.

One such negative effect would be erectile dysfunction, or the inability to “get it up” when the time comes to do so.

In the 1940’s, erectile dysfunction (ED) was less than 1% in men younger than 30 years of age, but now, the rates of ED are skyrocketing.

While researchers aren’t all agreeing that the cause is pornography, one can’t deny the startling rate at which erectile dysfunction is growing.

In fact, a study conducted at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, found that ED rates have absolutely skyrocketed in younger men:

“In Switzerland, one-third of young men suffer from at least one sexual dysfunction. Multiple health-compromising factors are associated with these dysfunctions. These should act as red flags for health professionals to encourage them to take any opportunity to talk about sexuality with their young male patients.”

Journal of Adolescent Health, Volume 51, Issue 1

The problem has gotten so bad, that the Journal of Behavioral Sciences launched a full scale investigation into this phenomena in 2016.

In the paper, entitled: “Is Internet Pornography Causing Sexual Dysfunctions? A Review With Clinical Reports (2016)” researchers stated the following:

“Alterations to the brain’s motivational system are explored as a possible etiology underlying pornography-related sexual dysfunctions. This review also considers evidence that Internet pornography’s unique properties (limitless novelty, potential for easy escalation to more extreme material, video format, etc.) may be potent enough to condition sexual arousal to aspects of Internet pornography use that do not readily transition to real-life partners, such that sex with desired partners may not register as meeting expectations and arousal declines.”

Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Volume 8, Issue 6

The paper also went on to say that “terminating internet pornography use,” or in other words, doing nofap, is sometimes sufficient to “reverse the negative effects,” suggesting that they are caused by pornography.

This is where nofap comes in.

Benefits of Nofap and Overcoming Porn Addiction

As a result of all this research, a community has formed around the idea of nofap. They’ve pledged to stop watching porn at any and all costs.

What started as a small, fringe group of just a few hundred guys, has now turned into a full-blown movement. In fact, their Subreddit has over 521,000 members at the time of writing this article.

The Subreddit is filled with inspiring stories, of users who claim to have mastered their lives, simply by following the principles of nofap.

One user made a post, entitled: “Real Life is So Much Better,” in which he implies that he got over approach anxiety by doing nofap:

“I talked to a random girl at my university today, for like 5 minutes, and I feel amazing. Lol. Honestly I am surprised how much joy a normal conversation can bring, when You are truly yourself, and not an ‘I fapped this morning’ zombie.”

Reddit, User Name GGuy999

Another user, named TherCThug, made a post saying that he feels “like a beast” like he’s “Goku on Super Saiyan mode.”

All across this Subreddit, you can find hundreds of stories of men claiming to get incredible benefits from nofap. So, how can you get them, too?

How To Do Nofap

Like I said, the rules to Nofap are pretty simple… just don’t look at pornography, and don’t masturbate. That’s it.

Of course, this is a lot easier said than done, so the Nofap community has come up with some common terms and rules to help users.

First off, find out what your “triggers” are. Many users find that they fap when anxious, depressed, or lonely.

By figuring out what your triggers are, you can seek to fix the problem, rather than the cause itself (using porn as a coping mechanism).

Second, create a list of things you want to do instead of fapping. Often times users relapse, simply because they’re bored and have nothing else to do.

Third, give it time. As many users on the Subreddit will tell you, quitting pornography after a lifetime of usage is no easy task.

But, if you stick with it, and make a commitment to this life-long change, you can reap all of the incredible rewards that come with it.

What is Stop Together?

Stop Together is an online therapy and treatment program designed to help users overcome porn addiction. The program is completely online and virtual, allowing addicts to follow along at their own pace in the privacy of their own homes. Porn addiction is a very private, sometimes embarrassing, internal struggle that some people prefer to face alone. Stop Together provides the perfect balance between hands-on therapy, professional advice, and anonymity.

What is Stop Together?

Let’s take a closer look at what techniques and steps the Stop Together program offer that help addicts stop watching porn.

How the Stop Together Program is Designed

The Stop Together treatment program consists of 6 milestones that guide addicts through the recovery process. 

Milestone 1: Understanding Your Addiction

Think of the first milestone in this program as an introduction. Here, you’ll learn a little bit more about what the course involves and what to expect. Addicts will examine their porn addiction, including reasons for viewing, goals, and how to involve loved ones in the recovery journey. This milestone also includes powerful success stories. 

Milestone 2: Preparing for Success

In this milestone, users solidify their commitment to the program. This part of the Stop Together program covers consequences as well as understanding the impact addiction has on the brain. Users will begin brainstorming their vision for the future.

Milestone 3: Mindfulness and Your Vision 

The next step in the recovery process covers the importance of mindfulness techniques and the role they play in overcoming addiction. Users learn how to create positive affirmations and how to use them to boost self-confidence and self-worth. At this point users will craft their final, detailed vision for the future.

