To be an addict, you simply need a substance. Alcohol and drugs are common substances that can lead to addiction. The chemical responsible for porn addiction is dopamine—a naturally released hormone that makes you feel good—which is how everyone desires to feel. You know that feeling of satisfaction from doing something good, receiving admiration, enjoying a favorite meal, or sitting by a campfire outdoors? It’s dopamine released in your brain, creating that sense of satisfaction.
Since sex and orgasms bring satisfaction, they too release dopamine. The problem is that, unlike drugs or alcohol, the abused substance is literally within you, eliminating the obstacles of losing money or the fear of being caught buying substances. Unlike other addictions that have physical evidence such as bottles, needles, pills, or marks, porn addiction occurs on a hormonal level and can be triggered by imagination, touch, or visual stimuli, making it easily accessible with no visible obstacles.
Your body naturally provides dopamine throughout the day to ensure satisfaction and support your work, relationships, and other aspects of life. The situation becomes more complex because dopamine also plays a crucial role in other essential bodily functions, making it impossible for your body to operate properly without it.
At low doses, dopamine can relax blood vessels and act as a vasodilator, but at high doses, it can constrict blood vessels and act as a vasoconstrictor. It affects various aspects of our lives—behavior, cognition, attention, sleep, and mood. The result is a type of reliance that can ultimately lead to addiction.
Over time, our bodies become accustomed to the high levels of dopamine released during frequent masturbation due to pornography. If you try to reduce the frequency, you may feel physically uncomfortable. When you reach a stage where you constantly crave masturbation, with or without pornography, and it becomes crucial for your body to experience that level of satisfaction, that’s when you recognize the signs of addiction.
Resetting is still possible, but the more you engage in masturbation, the more difficult it is for your body to adapt. However, it is not impossible—just challenging. So it’s extremely difficult to win this battle on your own.
You have two options to win this battle.
Your Options
If you have the determination and willpower, you can try to train your body to live without masturbation. It may take time, but many people have successfully accomplished this, and I greatly admire their dedication and patience.
On a side note, God, being fair, will help those who make the effort to break free. This even extends to those who don’t believe in Him. However, relying solely on your own strength will leave you vulnerable in the face of evil. If your only protection is your strength, remember the immense temptation mentioned in a previous post. But if you are powerful, aided by heavenly strength, your feet will not slip.
“You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip”(Psalm 18:36).
Another option is to introduce a different source that can naturally stimulate your body to release dopamine at a level that it finds acceptable.
Easy Yoke
We are talking about the easy yoke from God. This is part of His work, the hidden work that you don’t see until you start. You can’t see it beforehand. You might have heard of it, but to truly experience it within yourself, you must begin with Him. You must wake up from your slumber and open your eyes, so you can truly realize it.
“Therefore He says: Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light”(Ephesians 5:14).
This will relax your body and provide a sense of satisfaction, potentially filling the void left by dopamine. A wise person once said that the best way to overcome an addiction is by replacing it with a healthy one. Being addicted to the dopamine released when feeling clean, pure, happy, saved, and filled with the fruit of the Spirit will transform you. You will experience the water that Jesus referred to, which promises that those who drink it will never be thirsty again, finding everlasting contentment.
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”(John 4:13-14)
Let us seek something that can naturally stimulate the release of dopamine in our bodies, granting us peace, acceptance, and comfort. It serves as a reminder that we are not bound by sin and God has granted us forgiveness. This will effectively address the dopamine element and reduce the cravings that come from within us. Only Jesus can provide such peace.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”(John 14:27).
Now, to the main question—how?
Before answering that question, we need to briefly discuss three topics. Then, we’ll dive into how to break free and win this battle:
+ Understand the mind of God.
+ Explore God’s thoughts on our failure.
+ Address the actual battle.
