I’ve pretty much hit rock bottom and come to the conclusion that I can’t stay on my current trajectory. It’s already cost me one, if not two, relationships, and I’m tired of dating on hard mode. I’m worried I might be too far gone, so it would be immensely helpful to hear from someone who’s been in the same place and managed to turn things around.
I can manage a week or two with the power of self loathing but once the urges come back I’m really, and I mean really good at coming up with excuses.
The porn-seeking is your maladaptive mood-regulator.
So if you want to change your behaviors or the way you feel about them, you need to change the way you think and feel inside.
Which means stop focusing on the behavior, and start focusing on the underlying feelings which provoke the behavior. I do strongly suggest therapy, because it’s an emotional thing that’s happening which leads to your useage.
Yeah, depression and loneliness are two classic culprits. Even if OP went cold turkey and kept it up, without dealing with the root cause they’re prone to abusing something else instead like video games, religion addiction, exercise addiction, or maybe even substances. And I know some people will say religion and exercise aren’t that bad to get addicted to, but much like porn and video games, the dose can make the poison. This is lemmy so I assume people understand how harmful people can be when they’re too into their religion. I have a relative who has to go to the gym to avoid panic attacks, and physical overexertion can lead to serious injury.