Islamic marriage advice and family advice

Masturbation

Masturbation: Effects on Human Health

I am 18 yrs old and living in Pakistan. I am tired of my habit of masturbation which I started when I was 14/15. I repeatedly repent and leave it yet it haunts me. I leave it for long periods but this period is never continuous. I repent but end up breaking my promise. The guilt of a sin in myself is also scarce. I am quite easily influenced by satan to watch porn etc. Kindly help me to eradicate this lustful habit out of myself.

Waiting for a reply.

ahmadbutt


Tagged as: , , ,

9 Responses »

  1. How Porn Addiction Works (and What to do About it) ?

    If you’re trying to quit porn, you may have realized that it is easier said than done.

    We tend to get cravings… the brain starts calling for a quick peek of porn.

    Even though our rational, conscious mind “knows” that it bad for us, some other part of our brain seems to disagree.

    Some people don’t have this problem and can easily control the urge.

    Other people don’t seem to have any control whatsoever.

    Despite their best intentions, they repeatedly find themselves bingeing on porn, even when they have previously decided never to watch it.

    While some people think this is caused by a lack of willpower, the situation can be much more complicated than that.

    The fact is.........porn stimulates the reward system in the brain in the same way as drugs of abuse like cocaine, heroin and meth.

    For susceptible people, regularly accessing porn can lead to full-blown addiction, which shares the same biological basis as addiction to drugs of abuse.


    How Does Porn Addiction Works?

    There is a system in our brain called the reward system.

    This system was designed to “reward” us when we do things that encourage our survival. This includes primal behaviours like eating and having sex.

    The brain knows that when we have sex or eat, we’re doing something “right,” and releases a bunch of feel-good chemicals in the reward system, such as the neurotransmitter dopamine – interpreted by our brains as pleasure.

    The brain is hardwired to seek out behaviours that release dopamine in the reward system.

    The problem with porn is it can cause a reward that is way more powerful than anything our ancestors were ever exposed to in nature.

    Whereas watching cheer leaders in close-up on TV in a game interval might cause a moderate release of dopamine , but watching your favourite hard-core porn video, seems so incredibly rewarding to your brain that it releases a massive amount of dopamine.

    This Can Lead to Tolerance and Withdrawal – The Hallmarks of Physical Addiction

    When people repeatedly do something & for extended period of time that releases dopamine in the reward system (such as watching porn, smoking a cigarette or eating a Snickers bar), the dopamine receptors can start to down-regulate.

    When the brain sees that the amount of dopamine is too high, it starts removing the dopamine receptors in order to keep things “balanced.”

    When you have fewer receptors, you need more dopamine to reach the same effect, which causes people to start accessing more extreme porn for long hours.

    This is called tolerance.

    If you have fewer dopamine receptors, then you will have very little dopamine activity and you will start to feel unhappy if you don’t get your porn “fix.”

    This is called withdrawal.

    Tolerance and withdrawal are the hallmarks of physical addiction.

    A study found monkeys allowed to self-administer cocaine for a year had a 15-20% decrease in dopamine receptors. (Nine months after the monkeys stopped being given cocaine, three returned to normal, while two did not). Similarly, tests of former methamphetamine(METH) addicts and a control group who had not used the drug found that dopamine transporters in a part of the reward System called the striatum were on average 24% lower in the users.

    Of course, all of this is a drastic oversimplification, but this is basically how porn addiction (and any addiction) works.

    Cravings Are a Key Feature of Addiction

    A true craving is about satisfying the brain’s need for dopamine. It has nothing to with the body’s need to satisfy desire.

    Even though the cravings sometime seem to come out of nowhere, they can also be turned on by certain triggers, which are known as cues.

    Walking past a billboard displaying images of skimpiest bikni clad hot girls or chance unintentional gaze on TV, Net, youtube, facebook, etc etc. … these can turn on a craving.

    When a craving occurs, it can start to dominate your attention.

    It can be very hard to think of something else and it can be hard to remember why on earth you had decided that you want to quit porn.

    It isn’t unusual to get cravings, most people do get them in some form.

    But if you find yourself repeatedly giving in to cravings and PMOing, despite having previously made a decision not to, then that’s definitely NOT normal.

