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Reclaimed & Unashamed
Are you tired of struggling with porn and want to quit, but don't know where to start? Have you tried everything and wondered if anything will ever escape the cycle? Welcome to the Reclaimed & Unashamed podcast, where we help men break the shame and rewire their brains so they can start living a porn-free life. In this podcast your host and licensed counselor Kolton Thomas will share science, stories, and strategies to help you grow in self-awareness and self-control over your life and your habits online. We invite you to listen to our weekly episodes and join our community of men who can honestly say they've been RECLAIMED from the struggle with pornography.
Reclaimed & Unashamed
You Can Train Your Brain (How Conditioning Works and How to Reverse It)
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Ever wonder why your brain decides to light up for certain things and not for others? Have you found yourself craving unwanted habits and behaviors, without a real explanation as to why? This episode provides a basic understanding of how your brain is conditioned to desire pornography and other unwanted behaviors using the chemical dopamine and the psychological principle of conditioning.
What we learn from conditioning is that sexual urges are paired with the instant gratification that porn offers to form a bond. This bond is strengthened over time and begins to condition our brains to expect a similar response each time we feel sexually aroused. This also helps explain why we may develop certain cues or triggers, such as times of the day or specific locations, which cause us to seek out porn for that familiar rush of dopamine.
The great hope that science offers on this topic is that just as our brains can be conditioned for porn, they can be unconditioned. Reversing such strong conditioning often takes time and requires a multi-faceted approach, but it is possible and has been proven by science and by countless men who have made the journey already.
Join us for this episode to learn how conditioning works and how you can begin to reverse the damage porn has done to your brain.
https://reclaimedrecovery.com
Here's a supplemental article at Fight the New Drug that offers a quick rundown of Pavlovian conditioning and why porn can be so hard to quit: https://fightthenewdrug.org/why-porn-can-be-difficult-to-quit/
Here's an article from simplypsychology.org that provides an explanation of Pavlovian conditioning using more scientific terms: https://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html#:~:text=Pavlov%20showed%20that%20dogs%20could,an%20unconditioned%20(innate)%20response.
A scary article from Your Brain on Porn that shows how porn can lead men to develop dangerous and unnatural tastes for sex due to repeated conditioning over time: https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/relevant-research-and-articles-about-the-studies/sexual-conditioning/
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