How Long Does It Take to Recover From Porn Addiction? The Role of Accountability in the Journey

While the American Psychological Association doesn’t recognize porn addiction as a true “addiction,” anyone that’s battled with porn knows how difficult it is to get rid of.

Porn is not something you can just stop in an instant. Instead, it can take weeks, months, if not years before you’re completely free from its grasp.

This begs the question, “How long does it take to recover from porn addiction?”

While there’s no fixed timeline, people who quit porn generally go through four stages of recovery. In this article, we’ll go over what these four stages are, and what you can do in each stage to avoid falling back into porn.

Stage 1: Coping With Withdrawals (Several Weeks)

The most challenging stage of quitting porn is the first several weeks.

This is when most people experience strong withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, depression, loss of libido, insomnia, and irritability. This is also when the temptation to slide right back into porn and masturbation is at its strongest.

During this stage, you’ll need intense focus. A lot of people succumb to their withdrawals and give up during this stage. So take time to study how to stop porn and masturbation.

It’s also very important to have positive support during this time. Giving up porn on your own is extremely difficult. Having an accountability partner to encourage you and hold you accountable is essential — especially during this stage.

Finally, if you fail during this period, don’t kick yourself for it.

Be honest with yourself about how you failed, but don’t give up. Take notes on what triggered you to watch porn, avoid those scenarios, talk with your accountability partner, and don’t wait to start again.

Stage 2: Building New Habits and Rewiring Your Brain (First Several Months)

When you first quit porn, this leaves a void in your time, energy, and your thoughts. It’s critical to fill up this void with positive new habits. This way, you won’t give room for the old, negative habits to crawl back in.

For the first several months, work on building new habits like exercise, journaling, socializing with friends, or taking on a new hobby. These new habits will not only take up your time but will also create a positive feedback loop that’s super effective at dealing with porn.

Aside from the habits, you’ll also want to double down on talking with your accountability partner and/or seeking professional counseling. This stage is a great time to pick up online accountability tools to make slipping up more difficult.

During this time, it’s normal to experience a few relapses. But once again, don’t kick yourself on it. Focus on your goal, keep track of your progress, and never be afraid to start again if you falter.

Stage 3: Reaching New Goals (Months After Starting)

One key part of recovering from porn that too many people neglect is celebrating your victories. So whenever you reach a milestone, take time to celebrate!

Track when you go one month without looking at porn, three months, six months, and, of course, a full year without porn — and do a small celebration with your accountability partner.

This not only feels great, but it also reinforces the fact that you’re making progress.

Stage 4: Maintaining Long-Term Recovery (Years)

Once you go a full year without viewing adult content, you know that you’re in for the long term. Of course, it’s still important to keep your guard up. People who are sad, lonely, and depressed are especially prone to porn use.

But once your habits are well set, viewing adult content isn’t going to seem as attractive to you anymore. You’ll find freedom from this addiction much sweeter than the guilt and shame that adult content always makes you feel.

Once you go a full year or more without porn, now is the perfect time to help others.

Remember, there are a lot of people out there who are battling against porn, but are struggling to overcome it. These people are in dire need of someone to help them — either an accountability partner or a counselor.

Since you’ve been freed from porn yourself, why not help others escape? It’s one of the most rewarding things to do once you’ve recovered yourself.

Conclusion

Everyone’s journey to breaking free from porn is different. There’s no set timeline, so don’t kick yourself if you’re still on stage one after a month.

Instead, identify what stage you’re in, focus on the things you need to do during that stage and work on progressing to the next stage.

Before you know it, you’ll be free from porn and ready to lend a helping hand to others who come after you.

About the author
Julia Daniels
As staff writer for Ever Accountable, Julia Daniels researches and writes about healthy relationships, online safety parenting tips, and porn recovery. She enjoys interviewing mental health experts, porn recovery counselors, and relationship experts. Helping others lights her fire!