Does addiction end after a reboot?

Welcome! I'm glad you're here.

"Addiction" is a term that is used both in a strict, medical sense, and in a more casual sense: "I'm addicted to candy." Whether porn is an addiction in the strict sense is a question for people with expertise in the field, and that leaves me out, and I'm betting 99.99% of the folks on this site. So to re-state your question: can addiction -- in the medical sense -- ever end? I don't know; you'll have to ask someone in that field. But can those of us here, who experience a powerlessness over porn and masturbation, escape that? The answer is yes. That doesn't mean we can't fall back into it. But we can walk away from it, just as alcoholics and drug addicts do.

Each of us defines his or her own program; so it's not for me or anyone to decide what is a relapse. That said, think long and hard about your goals, and you should be able to answer your question.

As far as porn vs. masturbation: no one is really an expert here; we're all just trying to see what works. My sense is that porn and masturbation tend to reinforce each other. In theory you could give up one without the other, but my gut tells me that won't work. My experience says that, too.

I hope you keep coming back!

 

After abstaining for a longer period you will get rid of your addiction. However I belive that Porn ever will be a slippery slope and you cant use it for the rest for your life just like a normal user would. Its the same with alcohol addicts: even if they get clean, just few beers can throw them back into old behaviors. Of course there are some people who can controll themself after their addiction, but everyone who was once an addict should be aware of the slippery slope. So yes, addiction will end for sure, but you will still have a higher risk to get addicted again than others that werent addicted once.

 

Hiya. I'm a newbie here so not sure how much credo I carry but will share my observations based on my personal experience and what I've read...
Whether it's officially an addiction, mental illness or something else, I'm not convinced it will ever disappear altogether...but could fade to almost nothing with the right intensity and length of reboot.

Like you my approach has been to concentrate on porn rather than masturbation. My personal view is Porn is the drug I'm addicted to and it will never benefit my life. I'm not sold on masturbation being the same as it is natural and healthy - in moderation of course.
Ultimately I'm aiming for a time where I masturbate 1-2 times per week just using my imagination (or sex) and porn or feeling 'compelled' doesn't enter the equation
That said I agree the two are very closely connected and can feed off each other - so a period of abstinence from both may be worthwhile

 

I'm old enough that for me it was Masturbation without porn. We now have high speed porn and we can consume a steady diet of it without anyone knowing. Eventually neither is satisfying and in many cases leads to PIED porn induced erectile dysfunction. To try to be satisfied we need more porn or more M. But more is never enough. For most of us we need to stop both until our brains reboot.