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Did excessive Porn use trigger Social Anxiety?

Discussion in 'Porn Addiction' started by Deleted Account, Nov 15, 2017.

Did excessive Porn use trigger Social Anxiety?

  1. Yes

    85.7%
  2. No

    14.3%
  1. I think it did for me. One scenario I remember when I was fogged to fuck from PMO was going back to when I was around 17-18 and the sound of the telephone ringing gave me immense anxiety, something I never experienced before. It was like a switch went off in my head one day and I was scared to answer the phone or even phone a stranger up. I think around that time I also became sensitive to light and sound.

    I can't recall ever having it before PMO became a serious habit in my life. Any of you guys relate?
     
  2. That's really interesting, I always thought it created those problems for me. Growing up after porn I starting becoming sensitive to sound and light with anxiety that never left, so naturally I figured no PMO would help that, but after quitting those problems have increased.

    I asked my GP about those things to see if there was anything medical related, and everything came back fine so to help with the anxiety I was referred to a therapist. After only two sessions I was diagnosed with Autism, yet I remember before porn addiction being healthy and I guess "normal".

    Since being on NoFap have your symptoms improved a lot, or has the anxiety completely faded now?
     
  3. I used PMO going through a tough time in my life: Dysfunctional family, a job I never really wanted to do and added self esteem issues from being a bit chubby. Everything got worse in time, my zest for life went. With the sensitivity to sound and light I think part of that for me right now is, especially with withdrawal is the fact that the 'fight or flight' mode kicks in which adds to it even more, for example, as im going through this withdrawal now I cant even focus on the TV.

    Some points in my reboot are as clear as day like the clarity of the mind, I've dreamt consecutively the last two nights, something that I cant remember much at all from my late teens - early adulthood. My head feels like an electrical firestorm at the moment with pressures in the temple region, right behind the forehead and even behind the eyes. Thinks are improving ever so slightly. Short term memory is coming back, real genuine emotions/expressions have been there now and again something I haven't had for years.

    I'm not a doctor and I don't want to sound like one but I think there must be a hell of a lot of misdiagnoses out there for people going through this. I've been kindling for years with with porn use so i'm in for a hell of a ride. I think me knowing what actually was wrong with me due to withdrawal and not thinking I was loosing my mind or thinking I had cancer or diabetes or whatever else the hypochondriac I was looking at symptoms on google, was enough for me to take this seriously.

    Edit: Just to add, the depression that comes with the porn has 'lifted' for me. The only way I could describe it was an unbearable feeling. The stress/anxieties of my of my general life is still there but i'm working on them.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 15, 2017
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  4. Even through all that pain, I'm glad you're getting better. It's understandable that you'd be having such intense and horrible withdrawals, considering you've used PMO for years to escape the tough and emotional times in your life.

    I've started dreaming too! I know there's a scientific fact to it but it's nice to be able to dream, I used to dream every two months or longer and they weren't very vivid.

    How far in did you start experiencing, positive effects? I'm only 50 days or so and I've barely had effects just mainly negative withdrawals.

    They've decided to do "further" tests to be sure, and I can't opt out even if I wanted to now. They don't believe any of my symptoms are porn related, so I guess they think I'm lying or something as "porn addiction" doesn't exist in their mind.
     
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  5. Social anxiety/lack of confidence is the biggest reason I'm here and why I'm determined to quit PMO. It makes me feel unworthy of even interacting with others.
     
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  6. Thanks! Yea the thing the angers me the most I was PMO'ing whilst all these symptoms was going on thinking it was something else it was just a vicious circle of misery and shit and I sort of learned to live with it staying within a comfort zone.

    I know it's fascinating. I can remember these dreams pretty well too.

    Honestly, each 'reboot' has been different I've had long streaks and they have all been different each time. The depression I get with porn I felt lift around about the time my brain fog kicked in, which was day 35. Short term memory has been coming back ever so slightly since the fog kicked in funnily enough. Concentration is slightly making glimpses coming through and my speech is a bit better like i'm not looking for the words half the time if that makes sense?

    It is unbelievable how Western societies we can go to the moon and then can't even understand the effects porn has on the brain, like mainstream, anyway.

    Exercising vigorously most days is helping me I think and playing guitar also helps. Also eating very healthy has it's benefits! I just need to seriously implement meditation in my life and I think i'll be good. It's so hard with the fog to meditate though.
     
  7. Some days I wake up smiling from a good dream, because I haven't felt like that in forever. Dreaming has all sorts of benefits and I'm glad I'm able to have them again. :D

    I've been PMO'ing for so many years I think I'm going to take a long time recovering, it's almost been two months and quite a few withdrawal symptoms are worse. Like brain fog, thinking, anxiety, and motivation are horrible right now, so hopefully through time and healing it gets better. This is by far the worst I've felt on any of my streaks, as I binged really bad and was multiple times a day before I said enough was enough.

    Never tell a therapist you have a "porn addiction", most if the time I hear they don't believe it and think you're crazy, I already found that out the hard way. I have some mandatory scheduled tests at a center here, so I guess I'll see what happens.

    I procrastinate a lot, but mainly as much as i love meditating I have a hard time concentrating enough to stay awake and if my anxiety is too bad it ruins it. I do enjoy it though.
     
