A lot of people claim that nofap is just a placebo, meaning nofap doesn’t have any benefits. It’s just that people join the nofap community expecting a certain outcome and make it happen.
In this article, we’re gonna discuss what is a placebo, why nofap is not a placebo, why do some people say nofap is a placebo and is nofap worth doing.
What is a placebo?
Before we discuss whether nofap is a placebo or not, we need to discuss what is a placebo.
A placebo is anything that seems to be a “real” medical treatment — but isn’t. It could be a pill, a shot, or some other type of “fake” treatment. What all placebos have in common is that they do not contain an active substance meant to affect health.
Sometimes a person can have a response to a placebo. The response can be positive or negative. For instance, the person’s symptoms may improve. Or the person may have what appears to be side effects from the treatment. These responses are known as the “placebo effect.”
Placebos are common in medical practices. Doctors and researchers use it to test the effectiveness of a drug. They make 2 study groups and provide one with a real drug/pill/shot, while the other with a fake one. People who were provided with the fake drug/pill/shot may show real changes like the people who were given real treatment. That’s because those people were expecting results so their bodies made it happen.
The placebo effect works because of the relationship between mind and body. One of the most common theories is that the placebo effect is due to a person’s expectations. If a person expects a pill to do something, then it’s possible that the body’s own chemistry can cause effects similar to what a medication might have caused.
To know more about the placebo effect, check out THIS ARTICLE by WebMD.
So, some people say that nofap has no real benefits. People start nofap expecting certain benefits so their bodies make it happen.
Is NoFap a Placebo?
Now the question is, is nofap really a placebo. The answer to that question is No, nofap is not a placebo.
NoFap is not a placebo because the majority of the people who do nofap have experienced the harmful side-effects of excessive porn and masturbation before knowing about nofap. They were already experiencing low motivation, depression, anxiety, and all the other side-effects that porn and masturbation cause, and then they find out they are not alone in this.
Millions of people all across the globe have said that excessive PMO(porn, masturbation, orgasm) made their life miserable. Low libido, Porn-induced erectile dysfunction(PIED), depression, anxiety, low motivation are just some of the harmful side-effects of excessive PMO. If excessive PMO can cause all these, then giving up PMO can also cure these.
To say that nofap is a placebo means saying that porn and masturbation have no side effects and all these side-effects are just in people’s heads.
The online nofap forum on Reddit, r/nofap has 791k members as of writing this article and is growing every day. The majority of them have experienced the harmful side-effects of porn and masturbation before knowing about nofap. It’s only because they were experiencing the side effects, they searched about it and came to know about nofap.
The nofap forum on Reddit is just one such forum. There are many such forums on the internet. Millions of people all over the world have decided to quit porn and masturbation because they were feeling that porn and masturbation were making their life miserable. To say that nofap is a placebo is to say that all the harmful side effects that those millions of people were experiencing were just in their heads.
Some people do say that porn and masturbation have no side effects. They cite “lack of scientific evidence” to justify their argument. But, high-speed internet pornography is not an old phenomenon, it’s a relatively new thing. That’s why there is not much scientific evidence about its harmful side effects.
People have been masturbating for ages but without porn. Masturbating just with your imagination is not that harmful. You can’t masturbate too much just with your imagination, and the chances of you getting addicted to masturbation are low.
But, with an artificial stimulus like porn, you can masturbate as much as you like. So, it’s very easy to get addicted to porn and masturbation.
Masturbation With Porn vs. Masturbation Without Porn
You can’t say that masturbation without porn vs. masturbating with porn is the same thing. There’s a huge difference between the two. To say that masturbation has no side effects can be true if it means masturbating with just your imagination without porn. You can only masturbate limited no. of times with your imagination, so it’s hard to get addicted to it. Masturbation still has harmful side effects, but you’re not doing it enough times to experience those side effects.
It’s just like any other addiction, consider drinking for example. A lot of people occasionally drink and don’t get addicted to it, but this doesn’t mean that drinking has no side effects. It still has side effects, but people who drink occasionally never experience them because they are in control and not doing it excessively. It’s only when they start doing it excessively and get addicted to it, they start experiencing the harmful side effects.
But masturbating with porn is a whole different thing. You can be aroused for as long as you want and masturbate as much as you want. With just a click, you can access a new video, a new stimulus that you can jerk off to.
If you masturbate with imagination, your dopamine levels will go up and come down, but if you masturbate with porn, you can keep your dopamine levels high as long as you want. With every click you can access a new video, meaning sexual novelty which will keep your dopamine levels high. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that gives you the sensation of pleasure. It’s a feel-good chemical. Having sex or watching porn releases a huge amount of dopamine, that’s why those activities feel so pleasurable.
That high level of dopamine will become your new normal, and every other activity will feel boring/monotonous. You’ll need to keep watching porn just so you can get your dose of dopamine and feel “normal”.
Why Do People Say NoFap is a Placebo?
If porn and masturbation have harmful side effects and are addictive and giving up porn and masturbation can reverse the damage, then why do some people say that nofap is a placebo.
