Consider the following facts about online pornography:
• 25% of all search engine requests (68 million per day) are pornography related
• 40 million Americans regularly visit porn sites
• 10% of porn users admit they are addicted to pornography
Part of the reason for the addiction is that viewing porn can cause a dopamine spike which lasts longer than the dopamine release produced by regular sexual activity. Dopamine is the body’s naturally generated chemical reward for good behavior.
Cravings
If you are among the 10% or porn users who are addicted, a way to beat the addiction is simple to state but may be tough to execute. You’ll have to instruct your subconscious mind to respond to your porn cravings in a healthy, new way.
Often, the cravings begin with undesired thoughts about sex that do not go away no matter how hard you try to ignore them. The thoughts then become a craving which is a consuming desire for a particular thing. Watching porn and the subsequent release are the only activities that can satisfy that pressure. The cravings then return, stronger than ever.
Cravings grow exponentially like a bell curve and get too intense to resist. Physically, they can be accompanied by shallow breathing, a quickened pulse and even increased blood pressure. However, the key is to recognize that no feeling, even a craving, can last indefinitely. Left on its own it will fizzle out. Knowing that, the way to stop a porn addiction is to ride the craving out. This is the tough to execute part.
Subduing the Cravings
A technique that has been effective in eliminating or greatly reducing cravings is called ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention). It can be completed in six steps:
• Imagine what generates the craving. This could include being alone at the computer or being where pornographic magazines are.
• Measure your pulse for 15 seconds, multiply the beats times four and record the results
• Breathe in, hold your breath and breathe out for ten seconds for each step. Go ten times through this cycle.
• Re-examine the personal reasons you have for wanting to stop this addiction (It will help me have more meaningful sex with my partner, for instance.)
• Re-measure your pulse rate and record it.
• Perform an activity for yourself. This might be going to the store, reading, working out, etc.
Repeat these steps anytime you feel a craving. Over time, they will go away and your addiction to porn will stop.