Recovery rarely follows one formula. These stories show people finding freedom through faith, therapy, community, accountability, self-understanding, and persistence.
South Asia
Disclosure, professional help, fellowship, and rebuilding life
India
Anonymous
An Indian woman describes pornography moving from curiosity into behavior she could no longer control, accompanied by isolation and academic decline. Eventually she disclosed what was happening to someone she trusted.
Instead of condemning her, he helped her reach a therapist. She describes six months of weekly therapy as highly successful and says she became free of the addictive behavior, while continuing less-frequent follow-up sessions. Her conclusion is simple: recognizing that she needed help—and actually seeking it—changed the trajectory.
Ahmedabad, India
Uday
Uday (a pseudonym) contacted a newspaper because he wanted his experience to help other people seek help. He describes pornography progressing from an accidental encounter while he was preparing for an MBA into daily use that increasingly interfered with studying, friendships, and ordinary life. At its worst, he says pornography and related behavior could consume four, six, or even eight hours at a time.
Recognizing that he had lost control, Uday sought help from different sources, including psychiatric and spiritual help. Eventually an internet search led him to Sex Addicts Anonymous and its 12-step approach. His account is valuable because it does not present recovery as an effortless transformation: it shows someone recognizing the seriousness of the problem, searching for help, and finding a recovery community rather than continuing to fight alone.
Bangladesh
Anonymous
শোক · বিরত থাকা · শিক্ষা · জীবন পুনর্গঠন
A 30-year-old Bangladeshi man wrote publicly that gaming and pornography consumed roughly four to five years of his life. After his mother’s death, he began reassessing where his life was going.
বাংলা: বাংলাদেশের ৩০ বছর বয়সী এক ব্যক্তি প্রকাশ্যে লিখেছেন যে গেমিং ও পর্নোগ্রাফি তাঁর জীবনের প্রায় চার থেকে পাঁচ বছর গ্রাস করেছিল। মায়ের মৃত্যুর পর তিনি নতুন করে ভাবতে শুরু করেন তাঁর জীবন কোন দিকে এগোচ্ছে।
He says he quit both behaviors and began rebuilding—studying digital marketing in Dhaka while relearning design, animation, and video-editing skills he had allowed to stagnate. This isn’t a polished “everything is fixed” testimony. It is a story of someone actively rebuilding his life after deciding the old direction had to end.
বাংলা: তিনি জানান, তিনি উভয় অভ্যাসই ছেড়ে দেন এবং নতুন করে জীবন গড়তে শুরু করেন—ঢাকায় ডিজিটাল মার্কেটিং অধ্যয়নের পাশাপাশি ডিজাইন, অ্যানিমেশন ও ভিডিও এডিটিংয়ের সেই দক্ষতাগুলো আবার শিখতে শুরু করেন, যেগুলো দীর্ঘদিন অবহেলায় পড়ে ছিল। এটি এমন কোনো “সবকিছু ঠিক হয়ে গেছে” বলা চকচকে পরিপাটি গল্প নয়। বরং এটি এমন একজন মানুষের গল্প, যিনি পুরোনো পথটি শেষ হওয়া দরকার বলে সিদ্ধান্ত নেওয়ার পর সক্রিয়ভাবে নিজের জীবন পুনর্গঠন করছেন।
East Asia
Daily practice, persistence, and sharing hope
Japan / 日本
T
ジャーナリング・瞑想・アファメーション・コーチング・行動変容
T reported watching pornography almost every day and repeatedly doing so despite not wanting to. During a structured recovery process, he incorporated journaling, meditation, and affirmations into everyday life.
日本語: Tさんは、ほぼ毎日のようにポルノを見ており、見たくないと思っていても繰り返し見てしまう状態だったと語っています。体系的な回復プロセスの中で、ジャーナリング、瞑想、アファメーションを日常生活に取り入れていきました。
At the end of the program, T described the pornography problem as overcome to a level where it no longer controlled him. He also reported improvement in his relationship and ability to concentrate on his work.
