How to overcome Pornography

Series on 'Science behind Addictions & how to overcome them specifically Porn Addiction', the series will be written and narrated by brother Wael Ibrahim, a renowned public speaker and published author. The series will be animated and illustrated by us and made available to every single human being for free, In sha Allah.

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Curing tips – PART 1 –

The first thing that you need to understand in order for you to break free from porn addiction and live a life of purity is to comprehend how habits work and how can you be able to replace the negative ones with positive. This is really the first and most important step that people should consider if they are serious about making positive changes in their lives.

In his book, the power of Habit, Charles Duhigg discusses a golden rule that he called “The habit loop”, for which he explained that any habit, whether good or bad goes around in a cycle of cues, routines and rewards. The cue is that which can trigger you and pushes you to the action which we call habit, or in the context of these episodes we call addiction. Then the routine which is the repetition of the same action again and again, and in your case it is the cycle of watching pornography and self-pleasuring. then the reward which is craved by your brain after completing the action.

Understanding that cycle is very critical, because if we can identify the cues or these triggers that ignite our undesirable activities, then most likely we will be able to stop the activities themselves. Because most of the time people tend to focus on changing the act or the behavior itself and forget about the cues that are responsible for the habitual action. So for now I only wanted to address CUES or triggers.

There are basically FIVE categories of cues:

1. Specific time during the day.

2. A certain place.

3. The presence of certain people

4. A specific emotion, and/or

5. A specific ritualistic behavior.

Let us talk about each of these cues so that we can understand the habit loop further.

ONE: Specific time during the day. Most addicts for instance they watch pornography past midnight. So being awake at that time is the cue for them to repeat the activity. So what’s the solution? Simply sleep early and you will be able to break that cycle.

Two: A certain place. Our brains will always associate certain places that we visit, and that include particular websites on the internet with our behaviors. So if you happen to visit certain places like clubs, shopping centers, popular streets and so on, then most likely you will go home that day with lots of sexual tension that may lead you to relapses. So what’s the solution? Simply avoid going to these places.

THREE: The presence of certain people. The Prophet Muhammad PBUH informed us that “a person will always be inclined to follow the religion, or the way of life of his friends, so be careful of who your friends are” – so if your company are inviting you to that which is displeasing to Allah, then you better find a better circle of friends who will positively influence you to do what’s right.

FOUR: A Specific emotion: Sometimes being bored can be a cue for relapses or repeating the undesirable activity, so what’s the solution? Keep yourself busy and become a productive person.

FIVE: A specific ritualistic behavior. Many addicts aimlessly browse the internet, social media websites, profile of random people, unnecessary YouTube videos and so on. The result is always ending up watching hard core pornography. Spending aimless time on the internet could fuel your addiction even more.

So all you need at the beginning of your journey towards recovery is to identify your cues and you will be able to avoid the action itself.

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