Well, there are 4 types of people who say nofap is a placebo. We’re gonna discuss who are those 4 types of people and why do they say that.
1. People Who Never Had a Compulsion to Watch Porn or Masturbate
These types of people never got addicted to porn and masturbation. Either they don’t indulge in PMO at all or indulge very rarely. So they never experience the harmful side effects of PMO.
Since they’ve never experienced the damage that is caused by excessive PMO, there’s no point in believing that giving up PMO can reverse those damages.
You’ll mainly find women in this group. Although women can and do get addicted to porn and masturbation, men are more susceptible to getting addicted to porn and masturbation.
Men have this natural/biological tendency to have sex and spread their seed as much as possible, so they are more attracted towards sex and are at a higher risk of getting hooked on porn and masturbation.
Women, on the other hand, don’t have this natural/biological tendency to have sex as much as possible. So, porn never lures them and they rarely get addicted to it. So they think nofap is a placebo.
Not just women, for anyone who has never experienced the side effects of excessive PMO, it’s easy to believe that nofap is a placebo. If you don’t believe that porn and masturbation can affect you negatively, there’s no point in believing that giving up porn and masturbation can improve your life.
If you rarely watch porn or masturbate, maybe once a week or once in 2 weeks, you probably won’t get addicted to it and won’t develop a compulsion. It’s like a person who rarely drinks saying that giving up alcohol has no benefits, and the benefits you experience after giving up alcohol is a placebo effect.
2. People Who Have Never Done NoFap
The second type of people who say nofap is a placebo are those who have never done nofap for themselves.
They watch porn or masturbate regularly and are experiencing the side effects, but they don’t know that those side effects are due to excessive PMO.
They experience low libido, porn-induced erectile dysfunction, low motivation, depression, and anxiety, but could never relate these symptoms with their heavy use of porn and masturbation.
If you’re experiencing the above-mentioned symptoms, I recommend giving up porn and masturbation completely for a month and notice the difference. If you feel improvement, then that means those symptoms were due to excessive PMO, and if you don’t, then that means they were not due to PMO. The only way to be sure is to do it for yourself.
3. People Who Are too Addicted to PMO to Even Think About Doing NoFap
The third type of people who say nofap is a placebo are those who are too addicted to porn and masturbation to even think about doing nofap. Their whole life revolves around porn and masturbation.
These types of people usually watch porn and jerk off daily for hours. It’s like a ritual for them. It’s the first thing that comes to their mind when they wake up and they often put themselves to sleep by jerking off. They are heavily addicted to PMO. But, they can’t think about giving it up because are too dependent on it. They’ll start feeling headaches if they don’t watch porn or jerk off for a day.
Whenever they feel stress, anger, disappointment, etc., they turn to porn and masturbation to relieve themselves of those negative emotions. They are connected to porn and masturbation at an emotional level.
Deep down they know that it is ruining their life, but they don’t think they are capable of giving it up. They cannot imagine their life without porn and masturbation.
So, the next best thing they can do is try to convince themselves that porn and masturbation have no side effects and that everyone is doing it. They try to comfort themselves by saying that everyone watches porn and jerks off and it is completely natural and even healthy to do so.
4. People Who Did NoFap and Gave up After Sometime
The last group of people who say that nofap is a placebo are those who did nofap and did not experience any benefits and gave up.
But they did nofap for the benefits, meaning they wanted benefits as quickly as possible. That’s why they gave up nofap too soon.
For example, getting a girlfriend is a benefit that many noffapers(people who do nofap) report. So some guys start doing nofap just so they can get a girlfriend, and when they do not get a gf, they give up nofap and start saying that nofap is a placebo.
The truth is nofap doesn’t get you a gf. It reduces your social anxiety, makes you social, gives you the courage to approach women, and gives you the confidence to talk with assertiveness. These are all the things that attract a woman and so it’s easier for guys on nofap to get a gf.
Just doing nofap and hoping that it’ll give you a gf is not smart. NoFap doesn’t directly give you a gf, but it can help indirectly. So, people who do nofap just for the benefits often get disappointed and quit. NoFap is not a magic pill that’ll solve all your life’s problems. It can eliminate the damages caused by porn and masturbation.
Porn and masturbation make you socially anxious and giving up porn and masturbation(doing nofap) can eliminate it. Now it’s up to you to develop your social skills by talking to more people. You’ll feel more confident talking to people on nofap.
Is NoFap Worth Doing?
If you have got a compulsion to watch porn or masturbate and are experiencing the harmful side effects, you should definitely do nofap.
But, you shouldn’t do nofap with the mindset that you’re giving something precious to do nofap. You’re not giving up anything. Porn and masturbation are not something that you should miss after giving up. Don’t treat nofap as a challenge, rather treat it as a lifestyle.
This mindset will help you in making nofap your lifestyle:- You’re not someone who hasn’t watched porn or masturbated for ‘X’ no. for days, you’re just someone who doesn’t watch porn or masturbate. Make NoFap your identity.