Milestone 4: Accepting Your Addiction

Acceptance and admission are important steps in the recovery process. In milestone 4, users learn to stop blaming themselves or others for their addiction and instead focus on forgiveness and accepting help. Adopting a willingness to change and a practice routine are also covered here.

Milestone 5: Identifying and Overcoming Temptation

Facing and overcoming temptations is a major part of the recovery process. Here, addicts learn to identify these urges, covering both expected and unexpected changes. By doing this, addicts rob temptations of their power. Here, users learn to gain control over their lives and their addiction by testing themselves and tapping into their inner strength. 

Milestone 6: Repetition and Recovery

The last milestone of the program is about accepting the idea of failure and learning to prevent unhealthy recovery behaviors. Users will also learn tools for living a porn-free life and overcoming relapse. 

Techniques for Beating Your Porn Habit

The Stop Together program offers a myriad of resources, tools, and techniques for beating porn addiction. Here are some of the most popular and effective.

Reducing How Much Time You Spend Watching Porn

While detox is a popular method for overcoming addiction and one that’s explored in the Stop Together program, most addicts start by slowly reducing how many hours they spend viewing pornographic material. This helps ease addicts into the recovery process. 

One method for reducing negative behaviors is known as CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy. This is a common form of therapy, especially when treating behavioral addictions. This structured approach to tackling porn addiction analyzes how you think about yourself and about porn. From here, you’ll make small changes that help transform your thinking patterns into healthier ones that benefit your overall well-being. 

Controlling Unhealthy Thoughts

In addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, Stop Together encourages addicts to take a break or detox from porn. This helps you better experience life and all it has to offer. Eliminating porn gives the addicted brain time to heal. Stop Together offers a variety of techniques and guidance to help this detox go as smoothly as possible.

Rediscover Your Sexual Health and Wellness

Acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT, is another effective tool used to treat behavioral therapy. The Stop Together program helps users accept intruding thoughts and feelings. What many people don’t realize is that addiction carries with it a great deal of emotional stress. Learning to accept and be at peace with your feelings promotes growth and recovery while reducing stress. 

Life Post Therapy

The journey toward recovery doesn’t end with the completion of the Stop Together program. Instead, the principles of mindfulness and acceptance that you embody during each milestone are what will carry you through post-therapy. Users learn to move away from their urges and negative thoughts and, instead, focus on the environment. Addicts learn to be present in the current moment, which is a useful skill in all aspects of life.

The Benefits of Choosing Stop Together

While the ultimate goal of the Stop Together program is to help porn addicts overcome their addiction and live a more purposeful life, you’ll experience many additional benefits along the way. These include:

Improved Relationships

Addiction of any kind can negatively impact important relationships in your life. This is especially true when discussing porn addiction since it often affects intimacy, trust, and communication between the addict and their partner or loved ones. Stop Together focuses on repairing and rebuilding broken bonds that may have been damaged by porn addiction.

Boosted Sexual Confidence

Porn addiction often damages a person’s self-worth and confidence. Men often find it difficult to perform sexually when battling porn addiction and may even develop erectile dysfunction. In addition, pornography creates unrealistic expectations of what sex should look like. When the real-life experience doesn’t live up to these expectations, you may find yourself feeling anxious and stressed. Stop Together helps porn addicts see their sexual performance and wellness from a more positive and realistic perspective. 

Overcome Isolation

As mentioned before, porn addiction is a very private and often isolating addiction. Overuse of porn drives many addicts to socially disconnect from friends and family. You may even feel hopeless, abandoned, and depressed at times. The Stop Together program offers practical steps to building and establishing meaningful connections with the outside world. You’ll also learn to overcome fears of rejection and break unhealthy behavior patterns.

Regain Mental Clarity

Porn addiction clouds your mind, making it difficult to focus on other important things. Thoughts of watching pornography often fill an addict’s mind, causing mood swings and extreme personality changes. By learning to purge these all-consuming thoughts, users of the Stop Together program can regain mental clarity. Now, there’s plenty of room in your mind to focus and appreciate the things in life that truly matter.

Achieve Financial Stability

Addiction takes a toll on more than just your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Over time, many addicts find themselves in financial trouble — this includes porn addicts. Despite the abundance of free pornographic material online, some addicts spend exorbitant amounts of money on exclusive content. By breaking your porn addiction, you will once again become financially solvent and reduce your expenses associated with porn use.

Get Your Life Back

Most importantly, the Stop Together program will help you get your life back. The life you’ve lost to porn addiction. Using several different therapy techniques, you’ll learn to break the hold that porn has on your life and thoughts. Users learn to replace negative thoughts and feelings with more positive and productive ones as you slowly get your life back on track.

About the author Thomas

Thomas Davis is 25-year old college student, passionate about computer science. After being a shy guy for most of his life, he realized that confidence is a learnable skill that anyone can possess with practice.