Hee! You said ‘exacerbate’.
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“Participating in anti-masturbation groups tied to depression”
I’ll just do it till I’m happy.
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I can only imagine what kinds of ads will start showing up in my feeds or in my Google searches but curiosity got the better of me and I visited their website. This is what you’re greeted with.
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“Grip”, LOL.
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I hope the edit is not too subtle to see - because the point it makes is not at all subtle. Childish even. 
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Good point. We shouldn’t be discussing advanced techniques here.
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Alcoholic in longterm sobriety checking in: from when I hit my rock bottom to the attempt that kept me sober, I had three relapses. Each of them, after I came out of them, generated strong currents of shame, embarrassment, and deep depression in me. I felt like I had failed, that my life was over, and I was worthless.
None of that is true, obviously, but that was absolutely what I felt at those times. My sober and clean friends had similar experiences. It’s a topic we frequently talk about in the rooms.
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The toxic brainwashing perpetrated on boys especially in my 8-year sentence of education in a catholic grade school just about wrecked me. I hit puberty early and about the same time started realizing that my attraction to other boys wasn’t something holy mother church approved of. Couple that with an especially twisted old nun who used to barge in the boy’s room and talk about the double sin of masturbation and damaging church property by clogging up the sink drains with the results of our sins. Totally freaked us out to have the bat standing there while trying to pee. My horn dog best friend and I had to get creative about hiding evidence. Pity she didn’t figure that out, she would have self-destructed with that knowledge.
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It’s a perfectly cromulent word…
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Aye; we wouldn’t want to overstimulate anyone.
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If you feel like you have a problem with addiction to pornography, maybe talk to a psychiatrist or psychologist rather than trusting the dubious and unscientific advice of some randos on the Internet.
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I never felt I had a porn addiction. I consider more a porn enthusiasm.
Now to continue masticating this bag of chips…
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Talking to a therapist means admitting that you need one, finding one, and then actually talking to another person about your problem. Finding a group on the internet, where you can hide behind a username or avatar and hear other people who feel just like you discuss their attempts to feel better lets you stay safe in your bedroom, far from any potentially humiliating interaction with a real person.
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There’s nothing wrong with commiserating with internet strangers and hiding behind anonymity to feel safe doing it. Goodness knows I’ve done my share of that over the past several decades.
These are people who self-identify as having a problem with addiction, so they already think they have a problem. Rather than seek advice from a qualified professional who can give them real help, they are looking for quick fix solutions from these same anonymous Internet strangers. Many of whom are grifters and charlatans with trying to further their own interests by exploiting others for profit.
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Yeah, this was kinda predictable.
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Fwiw where I live psychologists are about 150 an hour with six week plus wait times and psychiatrists can be like 400+ easy and depending on the meds they suggest a lot more can happen and a lot can go wrong. Others may be cheaper but will spend about ten minutes looking at you and then just start testing out effects of drugs that may or may not be helpful or safe. You need to be functional enough to pay for that or have a case worker. And you have to have somewhat of a support system for those things to help too.
Unfortunately it can be costly and dangerous whereas the internet is free and dangerous.
It’s easy to sit back and feel superior but the truth is there’s often really fuck all for options.
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At the risk of repeating myself: “Greatest Healthcare System in the World!!!1111!1!11!”
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And here I was about to recommend everyone try out a Hitachi Magic wand-style toy regardless of your genitals. I’ll save that for the next time this topic returns, I guess.
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Even when your healthcare is covered, you have to have enough spoons to navigate the system to book appointments, talk to receptionists, possibly get dressed, drive to a location, and all the other energy expenditures it takes to even go to treatment. In talking with other people who have depression or anxiety, we all find a certain degree of dark amusement in how you have to be doing a minimum amount of “Ok” before you can seek treatment and that minimum is quite a bit over the lowest before the final low. (Online therapy is available and really works well for some, but then you have to be together enough to avoid scams like the one in the article we’re discussing!)
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Or getting involved with entities like BetterHelp, you know the online therapy app that sold its clients’ info to Facebook and other advertisers.
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