Is it still PIED or not?

I don't get morning woods every single morning, that's normal. It's also normal to not get an erection by simply looking at women in real life in public or pictures and videos on the internet. All of those things aren't really healthy and quality barometers of whether or not you've cured yourself from PIED. Looking at porn online is actually one of the causes of PIED, so you looking at such things on your screen is counterintuitive and you're causing the issue.

The reality is you won't know truly if you're cured of PIED until you are having consistent successful sex, I also suffered from PIED and what truly let me know I was okay was when I was having sex without issue.

When you're lying next to a woman and you have a quality and long lasting erection without even thinking about it, that's when you know.

 

It’s not PIED. In my opinion, it’s not a problem. If you get a girlfriend and you have trouble, that’s when you start worrying. Otherwise you’re going to mess yourself up.

 

It’s not PIED, it’s a good thing you can’t hard looking at pictures on a screen. That means your brain returned to normal. You will have no problems with a real woman.

 

I disagree with the previous replies, you should get hard looking at a naked woman, whether that's on a screen or not. I very much doubt it will be any different if you were presented with one in real life.

The only positive is that having no reaction to these pictures makes you less likely to act any further on them.

When seeing something arousing, the limbic system part of your brain is being activated. This part of the brain is responsible for sexual arousal and doesn't care for rationality. That's why despite knowing that your computer screen isn't real, you were still getting aroused by what you were watching all these years. Now if you were to pull up a picture or video of a lion, you wouldn't start fearing for your life because the limbic system isn't being activated, only your rational brain telling you that it's not real and therefore of no threat to you.

The truth is, a healthy male should be very turned on by porn, that's the whole point of it and why it works so good. In fact it works too good, until it doesn't anymore. If you are at the point where porn is about as interesting as pottery then it's not because you've overcome it, it's because something has gone wrong in your brain. The goal shouldn't be to become so desensitised that porn elicits zero sexual response, the goal should be that despite it being enticing, you are able to say no because you know it is damaging and of no benefit to you.

 

It may also be that you have went far in your recovery so now your brain is protecting you from this sort of content. Sort of the opposite response that you would have when using often... I'd been there where there's no response whatsoever to artificial content but then my wife gets close to me and everything is working as it should be.

Maybe take it as a good sign! In any case I'd feel happy not react to anything on a screen as that doesn't lead anywhere positive

 

I get your point @OhWhenThe

There really is some “canceling out” that goes on between porn and real sex though. When I’ve been long without looking at porn, I don’t get an erection from looking at it. I might feel a rush of endorphins but not an erection. And if I do, the erection is not hard. Being with a real woman, though, totally different story. Instant and strong.

If I’ve been using porn heavily, it’s the other way around.

Yes, at the most basic level, your brain wants to see naked ladies to get hard and however you get that typically works. But sexual arousal is a complex system and can be changed by your actions.

 

The point is that you shouldn’t use your reaction to porn as a measurement for how you’ll perform in real life. Unless you’ve got some rare disease, your plumbing works fine. Especially at age 22. Just keep off the porn.