1.Remember what it felt like being a porn slave. How it felt emotionally.
2.Ask myself which I would prefer: hours of titillation followed by ten seconds of extreme pleasure, followed by depression and depletion; or a day of clarity and energy, with the occassional bout of joy?
3.Ask myself if repeatedly indulging in this fleeting pleasure (thus creating a certain type of mindset) is worth the risk of being reborn as a hungry ghost or an animal in my next life
4.Get on the piano. Practise madly and passionately.
5.Volunteer for Oxfam, plant trees, or one of the other myriad of Social Service things I could put my hand to (my hands have been too much otherwise engaged lately for this to happen)
6.Exercise out in Natural places. Lie down in the fresh long grasses of local forest (checking first for snakes, of course).
7.Attract into my life a woman whose exquisite female energy would effortlessly draw my mind to things other than the internet
8.Just connect with my heart. My heart chakra has a totally opposite view as regards porn as compared with my base chakra.
9.I could continue...but that's a start.

about porn addiction. There's going to be a huge audience for it in the next few years. You already have some powerful lyrics there.

Great list. I'm working on an article about how a doctor helps obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) patients overcome *their* compulsions...which are also the product of the brain rewiring itself (that is, they are learned, although unconsciously). A typical patient would set out of the house to pick up the kids from school, and instead find himself at the sink washing his hands for the umpteenth time.

The doctor (an American Buddhist) has helped a lot of OCDers...and has shown with PET scans that their brains actually change. Brain activity decreases in one circuit, and increases in the other (the rational part of the brain). Since compulsive masturbation also rewires the brain, it makes sense that a protocol for OCD may prove useful in RE-rewiring the masturbation compulsion.

Here's how he sums up his cure:

Patients start by relabeling their obsessions and compulsions as false signals, symptoms of an unhealthy pattern.

They reattribute those thoughts and urges to pathological brain circuitry (“This thought reflects a malfunction of my brain, not a real need to orgasm yet again.”)

They refocus, turning their attention away from the pathological urge onto a constructive behavior. (That's where your splendid list comes in.)

They revalue the old behavior, realizing that it has no intrinsic value, and no inherent power, even though they feel relief when they engage in the behavior.

All of this is based on the idea of "mindful awareness," and the idea that the *mind* controls the *brain.* Studies also show that patients only make progress when they engage in daily exercises, and pay strong attention to the new behaviors. As one researcher said, "Passive, unattended, or little-attended exercises are of limited value for driving neuroplasticity."

I think the challenge is in letting go of the idea that orgasmic pleasure has value. *gulp* Obviously your biology does *not* want to see that happen, and will fight you all the way. But an alcoholic feels the same way about a drink. In both cases, it seems that anyone who tries this *must* keep factoring in the longer-term costs in order to correctly value the thing sacrificed. That's hard to do, when you cannot yet feel the gains from leaving a desensitizing compulsion behind.

As for timing, we (Gary and I, who are not struggling with addiction) find the withdrawal symptoms last about two weeks. The difference for porn addicts is that *every time* they are stressed, the heavily traveled brain pathway they have set up ("learned"), which links anything sexy with orgasm-for-relief-from-stress will send up a dopamine "flare" in their brains whenever they see a cue they can connect with relief. And, because your brain *thinks* it is helping you, everything suddenly looks sexy.

Obviously, you can best shield yourself by avoiding stress as much as possible and staying away from cues as much as possible, and stopping your mind when it wants to "sexualize" some random body part, smile or skin. Temptation isn't harmless for you while you're "rewiring." It will be harmless once the job is done, but by then, you'll literally see things differently, without the lurking, burning desire for relief that your brain now links with such images.

More and more research is being done on OCD patients, and a study done earlier this year reported that brain changes could already be seen after 4 weeks of daily cognitive therapy. (I think the therapy involves exercises where the person chooses a situation that would normally evoke the compulsive urge, and resists it, despite the emotional stress.) http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2008/1-17-ocd.htm

So, the real answer is that no one can say how long it will take you to rewire your brain. The first step, however, is to decide if you really want to rewire it, since it means not compromising for the foreseeable future. Each compromise adds a double helping of delay, because you are not only *not* laying down the new wiring, you're strengthening the old wiring.

If you're interested, you may want to have a look at "The Mind and The Brain" by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD. He cites some interesting research about musicians who practiced rapid fingering so much that their brains rewired themselves and the musicians could no longer tell which of two fingers was hitting a key or string. They had to disable one finger temporarily (with tape), and use the other one to "separate" the impulses again in the brain. This took many repetitions with the free finger functioning solo. Almost all were able to return to performing. Interestingly, this healing could also be accomplished simply by *visualizing* doing the new exercises.

Maybe you could construct a similar exercise by imagining yourself turning off your computer *before* using porn, or otherwise resisting the behavior you want to shed. And doing this exercise over and over. The brain is plastic, but to mold it, you have to "mean business," and be consistent for a while.

The point is that ultimately you determine how long it takes to rewire a compulsion. But it *can* be done. Yes, there are hellish days, but recovery also has a lot of heavenly moments in it. Just know that it bounces up and down. It's not a linear progression, at least not from day to day.

Good luck!

It will happen for you on your body/mind's schedule, not mine or some other arbitrary calendar.
I'm sure that's not helpful but it's true. There is no one answer for anyone. I think Marnia does a great job of listening and tailoring her answer to the specifics listed.
I like your list. I would start with 7 and work up. (8 I'm leary of until you are further away from your last orgasm - women around me made me hornier not, stronger....just sayin'.)
But the idea of replacing your energies spent self-absorbed with masturbation, with other things that are stress relieving and leave you feeling good and proud are the best places to start
I used to find that in a MAJOR way here by blogging and sharing ideas. Then I got into some volunteering, etc. It was not for several months that I could spend significant time with a woman without temptation. (sounds so animalistic and basic doesn't it?)
So -
Do something you enjoy that helps others an relieves stress
get sleep
eat well
and stay away from temptations that you know of
label them when you see them
and start training your brain to enjoy healthy "food" again.

You can do this. I know you can. You've been hanging in here a long time. You want this and I'm here to tell you that you can do this!
There is no one time frame.

Just be honest with yourself, point your bow into the wind and keep rowing.

I'm rooting for you.
-TLR