Nofap and Social Anxiety: Can porn watching be affecting your social life?

A lot of people talk about the relationship between doing nofap and social anxiety. So we set out here to see whether both are truly correlated.

Have you ever wondered why you might be feeling so not in your own skin anytime you are around strangers?

And do you think that those people that are always comfortable making new friends all the time, talking with complete strangers and having fun at the same time are some sort of super people?

In the US, social anxiety disorder is the third largest mental health care problem. The two health care problems that top it are depression and alcoholism.

So, social anxiety is not an issue that can be taken lightly in our society. The worst part of it is that most people have the condition and they don’t even know that they do.

What is Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

According to the social anxiety institute;

“Social anxiety, which was formerly known as Social phobia is the fear of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, self-consciousness, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. When someone becomes (irrationally) anxious in social situations, but seems better when they are alone, then “social anxiety” may be the problem”.

This is a condition that is usually developed during the teenage years of individuals and it usually starts off as shyness. SAD can hugely affect the lives of those people that suffer from this disorder.

People that have this conditions might have difficulties forming romantic relationships, friendships, interviewing for a job, and they might avoid any form of social situation altogether.

Different levels and types of social anxiety

The truth is that anxiety is part of life and we all find ourselves in situations that make us anxious from time to time. This might be as a result of being in an entirely new territory like the first week at a new job. It might also be due to being out of practice with social dynamics.

Anxiety is just our brain sending out some stress signals to our body because it is trying to protect us by resisting change (when we find ourselves in a new territory). Once we have gotten used to the new situation, the signals are regulated and the anxiety is reduced, or totally gone.

Because of the anatomical differences among humans, differences in the way we live our lives, and past experiences, the level of anxiety and its duration differs from person to person.

There are different types of social anxiety based on the level of affliction.

There are the cases of Social Anxiety Disorder that are very extreme in nature. This is when the person has been clinically diagnosed to suffer from this disorder. This extreme form of disorder might be caused by the individual’s anatomical make-up (genetics, or an overactive amygdala in the brain), childhood or past traumatic experiences, and so on.

This type of SAD is usually accompanied by extreme cases of symptoms like breathlessness, panic attacks, extreme shaking, and so on when the individual finds himself/herself in a social situation.

If you think you might be suffering from this type of anxiety, then the best course of treatment is to seek out a therapist like Crystal Arber.

Another type of SAD is the one that results from a negative self-image and lifestyle choices. This type of SAD is usually due to a long time of negative programming and reinforcement of those believes which has now become an identity for the individual.

This type of anxiety can also result when someone is not used to social gatherings due to lifestyle choices. Examples of these lifestyle choices are when a person spends most of his or her days indoors playing video games, watching porn, or being the type that doesn’t interact socially.

With time, the intricacies of social dynamics become alien to the individual and it will require practice and constant repetition to correct the anxiety and become more confident socially.

To check your levels of anxiety, I found an awesome test tool. Don’t stop at the first set of tests. Make sure you take the whole sets of tests to completion. And remember to come back and finish reading this post. To access the test, click here.

Symptoms of Social Anxiety disorder

To be able to recognize the symptoms of SAD, we have to know the situations that can lead to SAD. These situations include talking to strangers, being introduced to other people, starting conversations, going out on dates, making eye contacts, going to public places like bars, parties, and pubs, getting up on stage to face crowds, and so on.

When in any of this situations, the symptoms that might be experienced physically, mentally, or emotionally are;

• Blushing
• Sweating
• Shaky voice
• Rapid heartbeat
• Stomach trouble and diarrhea
• Dizziness and lightheadedness
• Depression
• Being self-centered
• Avoiding social gatherings
• Excessive self-consciousness
• Fear of being judged or noticed by others
• Quietness and shyness in social settings
• Excessive worrying about upcoming social events
• Excessive worrying about past social events

Porn and Social Anxiety

There is a relationship between porn and social anxiety. This relationship might be direct or inverse between the two.

In a nutshell, porn and social anxiety go hand in hand because porn can be a by-product of social anxiety or it can be a (one of) causative agent of social anxiety.

When making a huge fire of social awkwardness, porn can serve as the fuel and SAD the flame, or vice-versa.

Porn-Induced Social Anxiety (PISA)

One of the negative side effects of excessive porn watching is that it causes or increases social anxiety.

In this study, this study, and this study, it was found that people who were extroverts, outgoing and social had more D2 receptors in their brain (this is an oversimplification of the results. Link is provided for more detailed read.

While introverts had reduced number of D2 receptors in their brain, not all introverts have social anxiety disorder. But, a great number of introverts are that way because they find socializing difficult for them and they do great spending the majority of their time alone. And this is one of the symptoms of social anxiety disorder.

It has been shown through the science of addiction and fMRI scans that the brain chemistry of the porn addict mimics the brain chemistry of addicts with other forms of addiction. These brain chemistry are characterized by hypofrontality (memory and cognitive impairment) and largely reduced number of D2 Receptors.

Another thing to be noted is that when someone watches porn frequently, the duration of porn-sessions required to get dopamine hits becomes increased.

Sessions that used to last 30 minutes escalates to 2 hours which later escalates to 4 hours in some cases. And since porn is something that has to be watched in secrecy, most people do this by their lonesome in their bedroom.

When someone is in the habit of locking themselves in their room for 2 hours daily instead of using that time to be socially engaged, and because we are creatures of habit, with time, this act becomes a habit.

Gradually, the individual starts losing touch with the social part of him.

So from these, we can draw a conclusion that watching porn excessively, which over time, one can become addicted to, has all likelihood to cause social anxiety irrespective of if the individual has the condition before, or is already pre-disposed to it.

