Well guys it is my second day with NoFap after probably 6 years. I did not know what I was really doing to my health, but I needed, my brain asks for it. Everybody tell me that it was ok. Recently I started to feel no motivation, I can not make important decisions in my life, I am depressed. Two days ago I was looking at porn and saw an add of the consequences, so I did research and found out that watching porn actually srinks the Orbitofrontal cortex of the brain, responsable for decision making and motivational processes. I mean this sound logic due to how I feel. Do you know if this is true and if so is it reversible? Do you ever experimented the same symptoms? Also my short-term memory and focusing skills have decreased.
Pretty much everyone here has seen negative effects influenced by pmo, thats why we are here. Stop fapping, let your brain recover. Like Marco said I'm sure this problem can be sorted, read success stories in this forum, many people have had these symptoms and are now liberated from the mental suffering which is PMO.
It's called neuroplasticity. The brain adapts to whatever it's going through, sometimes in pathologic ways. A psychologist told me it will recover. As for the question "how long will it take", I don't know, and I'm not sure if even scientists know exactly. I have the same symptoms, but I lack the expertise to tell what caused them. There are many different parts of the brain which can be affected by watching porn and masturbation, so it's probably more complicated than just the orbitofrontal cortex shrinking. Just relax and do your thing. Or consult a professional. Worries won't help for sure.
Our brain plasticity allows it to change even at old ages and after severe traumas (and I'm talking about worse things than PMO addiction). I strongly suggest you read the book The brain that changes itself, by Norman Doidge. Is a fantastic (and science-based) compilation of many amazing cases of brain plasticity that will surprise you and give you courage to change yourself too. Good luck!
I think only a neurologist can really tell you for sure if you have done permanent damage, but research shows that due to neuroplasticity the brain can re-wire and make connections dormant, dormant being the important word. Basically if you don't use it you lose it (to a point) you are no longer accessing those parts of the brain that used to light up when you viewed porn, but that doesn't mean those connections can't wire back again. Its basically why people CAN recover from addictions but at the same time they never stop being an addict. Often people who go back to their addictive behaviour end up in a worse state than before, which is true for drugs, not so sure about porn because the research is still in its infancy on that front. But what is known is the brain does adapt and develop new connections providing you put the work in. If our brains didn't re-wire themsevles or form new neural connections or abandon no longer needed ones then we would never learn anything, advertising would have no effect on us and the human race would just go about its business repeating the same thing again and again, there would be no point in education and nobody would work because nobody would have any skills as no one would have learned or developed. That's what makes us unique as a species on this planet, our capacity to gain knowledge and then implement that in ever more creative ways in our daily lives.
why not find the answer by yourself,just keep away from PMO,focus the change on your mind. Im on 12th day in my journey,still have many urge sometime.but I also find many change on my body.I wont feel stomachache anymore,I used to feel some gas in my intestinal canal and stomach,thats pretty unpleasent.In addition, I become more outgoing and active. I feel very good in this status.