How to Heal Brain from Pornography Use

In this post, I am going to show you exactly how to heal your brain from pornography use.

In fact, these strategies helped me go from someone who watched porn for hours to 100% porn-free.

Moreover, I now coach others on how to do it.

I am Porn Detox Coach Roman Mironov.

I am passionate about helping people beat porn for good.

And if pornography makes you feel you’re wasting your life, this information is just for you.

Keep reading.

Companion video

If you prefer watching to reading, check out the companion video:

1) Signs of porn addiction
2) Science behind porn addiction
3) PMO = a brain virus
4) Step 1: Install a new program
5) Step 2: Create a negative consequence
6) Be a hero

I said “Enough” to porn when I realized it was a problem.

I was tired of feeling shame.

I felt unproductive.

My marriage suffered.

And now that I am porn-free, my life is so much better.

So let me share what worked for me… and my friend Chris.

You will see if porn is a problem for you.

And you will learn 2 simple steps to break the cycle of pornography use.

Without further ado, let’s start with signs of addiction. Is it a problem for you?

Signs of porn addiction

Meet my friend Chris who used to be a porn addict.

He saw three red flags in his life.

Chris wasted time on porn instead of working.

He felt less engaged, especially with his wife.

He was unhappy because of brain fog.

Chris realized he needed help and reached out to a therapist.

This is what he learned.

Science behind porn addiction

Chris made a bad judgment as a teenager.

He started to watch porn.

At that time, Chris didn’t realize how life-changing it would be.

That bad judgment came from his prefrontal cortex.

And then it was reinforced through his reward center. I’m talking about reward circuitry in subcortical regions of the brain such as the striatum and cortical regions such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

And his reward center liked it so much that it pushed the habit center to install it as a habit.

When Chris tried to change, he did this through the prefrontal cortex.

He would tell himself he needed to stop.

But when an urge came, the other two centers would take over.

The urge would be so strong he couldn’t resist it.

No matter how much he wanted to do it consciously.

Here’s what the therapist made Chris understand: it’s a virus!

PMO = a brain virus

A virus tricked his PFC to let it in.

Then, it took over his reward center and installed itself as a malicious program.

And because of the pleasure, the habit center ran this program on repeat.

Now Chris had to remove that program.

First, he had to work on his habit center to uninstall the old program… and install a new one.

Second, he had to make the new program stick by stimulating the reward center.

Let’s take a look at the first step.

Step 1: Install a new program

The therapist explained that it’s very hard to just drop an old bad habit.

That causes a lot of resistance.

It’s easier to replace the old habit with a new one.

Chris took this concept even further.

For him, it wasn’t just a new habit.

It was an entirely new challenge.

He wanted to run a marathon even though his previous record had been just 5K.

So whenever he thought about porn, he would do something for his new challenge.

He would go for a run.

Or just learn about training for a marathon online.

Focusing on this new challenge left zero headspace for porn.

But the old habit was still very strong.

He got better but would still relapse sometimes.

That’s where the second step came in.

Step 2: Create a negative consequence

His therapist also taught Chris to engage his reward center.

We uninstall old habits more easily when we stop the reward associated with them.

Previously, Chris felt pleasure by watching porn.

That reward kept reinforcing his porn watching.

But the new Chris wanted to associate pain with it.

So he came up with an idea of punishment.

He hated cooking.

So after watching porn, he would cook a meal… immediately.

And then he would give that meal to a colleague that he didn’t like.

By subjecting his reward center to pain, he taught his habit center that the old habit… SUCKED.

Each time he felt that pain, he was uninstalling the old habit a little bit more.

And now it’s time for you to do the same.

Be a hero

Chris conquered his habit of watching porn.

He ran his first marathon instead.

He doesn’t waste time anymore.

He is more engaged with his family.

And he’s overall happier now that the brain fog is gone.

He did it.

I did it.

And you will, too.

FAQs

Can your brain heal from porn addiction and return to normal?

Yes. Here’s how long to rewire brain from porn addiction and

I had watched porn 17 years before starting NoFap 8 years ago. The first brain rewire I felt was at 30 days.

I liked life more. I craved real sex. I developed so much momentum that going to 60 days was easy.

And that’s when my brain rewired from porn addiction.

Now, I felt impatient and wanted to quit during those 60 days. But I would hate to quit right before the turning point.
I would have regretted quitting too early.

Take my course

A good place to make a positive change is taking my Go 100% Porn-Free Course:

https://www.udemy.com/course/go-porn-free/

It has helped people create a system to follow for 30 days and get a taste of what porn-free feels like.