  8. Anxiety is something that has been a theme throughout most of my life, even when I was little before i started viewing porn. I don't believe it causes it, but it does make it much worse. I guess it's a bit like being a naturally worrysome person, then smoking a joint and getting super paranoid about stuff that doesn't even matter. My focus is a lot clearer since giving up drugs and pmo, i certainly don't give up on things as easy as i did before so i've become more determined to get things done. Social anxiety however is still very much there but i'm working on it, a lot of that has to do with the shame and guilt i carry around with me because of my past behaviour, like i'm carrying round a ball and chain everywhere i go
     
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  9. Oh that goodness someone else is still having bad withdrawals this far out. I think our counters are the same. Like you my brain fog, anxiety, and motivation are just terrible right now. I admit its kind of hard to read about people doing just fine after 2 weeks. I unfortunately have been addicted to this junk for 27 years and its taking time to recover. I somehow think 90 days won't be enough for me.
    Also my mood swings are messing with me something bad. Have you experienced that as well? Also, I am no doctor but diagnosing you as autistic may be wrong. Some of us just don't have normal emotions anymore and need time for our brains to rewire and heal. Just my 2 cents. Cheers
     
  10. Wow 27 years is a long time, I've been doing it for 16 of 17 years so it's definitely not easy to get rid of. Most people say after a month they feel amazing and feel tins of benefits, I understand we're all different but I've only seen a couple of good things so far and just a ton of crap. I definitely think I'm going to need longer than six months or maybe a year.

    Somedays I do feel like I'm breaking through though, as if I'm slowly bursting out of a bubble, almost like I can feel a glimpse of freedom before fading. That's what keeps me going knowing there's still hope and greatness on the other side I'd this addiction.

    As far as mood swings in my first month I was extremely irritable, so much so that I ended up making my fiancé angry a lot of the times, because I would be really cruel or pick on him for no reason. It would come out of no where too, like one minute I'd be fine then the next I'd snap for no reason, it's gotten a lot better now though and I haven't done it in a while. I feel so bad about it though.

    Well I don't know, because they brought my dad into the therapy and they went over my childhood and how I was growing up. Apparently I set off multiple red flags and they want me to take an IQ test to see where on the Autism spectrum I am. The main thing was that noise and lots of movement give me a lot of general anxiety and I refuse to look people in the eye, which apparently are some tell tale signs. I don't really mind though, the test is normally really expensive but it's free for me since I'm such a unique case.

    Technically I probably am from what they say, but porn may have been suppressing my problems all these years until I reached my breaking point.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 15, 2017
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  11. I found that it seems like I wake up one day and its awesome but then the next 6 days it like why am I doing this? Then the next week I have 2 or 3 good days and then back. I suspect I will need a year just to re-right the ship so to speak. Doesn't matter as I am resolved never go back to that. Yeah I had to apologize to my wife for snapping at her but its good because I never would have apologized before. Keep rockin and rollin. Also, I am glad that you have been diagnosed and you can move on with your life.
     
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  12. I always have that, some days are good and some are out right terrible, and as you have questioning the point in doing this. But deep down we know we won't change our minds and we can do this, no matter how annoying or painful the withdrawal symptoms get.

    Wow, I just noticed, is your counter accurate? If so we both started at the same time. :D

    It's not as bad now, but I also got easily depressed, so if something made me sad or literally anything negative it would happen, I thought I was bipolar for a while there until that settled down. After a while I was also apologising to my fiancé, which was extremely rare before and only when I "needed" to. I'm happy about those kind of changes so far, as it brings me closer to him and makes me a better person.

    Thank you, I appreciate it! Whatever the outcome is I'll manage, it's not all bad and there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.
     
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  13. LEPAGE

    LEPAGE Fapstronaut

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    I remember having some social anxiety as a kid, before puberty and PMO, so I don't think excessive PMO was the root cause, in my case at least. I think social anxiety definitely helped lead to PMO addiction though.
     
  14. BIG TIME! I always blamed my bipolar disorder for my anxiety but I take medication for that. But, when I was watching porn excessively I felt anxious for no reason and I feel like most of that is gone now since I been off the porn and masturbating.[/QUOTE]
     
  15. D-Mystifier

    D-Mystifier Fapstronaut

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    First, I am sorry to hear you are going through this. Second, reading this made me pretty sad about what I still have yet to face ahead. On my last (AND FINAL!) relapse I also binged super hard after doing well for some time. Currently, I am facing flatline and general fatigue and disengagement and am not looking forward to the brain fog phase that folks have been describing. I can't afford it right now, or I will have to drop out of my schooling. I am already lacking productivity big time.

    Anways, to answer the original question. Yes, I believe PMO has fundamentally changed how I interact with people in society in a terribly negative way. Now that I have addressed this issue I feel a great level of anxiety, because I can see how it has lead to this effect and how terrible the effect truly is. There are a lot of people wondering why I don't have a girlfriend, and I am definitely not at the stage to tell them. Thus, the pressure being placed on me has made me anxious as all hell.
     
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  16. Kexas23

    Kexas23 Fapstronaut
    NoFap Defender

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    I had to be incredibly drug and on uppers in order to approach a girl because my anxiety was out of control. After only about 2 months of noFap my anxiety has fallen and my confidence has increased. PMO cost me so many opportunities to be happy over the last 17 years. I don't want to go back.
     
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  17. I used to think PMO was what caused my general anxiety, but thinking about it I too have always had anxiety even before porn. I'm sure those years didn't help it though.
     
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  18. Yea I had general anxiety before pmo, then once PMO became an issue it turned into a chemically induced depression. As I kept kindling it was a feeling of numbness. Pretty horrible state to be in.
     
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  19. The difference between me on Nofap talking to people and after a PMO being is like ying and yang. I can go from Rico Suave to gross creep with a day long fap binge.
     
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  20. UKSD

    UKSD Fapstronaut

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    Thinking back to all the situations where I've acted irrationally around my friends or partner due to pornography shocks me to be honest. It's one of the main reasons I'm quitting forever! It does something rotten to your brain and turns you into someone different, mentally and physically.
     
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