I need some advice at this point
Absolutely NO shade meant to all y'all, I get everyone's just trying their best to get better with the limited knowledge we have on this stuff, but I've noticed a lot of the stuff I see here is either guessing at how to get better or "stop", pseudo-psychology stuff based on some book or other (I've read every one, tbf Burgeon was the better of them) or just straight up bad advice. I've done the "Easy Peasy Method" which worked for the first month I ever tried before I caved in and just never succeeded for that long again. The idea of a complex psychological and emotional problem being fixed with a "step 1 2 3" list of things to do never made sense to me. I've gone to the root of my problem, figuring while I DID technically start incredibly early (I saw my first video when I was 8, I'm 23 now) it didn't become a full blown "addiction" until I experienced a major trauma at 14, and began using it excessively to cope. I healthily coped with my trauma over years of therapy, self talk, and facing my fears/repressed memories and feelings, yet the addiction and urges remain. I've practiced lots of mindfulness, meditation practices, understandings of myself and the world and the brain and the mind soul yadda yadda, I even did mushrooms once or twice for the neuroplasticity stuff. That helped me a lot in many facits of my life sure, but didn't make much of a difference with this particular issue. After my son was born I went with what I call the "Nuclear Option" being a mix of Cold Turkey blocker on my pc and ScreenZen on my phone, essentially cutting me off from the Internet entirely, with the exception of certain sites for work and stuff, all that did was make it a "forbidden fruit" and I would essentially work really hard to break those locks to get my fix. I ditched that and went with something closer to my original approach. I'm now just trying to figure out why the hell despite how much I despise viewing this stuff, despite the fact that I feel lethargic and depressed after doing it, guilt or not, and that I just feel disgusted by the weird sick shit I watch when I do partake, I still keep doing it the second I get an urge or craving. It could be my ADHD, but I have no problem doing anything else in my life that may be affected by that. It's just this. Is there some way I could reshape my mindset or thought process? Maybe a mental exercise or something I could do to better my ability to say "Nah I'd really rather not" when faced with the feeling of craving it? I've been trying to work my way through this for a few years now and at this point it feels like I've done everything. I've had some recent success lately, but it isn't exactly "out of the water" if I'm back in the hole 2 days later right? I just want to genuinely better my brain at this point. That month I was clean was the best in my life, no brain fog, no depression, I was healthy and clear headed, ready to tackle anything. Sure I had problems just the same, but I felt more prepared for them. And now that I'm in the adult world with a big job and a family to support, Id sure have a hell of an easier time dealing with all of it.
Posted Dec 7, 2025, 10:50 PM UTC