Social anxiety disorder Induced Porn Usage (SIPU)

Most addiction including porn addiction comes about as a coping mechanism for an underlying emotion, feeling, or condition.

Someone that suffers from SAD on any level is in all likelihood of using porn as a form of coping mechanism and eventually get addicted to it.

“Another form of relationship between porn and social anxiety disorder is that; someone that suffers from Social Anxiety Disorder is pre-disposed to becoming a porn addict”.

Let me paint a picture of the life of most people (guys especially) that get hooked on porn.

The truth is that if you ever had the problem of meeting new people of the opposite sex in your adolescence, then the easiest alternative that people turn towards is porn.

You get to orgasm without having to meet any new person, go out on dates, and interact socially.

Porn will never reject you. Porn will never say NO.

You get an endless amount of girls and the novelty (newness) it offers is limitless. You get to have any type of girl you want all in the comfort of your bedroom, at the click of the mouse.

Just like a podcast on menprovement puts it, “you get rewarded for being a LAZY F**K”.

Over time, this porn watching habit gets reinforced and it has devastating effects on your health, well-being, and social game.

How Social Dynamics works in most cases

With some rare exceptions of people born with super confidence, the majority of social skills are cultivated and honed over time with constant repetition and practice.

Do you know you can be out of practice in engaging with people?

Even those you know really well?

Just like anything we do and get proficient at, like riding a bike, some people are more proficient at social dynamics than others.

Some people come equipped with tools used in social dynamics while some people lack these basic tools.

Some of these tools are confidence, being a good listener, being a good conversationalist, being in touch with your emotions so you can easily relate to other people’s emotions, being empathetic, and adding value to others in your company.

The role self-image plays in social dynamics

All the attributes listed in the section above all boils down and can be traced back to two simple words.

SELF IMAGE.

Someone with a positive self-image will likely display these attributes as they have accepted themselves to some certain levels. This would make it easy for them to accept others.

Having a positive image of oneself gives a kind of self-confidence and self-acceptance that cannot be bought. Other people start picking up on this and they would want to be around you MOST of the time.

What this does to your social game is that it enhances it and you, in turn, would always want to socialize more.

Ultimately, what, and how you feel about yourself is how you will make other people feel about themselves. This has been shown scientifically in a lab in Italy when the scientists in 1992, accidentally discovered what is now popularly known as mirror neurons.

Since then, a lot of experiments have been conducted on human subjects using fMRI in order to determine if emotions are transferred from people to people. In this study on 14 male participants, it was found that the emotions of disgust was transferred from one subject to another.

This phenomenon, before science finally got to it, has been known as the law of state transference.

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The Role of Nofap in Social anxiety

There have been mixed debates on whether nofap does cure social anxiety. My take on the issue is that nofap in itself cannot cure any form of social anxiety (be it pre-porn or post-porn social anxiety). Nofap can at most, give you the tools needed to correct the condition.

What you do with those tools is ultimately up to you.

As I have said earlier, if you are suffering from a clinical and severe case of social anxiety, then, the best course of treatment is seeing a therapist.

Also, if you are suffering from any other form of social anxiety as we have discussed, nofap will not magically let it all go away.

If you are on nofap for 5 YEARS and during that time you don’t go out of the house and ACTUALLY socialize, your social anxiety will still be there.

Although with nofap, many people report the benefits of NoFap challenge that help social interaction like becoming more talkative and a better conversationalist because words easily come to their minds than when they are not on nofap (reduced hypofrontality which improves cognitive and memory function).

Another benefit that is LIKELY to be experienced when on nofap is increased confidence which can result from reduced masturbation. When we masturbate frequently, we lose ZINC which is a vital nutrient in synthesizing testosterone.

And as we all know, testosterone is a key component in being manly and confident.

To replenish your ZINC levels, boost your testosterone the natural way, check out this all-natural product that has REALLY helped me in the past.

Also, with prolonged nofap, emotional richness is reported as dopamine in the brain gets rebalanced and we start dealing with those emotions that trigger porn use in the first place.

The tools to cure or reduce social anxiety are now available but what is done with those tools is dependent on the individual.

Conclusion on Nofap and social anxiety: The role making positive life changes while on nofap will play on social anxiety

Have you ever heard of the street expression “putting in the work”?

This is the part where you have to put in the effort in order to combat social anxiety.

The best way to get proficient at something is to do it over and over again.

So, go out more!!

Socialize more!!

Start to GRADUALLY push yourself outside of your comfort zone and remember to take BABY STEPS so that you don’t push yourself to panic attacks.

Over time, it will become second nature and when next you find yourself in a social setting, you will feel comfortable in your own skin.

Nofap is just there to help you by giving you SOME of the tools you need for social engagement. You have to PHYSICALLY change your lifestyle choices to see results.

Nofap takes some recovery time to start getting benefits, but you can learn how to put it on steroids.

Porn, which used to serve as a catalyst for social anxiety has been removed. What you do with that time-slot is up to you.

If you feel that having a great physique will give you the confidence you need to socialize more, then, use the porn-free-time-slot to hit the gym. And to aid your development in the gym, to build the body that makes ladies blush, check out this all-natural product.

Just the mere act of going to the gym and exercising regularly will help reduce your social anxiety because you will be forced to meet new people daily, and you will also look and feel good as a bonus.

If you are the type that feels having a good look will give you more confidence to meet new people, then, use the porn-free-time-slot to hunt down great diet regimens that will support your cause.

Remember that a machine is as good as the person operating it.

ALSO, REMEMBER TO STAY HEALTHY, so you can STAY WEALTHY and STAY BLESSED.