How to Stop a Masturbation Addiction

Firstly, it is important to note that masturbation is perfectly normal, healthy behaviour for both sexes. Whether we masturbate daily, weekly, or monthly is irrelevant, what is relevant however, is whether our private habits encroach on our other day-to-day activities or professional life. Should you be concerned that your natural urges are causing, or have the potential to cause, harm in other areas of your life, here are a few tips to help you curb the addiction.

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Steps

1- Appreciate any underlying reasons as to why you feel the need to masturbate as often as you do. Many of us can track back the reason for our level of masturbation to a certain period or incident in our lives. It is important to explore the underlying issues before it is possible to properly address them- understanding why is the first step towards change. Should the self-discovered reason for your level or urges be particularly disturbing, it is often best addressing these issues under professional guidance, a councillor, or at the very least, a close, trustworthy friend (they may not need to know that you have a ‘masturbation addiction’, simply getting the memory of the experience off of your chest will help).

2- Acknowledge that you are not a bad person. This behaviour is perfectly natural, the only thing that may need addressing might be the context of it.

3- Set goals. Do you wish to stop entirely or to limit yourself to certain times or places? Designate time to the activity to take place in an appropriate, private setting, and aim to stick to this. Perhaps once every 3 days may be a good start. In this way you will change your appreciation of the activity from a negative, where you feel bad for what you might have done, to a productive positive, where you look forward to the experience which is re-enforced by the sense of achievement for having waited until the designated time.

4- Remove materials that encourage the activity. Throw away/delete pornographic material and perhaps set up parental control devices on your computer. Although you would know the password, the simple act of having to put it in may encourage you to wait until the designated time to indulge.

5- Replace times where you would usually masturbate with a hobby, social activity, or exercise. Christian monks ‘sublimated’ i.e. they took up creative activities to distract them from physical urges. Simply staring at a wall trying not to not masturbate when you would usually, is self-defeating. The aim is to adjust your urges rather than to fight them.

6- If you slip up, don’t beat yourself up about it. Change is hard, whereas reverting to learned behaviour is easy. Dwelling on the issue will only encourage further masturbation. Rather than feeling sorry for yourself, address the reason as to why you slipped up, and ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

7- If your problem is less superficial and deeper routed, or you find yourself imagining disturbing images whilst masturbating (homosexual imagery does not qualify as disturbing- should you live in a place or a culture where popular consensus suggests otherwise, move to a less backwards, less prejudice and less hateful location), it may be an idea to seek professional advice. Professional advice may not have to come at a price. Contact your local council to see if they have any free councillor clinics.

Tips

When using parental controls, perhaps it might be a good idea to have a trustworthy friend set the password in order to avoid temptation.

Sweet substances encourage the release of endorphins into the body similar to those released post climax. Snacking, in moderation (don’t replace one addiction with another!), may help curb the craving for masturbation at certain times of the day.