I think a good bet is that we are not talking about venous leak here (my powers of internet diagnosis are strong) but of a thrombosed vein, totally overworked dick and a desensitized mind.
If you’ve had porn addiction problems, it isn’t something that you will be able to shrug off by abstaining for a month - then we are talking of a mindset that needs to be Ctrl+Alt+Del or tweaked or whatever view you take on the matter.
The SA-people subscribe to the same idea as AA - once an addict, always and addict and you need to give up yourself to a higher power because you have a force within you that is stronger than you (the addiction).
I subscribe to the functional approach - you have addiction problems because you (a) suffer from dopamine regulation problems, so you self-medicate by increasing dopamine levels with a quick fix or (b) you have not learned in childhood to self-regulate emotions with values, so you regulate emotions with a quick fix. Some people view it as different sides of the same coin, the hen or the egg or similar. At any rate you can "relearn" your reaction/behavioural patterns by introducing value driven behaviours rather than emotionally driven responses to "need". I.e. looking at things at a longer time frame rather than satisfying your need with a quick fix, and acting thereafter.
Hard work, long time and plenty painful. 3-6 months without masturbation gives you an idea of the timeframe you are looking at - and that is whilst actually doing something about your problem.
Let’s put it this way - if you are an alcoholic, can you abstain from alcohol for a month and then start up again and expect to keep it at a reasonable level? Probably not. If you are going to drink again, it’s got to be in another context - not to quench a thirst, feed the rat or still a need. Maybe you can go back to drinking in the context of enjoying the taste of single malt, not the numbing that comes with too much whiskey?
Same goes for other addictions - the context, need, setting needs to be changed. Masturbation for the sake of exploring sexuality, sure. Masturbation in order to release and get a dopamine kick - no.
The functional approach is best described at Recovery Nation - Home as far as I can tell.
regards, mgus Taped onto the dashboard of a car at a junkyard, I once found the following: "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." The car was crashed.
Primary goal: To have an EQ above average (i.e. streetsmart, compassionate about life and happy) Secondary goal: to make an anagram of my signature denoting how I feel about my gains