日本語: プログラム終了時、Tさんはポルノの問題について、自分を支配することがなくなるレベルまで克服できたと振り返っています。また、人間関係が改善し、仕事への集中力も高まったと報告しています。
Chinese language / 中文康复经历
Chen Leizhi / 陈磊之
戒除 · 自我反思 · 坚持 · 帮助他人
Chen Leizhi describes a recovery journey extending over more than two years. Rather than presenting change as a single dramatic event, he writes about the sustained process of leaving pornography behind, examining his own behavior, and continuing to work on himself over time.
中文：陈磊之讲述了自己持续两年多的戒除与康复经历。他并没有把改变描述成某个突然发生的戏剧性事件，而是把它看作一个持续的过程：远离色情内容、反思自己的行为，并随着时间不断努力改变自己。
As his recovery progressed, Chen began sharing what he had learned with other people in an online recovery community. Helping others became part of the story itself: his experience was no longer only about his own freedom, but also about offering encouragement to people attempting the same change.
中文：随着康复过程不断深入，陈磊之开始在网络戒除社群中与其他人分享自己的经验。帮助别人也逐渐成为他经历的一部分：这段经历不再只是关于他个人获得自由，也成为鼓励其他正在努力改变的人继续坚持下去的一种方式。
Eastern Europe
Reclaiming relationships, motivation, and hope
Poland
Andrzej
Abstynencja · miłość i relacje · zmiana zachowania · odbudowa życia
He describes pornography beginning with material found at home while he was still in school and eventually developing into hours-long sessions. He says it affected his mood, sexuality, and ability to connect with another person.
Opisuje, że jego kontakt z pornografią rozpoczął się jeszcze w czasach szkolnych, od materiałów znalezionych w domu, a z czasem przerodził się w wielogodzinne sesje. Mówi, że wpłynęło to na jego nastrój, seksualność oraz zdolność do nawiązania bliskiej relacji z drugą osobą.
His turning point came when he recognized what pornography was taking from his life and relationships. He stopped using it, and after approximately six months reported significant changes in his responses to real people and a sense that he was recovering what the addiction had taken from him.
Jego historia pokazuje wieloletnie uzależnienie od pornografii, które z czasem zaczęło wpływać na emocje, relacje i seksualność. Motywacją do zmiany stała się nadzieja na odbudowanie tego, co uzależnienie mu odebrało.
Poland
Marcin
NoFap · edukacja · abstynencja · wytrwałość
Marcin describes gradually recognizing that pornography had affected his motivation, relationships, and sexual functioning. Reading other people’s recovery experiences helped convince him that change was possible.
Marcin opisuje, jak stopniowo uświadamiał sobie, że pornografia wpłynęła na jego motywację, relacje z innymi oraz funkcjonowanie seksualne. Czytanie historii innych osób, które wyszły z uzależnienia, pomogło mu uwierzyć, że zmiana jest możliwa.
He began his own abstinence/recovery process and eventually created a Polish-language blog to document both the difficulty and the possibility of leaving pornography behind. His account is useful precisely because he does not portray recovery as effortless.
Marcin opisuje swoją drogę od uzależnienia do decyzji o całkowitym porzuceniu pornografii. Wiedza, doświadczenia innych ludzi i wytrwałość pomogły mu uwierzyć, że zmiana jest możliwa.
Western Europe
Honesty, professional help, faith, and rebuilding connection
United Kingdom
Carys
Carys was studying theology and youth work at Bible college when pornography became a serious problem in her life.
That made the secrecy particularly painful. She understood the Christian teachings surrounding sexuality, yet knowing what she believed didn’t automatically make the compulsive behavior disappear.
Carys describes underlying issues contributing to the addiction and identifies accountability as one of the most transformative elements of her recovery. Bringing another person into something she had carried privately began weakening the shame and isolation surrounding it.
