What do you think of this?

Yes of course long term PMO or any addiction is going to unbalance the brain and cause all kinds of issues including anxiety. During reboot many of these issues may get worse, after recovery they should be much better.

 

Can be. That's what some people over here and over YBOP claim.

If you read through the forums you can see some people reporting less social anxiety after reboot, others report the opposite.

Many of us report social anxiety as a reason to try and abstain from PMO. Also, many of us have little experience of life without PMO, or we can't remember, or we can't track it farther into the past.

My opinion is that psychology is an art more than a science, it works very inconsistently, depends heavily on the subject and on the context.

Yes, science can take MRIs and so on, they can tell an addict brain from a healthy individual's. Still, some addicts won't experience anxiety and people with normal brains will be all psychologically fucked up. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You can amuse yourself reading posts here, and either get motivated or discouraged by others' testimonials. Ultimately, though, the only thing you can do is try for yourself.

 

I grew up with a large group of friends and we have known each other for over a decade. Gamers all around. I have recently began to stop gaming. I am seen as one of the more extroverted in the group with charisma and yet I have social anxiety. Maybe I am just the brightest crayon in a pile of dark colors (awful analogy omg) but I can say that, from my experience, all of my friends are socially anxious, awkward, and they accept that as they identify as introverted people. Maybe gaming as a hobby attracts introverts who are more prone to social anxiety? Maybe there is just a disconnect; in that the (gamer) generation is socially anxious because they never developed interpersonal skills growing up and now lack them due to never having exercise them to begin with? Maybe it is the dopamine deficiency?

As far as my beliefs. I think its a large combination. A perfect storm... I had to stop gaming. The feeling of frustration or inadequacy when playing the game seriously would trigger me for PMO. I was never a rager but internally it didn't feel good and after being stomped I would PMO. I believe gaming/internet addiction is a real problem too. I think PMO is a worse problem as far as how it effects the brain though. The social anxiety however may stem from a lack of serotonin as well. I think it is described very well by Jordan Peterson in the first chapter in his book 12 rules to life. Also it is touched on a bit by simon sinek when he talks about millennials ( ) and when he talks about leadership ( )