Porn Has Made Me Too Desensitized (Dopamine Desensitization)

dopamine desensitization porn-addiction quitting porn

Has porn made you so desensitized that you feel you have a hard time enjoying life?

Does all those day-to-day activities that you used to enjoy no longer deliver any joy or pleasure?

Well, if so, this post is for you.

Stay with me here...

Porn Has Made Me Too Desensitized

Scandinavian Bob here, hi.

Do you feel that porn has made you so desensitized that you have a hard time being able to enjoy life right now?

Well if so I want to start by saying, I know exactly how you feel because believe me, I have been desensitized many times in my life myself, from several things, but mostly because I was addicted to porn and tried to quit for so many years.

Porn desensitization struggle...

So if you feel that you are numb right now, and you on top of that now also are sad about not being able to experience intense joy,  as Christmas is coming up on us and everything there are two things I want you to keep in mind…

  1. You have to keep reminding yourself that this is just a temporary phase 
  2. Try to shift your focus away from you inability to experience joy for a while and more towards your identity

So, what do I mean?

Coping with numbness...

Well, the first one there is pretty straight forward. When we are at the bottom it’s easy to forget that what we are experiencing is not forever lasting. 

If you stop blasting your reward system, desensitization will go away.

In fact, it is actually possible to regain sensitivity pretty quickly. Some people start feeling better already after 3 weeks after quitting, and even more so after about one month in, and then there are some people who need to go a bit longer than that, but everyone should remind themselves of the fact that things will not always be like this. 

Porn desensitization and the recovery timeline...

For example, the addiction expert Anna Lemke says that there are studies showing how two weeks after quitting an addiction, the dopamine levels are still below baseline, but already after 30 days the dopamine system has seen some significant recovery. 

And the second one here simply means that, instead of trying to find joy in things that normally give you pleasure, try to see if you can root your happiness in your values instead. 

Now, that’s always a good thing to do, but now, when you’re desensitized, even more so. 

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Finding joy in values...

Listen, if you can make yourself  go through the day, being true to your values, doing what needs to be done, despite having drive, you know you just go through the motions, then at the end of the day you will still be able to find some kind of joy in that,  no matter how desensitized you are, because dopamine is not the only brain chemical involved in good feelings. 

And so now you may say, “This is easier said than done”  and hey, you’re right, I get it, believe me I do. If you totally lack both energy and drive then it will be hard, but it is still worth shooting for. 

Follow your normal goals, but for now just make your daily to-do tasks a bit smaller and keep going despite your lack of drive and before you know it life will start to become brighter again. 

Desensitization is not an on - off thing...

Remember, desensitization is not an on / off thing, it’s more of a spectrum, and a good sign that you are starting to become a bit more sensitive again and that the desensitization is reversing is when you notice that you have a bit less tendency to procrastinate. 

For example, when I started noticing that things like shaving and washing my face started to take less effort I knew my dopamine system was about to start doing a whole lot better in the coming weeks or two. 

So keep on going, my friends, because I promise you, you will get over this. 

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