When she published her testimony, Carys described herself carefully as having been in recovery for about four years. We preserve that distinction: this is not a claim that temptation magically vanished. It is the story of a woman continuing to live differently through faith, honesty, and accountability.
United Kingdom
Guvna B
British-Ghanaian musician Guvna B—Isaac Borquaye—spent years keeping his pornography struggle secret. He describes shame, emotional repression, and difficulty discussing vulnerability within the religious and cultural environment in which he grew up.
Eventually pornography contributed to the breakdown of his marriage and he entered rehabilitation.
His recovery story reaches beyond simply stopping pornography. Guvna B talks about learning to address trauma, secrecy, and emotions he had previously struggled to express. He now speaks publicly about addiction and vulnerability and mentors young men, including in schools and prisons.
For someone whose public identity had been built partly around strength and faith, admitting weakness became part of healing.
France
Bertrand
Thérapie · honnêteté · compréhension du traumatisme · reconstruction de l’intimité
Bertrand lives in southern France and is married with three children. He traces his pornography use back to adolescence, during an emotionally vulnerable period following an attempted sexual assault by a scout leader. Pornography, masturbation, and online sexual chats subsequently became increasingly difficult for him to control.
Bertrand vit dans le sud de la France et est marié, père de trois enfants. Il fait remonter sa consommation de pornographie à son adolescence, pendant une période de vulnérabilité émotionnelle après une tentative d’agression sexuelle par un chef scout. La pornographie, la masturbation et les discussions sexuelles en ligne sont ensuite devenues de plus en plus difficiles à contrôler.
Periods of abstinence and repeated resolutions weren’t enough. His story eventually became one of understanding what had happened to him, confronting behavior that had followed him into adulthood, and bringing what had remained secret into the open.
Les périodes d’abstinence et les résolutions répétées n’ont pas suffi. Son parcours l’a finalement amené à comprendre ce qui lui était arrivé, à affronter des comportements qui l’avaient suivi jusqu’à l’âge adulte et à mettre en lumière ce qui était longtemps resté secret.
Bertrand chose to tell his experience publicly because he wanted other people caught in the same cycle to know that change was possible.
Bertrand a choisi de raconter publiquement son expérience parce qu’il voulait que d’autres personnes prises dans le même cycle sachent qu’un changement était possible.
Netherlands
Pedro
Hulpverlening · christelijk geloof · hechting · emotionele genezing
Pedro was born in Colombia and adopted into a Dutch family when he was 20 months old. As a teenager he struggled with loneliness, identity, and questions about his roots. Pornography became something familiar and comforting—something he later recognized he was using almost like an anesthetic when life became difficult.
Pedro werd in Colombia geboren en kwam als geadopteerd kind op de leeftijd van twintig maanden naar Nederland. Als tiener worstelde hij met eenzaamheid, identiteit en vragen over zijn afkomst. Pornografie werd iets vertrouwds en troostends—iets waarvan hij later inzag dat hij het bijna als verdovingsmiddel gebruikte wanneer het leven moeilijk werd.
Pedro eventually became a Christian and initially believed conversion itself would eliminate his pornography addiction. He discarded his pornography collection and remained free for about five months—but then the addiction returned.
Pedro werd uiteindelijk christen en dacht aanvankelijk dat zijn bekering zijn pornoverslaving vanzelf zou oplossen. Hij deed zijn pornocollectie weg en bleef ongeveer vijf maanden vrij—maar daarna keerde de verslaving terug.
That experience changed his understanding of recovery. Through counseling, Pedro began examining his difficulty attaching to people and to God and recognizing the emotional security pornography had provided. His faith remained important, but faith did not eliminate his need to understand and work through the underlying issues.
Die ervaring veranderde zijn kijk op herstel. Door hulpverlening begon Pedro zijn moeite met hechting aan mensen en aan God te onderzoeken en te begrijpen welke emotionele veiligheid pornografie hem had geboden. Zijn geloof bleef belangrijk, maar geloof nam niet de noodzaak weg om de onderliggende problemen te begrijpen en eraan te werken.
