I’m a 27-year-old Muslim and I’ve been struggling with pornography and masturbation addiction. I managed to quit for three months, but I relapsed and am now trying to quit again. Today is my third day, and I feel discouraged and frustrated.For those who have overcome a similar addiction, what helped you stay consistent after a relapse? How do you avoid losing motivation when you slip up?Also, what do you do when the urges become very strong? How do you deal with cravings in the moment without giving in? Any practical strategies that actually worked for you?
First make sure it is an addiction and not a healthy habit you have trouble accepting.
https://www.addictioncenter.com/behavioral-addictions/masturbation-addiction/
If it is an addiction, seek professional help. But quitting gets easier with practice.
I can’t call ,because deferent Country
Just don’t mention the pron part if it’s illegal and you are affraid. AFAIK masturbation occurs with all hominids, and many mammalians. So discussing an addiction with a medical professional should stay secret within the doctor-patient privilege.
But… Make sure it is an addiction. Does it prevent you from living ? Are you organizing your life around it? Do you rub it off to the point of damaging skin (on more than one occasion) ? Does it replace available sex with a willing partner ? These are the real questions you need to assess.
A new account, all written in bold, with a potential rage bait about religion and jacking it? I smell bravo sierra.
Another post, made around the same time, is also talking about “sinful” behaviour
https://lemmy.ml/post/49126051
I’m guessing that both of these accounts are going to be self deleted within a few days
I understand why you’re skeptical. I used to use Reddit, but I left it and moved to Lemmy.
As for the bold text, it might be because I translated and edited the post using a translation app before posting it. I’m Egyptian, and my English isn’t very strong.
However, I really do struggle with this problem. I felt that this might be a place where someone could help me, or where people who have gone through the same experience could give me some advice.
I honestly hesitated for a long time before posting this question.
Also, while I respect religious advice, I’m mainly looking for practical solutions.
You moved to Lemmy to ask this question on an account called Ahmed? You sound like a customer service bot?
This is not the reaction of a human being struggling with porn addiction. Let’s just say you have not succeeded in allahing my skepticism.
Prefaced with I don’t think medical science bears out that a healthy sexuality is an addiction & masturbation can be healthy and good for your body, but there are some people who do masturbate compulsively to the point that it is detrimental to their life due to frequency that it effects relationships, job, health, etc. If you’re dealing with compulsive behavior it seems the conventional advice is to identify and avoid or moderate triggers that lead to the compulsive behavior. If before unnecessary eating for example you may be bored, stressed, tired, etc. finding healthy outlets to prevent finding yourself in those states or alternative hobbies and outlets can remove the triggers for that behavior. Self monitoring can be difficult so keeping a journal can help identify triggers. In extreme cases there are chemical means to reduce or remove arousal. And of course different approaches work differently for differently people, some gradual reduce while others need a cold turkey approach.
If it’s not compulsive I would consider why ancient religious texts are so concerned with something that most people can engage with in a healthy way, and that there may be ulterior reasons to cause unnecessary guilt or shame.
that’s not an addiction. it’s not hurting you. your body desires sex because it’s good for you to reproduce. letting go of the idea is bad is how your desire decreases. you’re struggling because you’re mentally obsessing over something that doesn’t actually matter. ik your religion tells you it’s bad or whatever, but seriously if you were married and having sex, basically the exact same physical response, your religion would be fine with it. it’s just arbitrarily controlling for the sake of it.
Seconding this with caveats.
Masturbation is normal, natural and healthy (reduces the risk of prostate cancer in men). Unless it isn’t, it’s not healthy when it is an addiction and masturbation is getting in the way of life. If you’re not seeing friends or missing work or school because you’d rather watch porn and jerk off then that’s a problem. A therapist would be the best person to talk to about that if you do have an addiction.
If you’re just masturbating a few times a week then carry on, enjoy yourself and don’t feel guilty.
Yeah, these days everything is labeled as addiction, especially if it’s negative in the conservative tones. As long your habit doesn’t impact your daily life… it’s normal, the bar is really that low.
Now if it’s more serious, I’m afraid a more professional intervention will be required. Looking at other causes or clues that lead you to keeping this habit and compulsion.
Why did you make your entire post bold
Frankly, I would try quitting the porn first. Its gonna be a lot harder to quit porn if you quit masturbating too. The urge to consume porn often disappears after cranking one out ala mode.
First thing to do is stay off your phone. Pornography calcifies your third eye & is also human trafficking which is more important.