    These cravings can be so powerful that they cause people to break rules they had set for themselves despite them knowing that it is causing them physical harm.

    Rewards, Which Can Sometimes Turn into Binges

    When you finally give in to the craving… then it’s time for the reward, which is what all of this is about.

    Now you watch that particular video until your brain has received all that dopamine that it was missing.

    The more often you repeat this cycle of craving and rewarding yourself, the stronger it becomes and you need more of it each time.

    Whereas 30 min of online porn per day sufficed a year ago, today you may need 3 hours a day to experience the same level of reward.

    This Can Lead to Complicated, Addict-Like Behaviours

    Over time, porn addiction can cause severe physical and psychological problems.

    Many people who have been struggling with this addiction for a long time can become withdrawn from society, go miles to hide their consumption from others, can suffer from anxiety & depression, are uncomfortable around opposite sex and have a severely broken self esteem & lower level of confidence

    This is compounded by the fact that most people don’t even realize that they’re addicted to porn and simply think that they’re weak and undisciplined.

    What to do About it?

    Unfortunately… there is no easy solution to addiction. There is no supplement, mental trick or magical solution out there.

    Tons and tons of former addicts have testified online that the only solution is complete abstinence from porn over long period of time.

    What you have to understand is that quitting porn and masturbation is not something you do for a short period of time. If you say to yourself ‘I’m going to do the 30/60/90 day challenge’ then what you’re really telling your brain is that you’re going to abstain for a period and then you’ll get to ‘reward’ yourself with bingeing after (crazy thinking, but we’ve all done this). .

    Written below is what you have to do to make Nofap really, really easy, and have incredible success with it.

    YOU MUST MAKE THE TRUE DECISION TO NEVER, EVER WATCH PORN AGAIN.

    The power of a true decision is a remarkable thing. It is not what we normally mean when we talk about decisions. For example, you may make the ‘decision’ to give up smoking, but after a couple of weeks end up giving in to your nicotine cravings. What you have to understand is that what you had thought had been a decision was not a true decision – you never made the decision to quit smoking in the first place.

    So long as [edited to remove explicit content] porn is just a click away I don’t think the urges will ever go away. But although you experience the discomfort of the urges, it is a discomfort that you just accept with grace and ease. Every time an urge arises, you look it square in the eye and, with UNFALTERING CONVICTION, you mentally declare the following word: “NO”.You have already made the decision that you will never give in; in that moment you are simply passing the message on from your higher consciousness to your lower consciousness.The time has come for you to decide whether you are going to condemn yourself to a life of indiscipline and self-indulgence or free yourself from the shackles of addiction and transform into something far greater than you had imagined possible.

    Make the right decision. Make it a true decision. Make it today.

    • The vulgarity in the first sentence of the last paragraph can easily be left out. Your advice would have been just ast effective without it.

      • Assalaamualaikam

        Agreed. I've edited the relevant part of the paragraph.

        Midnightmoon
        IslamicAnswers.com editor

      • Jazak-Allah for reading my post 'Saba'. I did not find it vulgar, its a fact,

        • Assalaamualaikam

          I edited your post because it had a four-letter term that, although asterixed, was not the kind of language that some people would feel comfortable reading.

          Midnightmoon
          IslamicAnswers.com editor

        • Facts are not necessarily void of being vulgar just because they are facts.

          And as I said, your post was effective and I personally thought the advice was well-delivered especially with great explanations. In fact, sometimes I do not read a long post due to time, but found what you had to say was very worthwhile. In no way was I trying to put you down, but I would ask you to at least understand the reason why I said what I did. Jazak Allah.

          @ Sr. Midnightmoon, Jazak Allah.

  2. Assalaamualaikam

    We have published a large number of posts on this issue - it's a more common problem than people may want to believe. I'd advise that you search our archives and study the answers given there. InshaAllah, you may well find some of the help given there is useful for you.

    Midnightmoon
    IslamicAnswers.com editor

  3. I am extremely thankful for the answers you gave me. I'm certainly looking forward to change myself in the context and exit this crisis.

    Regards,
    ahmadbutt

Leave a Response

Cancel Reply