Spain
Anonymous
Ayuda profesional · acompañamiento · responsabilidad · reconstrucción matrimonial
This Spanish man’s pornography exposure began when he was young and gradually intensified. By adulthood, pornography had become a hidden obsession involving increasingly frequent and prolonged consumption. Marriage didn’t make it disappear. Eventually the behavior affected his sleep, work, and intimacy with his wife.
La exposición de este hombre español a la pornografía comenzó cuando era joven y aumentó gradualmente. Al llegar a la edad adulta, la pornografía se había convertido en una obsesión oculta que implicaba un consumo cada vez más frecuente y prolongado. El matrimonio no hizo que desapareciera. Con el tiempo, el comportamiento afectó su sueño, su trabajo y la intimidad con su esposa.
He tried throwing away his collection and installing internet filters. It wasn’t enough. Repeated attempts to stop by himself ended in relapse.
Intentó tirar su colección e instalar filtros de Internet. No fue suficiente. Los repetidos intentos de dejarlo por sí solo terminaron en recaídas.
His eventual conclusion is strikingly compatible with what Night2Day is becoming: he says people enter pornography alone, but they don’t get out alone. He emphasizes acknowledging the problem and reaching out to specialists and other people capable of accompanying someone through recovery.
Su conclusión final encaja de manera sorprendente con lo que Night2Day está llegando a ser: dice que a la pornografía se entra solo, pero no se sale solo. Destaca la importancia de reconocer el problema y acudir a especialistas y a otras personas capaces de acompañar a alguien durante la recuperación.
South America
Recovery through healing, faith, insight, and sustained change
Brazil
Erasmo Viana
Terapia · fé cristã · atividade física · autoconhecimento
Erasmo Viana says pornography entered his life during adolescence and gradually became normalized. As an adult, pornography, masturbation, and sexual behavior became increasingly intertwined with his emotional life. He eventually recognized that he no longer felt independent of his impulses and that the pattern was inconsistent with the person he wanted to become.
Erasmo Viana conta que a pornografia entrou em sua vida durante a adolescência e, aos poucos, tornou-se algo normalizado. Na vida adulta, pornografia, masturbação e comportamento sexual ficaram cada vez mais ligados à sua vida emocional. Com o tempo, ele percebeu que já não se sentia independente dos próprios impulsos e que aquele padrão não combinava com a pessoa que desejava ser.
His recovery involved several elements. Erasmo sought professional therapy, examined the emotional dependence underlying his behavior, maintained the physical activity that was already important in his life, and deepened his Christian faith. He specifically credits studying the Bible and developing a relationship with God through Jesus Christ as important to his transformation.
Sua recuperação envolveu vários elementos. Erasmo procurou ajuda profissional, examinou a dependência emocional por trás de seu comportamento, manteve a atividade física que já era importante em sua vida e aprofundou sua fé cristã. Ele atribui importância especial ao estudo da Bíblia e ao desenvolvimento de sua relação com Deus por meio de Jesus Cristo.
Today he speaks publicly about a past that once caused him shame because he believes his experience may help other people find healing.
Hoje ele fala publicamente sobre um passado que antes lhe causava vergonha porque acredita que sua experiência pode ajudar outras pessoas a encontrar cura.
Brazil
Luana Petri
Conversão cristã · libertação espiritual · mudança de hábitos · ajuda ao próximo
Luana Petri says she consumed adult content for approximately 15 years before finding freedom from pornography. Her public testimony describes the progression from curiosity, to entertainment, to habit, and eventually to something she regarded as an addiction.
Luana Petri conta que consumiu conteúdo adulto durante aproximadamente 15 anos antes de encontrar libertação da pornografia. Em seu testemunho público, descreve a progressão da curiosidade para o passatempo, depois para o hábito e, finalmente, para aquilo que passou a considerar um vício.
Luana describes what happened through an explicitly Christian framework of conversion and deliverance. She does not present her story merely as learning to moderate pornography use. She describes being freed from something that had imprisoned her and connects that freedom directly with her relationship with God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Luana descreve o que aconteceu dentro de uma perspectiva explicitamente cristã de conversão e libertação. Ela não apresenta sua história simplesmente como aprender a moderar o consumo de pornografia. Ela descreve ter sido liberta de algo que a aprisionava e relaciona essa liberdade diretamente com sua relação com Deus e com a atuação do Espírito Santo.
She now tells her story publicly in Portuguese with the stated purpose of helping other people fighting pornography and masturbation—and reminding them that they are not alone.
Hoje ela conta publicamente sua história em português com o propósito declarado de ajudar outras pessoas que lutam contra a pornografia e a masturbação—e de lembrá-las de que não estão sozinhas.
Peru
Gonzalo Salinas
Asesoramiento · meditación · investigación personal · cambio a largo plazo
Peruvian writer Gonzalo Salinas says pornography became a compulsive refuge that affected his motivation, sexuality, and emotional well-being. One particularly painful period involved 93 days in which he says he was unable to achieve an erection. After a relationship ended, his despair became severe enough that he developed a plan to end his life.
El escritor peruano Gonzalo Salinas cuenta que la pornografía se convirtió en un refugio compulsivo que afectó su motivación, su sexualidad y su bienestar emocional. Uno de los períodos más dolorosos incluyó 93 días durante los cuales afirma que no pudo lograr una erección. Después de que terminó una relación, su desesperación llegó a ser tan grave que desarrolló un plan para quitarse la vida.
His path out wasn’t instantaneous. Gonzalo describes a process lasting years and involving considerable guidance, meditation, and even ayahuasca sessions. His experience eventually led him to investigate pornography and sexual health extensively and write Venciendo la adicción al porno: 7 pasos para tener una vida sexual sana.
Su salida no fue instantánea. Gonzalo describe un proceso de varios años que incluyó mucho asesoramiento, meditación e incluso sesiones de ayahuasca. Su experiencia finalmente lo llevó a investigar ampliamente la pornografía y la salud sexual y a escribir Venciendo la adicción al porno: 7 pasos para tener una vida sexual sana.
A struggle that once threatened his life ultimately became something he chose to write about so other people could learn from what he had experienced.
Una lucha que alguna vez amenazó su vida terminó convirtiéndose en algo sobre lo que decidió escribir para que otras personas pudieran aprender de su experiencia.
Colombia
Anonymous
Fe en Dios · sanación · comunidad de apoyo · límites ambientales
This Colombian man’s story began at approximately 12 years old and continued until 27. He describes pornography becoming increasingly compulsive, intertwined with the effects of sexual abuse and questions about his own identity.
La historia de este hombre colombiano comenzó aproximadamente a los 12 años y continuó hasta los 27. Describe cómo la pornografía se volvió cada vez más compulsiva, entrelazada con los efectos del abuso sexual y con dudas sobre su propia identidad.
He says a turning point came when he recognized that he needed help. His recovery involved faith in God, a healing process, courses, and surrounding himself with people who supported his change.
Cuenta que un punto decisivo llegó cuando reconoció que necesitaba ayuda. Su recuperación incluyó la fe en Dios, un proceso de sanación, cursos y rodearse de personas que apoyaron su cambio.
Today he describes himself as free, redeemed, and at peace—but he also protects that freedom deliberately. His household uses practical boundaries: limiting triggering media and social media, avoiding sexually explicit entertainment, and reducing circumstances that could pull him back toward old patterns. For him, freedom involves both dependence on God and continuing decisions that protect what he has gained.
Hoy se describe como un hombre libre, redimido y en paz, pero también protege esa libertad deliberadamente. En su hogar utilizan límites prácticos: restringen medios que puedan provocar recaídas y el uso de redes sociales, evitan entretenimiento sexualmente explícito y reducen las circunstancias que podrían llevarlo nuevamente a antiguos patrones. Para él, la libertad implica tanto depender de Dios como seguir tomando decisiones que protejan lo que ha ganado.
North America
Recovery through honesty, support, faith, and professional care
United States
Derek
Derek says he began watching internet pornography at 11. By 18, he describes the behavior as a full addiction that eventually damaged his marriage, his relationship with his wife, and his spiritual life.
He found Prodigals International and began attending meetings. A few months later he started working through a 12-step process with a mentor.
That relationship became particularly important. His mentor challenged patterns of blame and helped Derek speak more honestly about temptation and responsibility. Derek also began making meaningful amends to people he had hurt.
He says his relationships developed a closeness he once thought impossible and describes the continuing recovery community as something he expects to remain part of his life.
United States
Jennifer Green
Pornographic images were part of Jennifer’s world from childhood. Growing up in a chaotic Christian home where sexuality wasn’t openly discussed, she says pornography eventually became a source of comfort, companionship, and acceptance.
At 19, hearing another woman admit her own pornography struggle helped Jennifer realize she wasn’t alone. But freedom didn’t happen overnight. For years she cycled through abstinence, relapse, confession, and starting again.
Her recovery ultimately involved Christian faith, professional counseling, peer groups, accountability technology, and supportive relationships. Jennifer says counseling helped her address deeper issues including low self-worth, anxiety, hurt, and rejection. She reports that she has not engaged in pornography or similar behaviors for several years.
Canada
Fausto
Fausto struggled with pornography for more than 20 years.
His path changed after he encountered a Homecoming Recovery Group in Calgary, Alberta. He committed himself for a year to its Christ-centered 12-step program.
Then the periods of sobriety began accumulating: a month and a half, two months, nearly three, then five and six months. Fausto says even he was surprised by what was happening.
His wife saw the difference too. What had been his private struggle began becoming a family story of healing.
Fausto subsequently became involved with Prodigals en Español, helping bring the recovery program to Spanish-speaking men. Someone who once needed a recovery community became someone helping provide that community for others.
United States
Erica Garza
For roughly two decades, Erica Garza struggled with sex and pornography addiction. As a woman, she says the experience was particularly isolating because she rarely encountered stories from women who shared her struggle.
An important part of Erica’s healing became telling the truth about what she had kept hidden.
She began writing privately about her experiences and eventually started discussing them publicly. Erica describes discovering that honesty and vulnerability themselves could be healing. Her recovery wasn’t about declaring sexuality inherently bad; it involved examining addiction, shame, and her relationship with sexuality.
She eventually turned her experience into the memoir Getting Off: One Woman’s Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction.
Mexico
Héctor B.
Consejería psicológica · autoconocimiento · cambio de conducta
Héctor worked at a bank while his pornography use increasingly occupied his attention. Eventually, he says pornography was affecting intimacy with his partner: ordinary sexual experiences no longer produced the same response without pornography.
Héctor trabajaba en un banco mientras el consumo de pornografía ocupaba cada vez más su atención. Con el tiempo, cuenta que la pornografía comenzó a afectar la intimidad con su pareja: las experiencias sexuales normales ya no producían la misma respuesta sin pornografía.
He tried controlling the behavior himself, including imposing penalties on himself when he returned to excessive use. Eventually he acknowledged that he had a problem and met with a psychologist for several sessions.
Intentó controlar la conducta por sí mismo, incluso imponiéndose penalizaciones cuando volvía al consumo excesivo. Finalmente reconoció que tenía un problema y acudió a varias sesiones con una psicóloga.
Héctor says counseling helped him understand how excessive pornography use was affecting him. He set a goal, recognized that he had been living in a fantasy world, and became motivated by the damage the behavior was causing both financially and in his relationship. He reports that he succeeded in overcoming the problem.
Héctor cuenta que la consejería le ayudó a comprender cómo el consumo excesivo de pornografía le estaba afectando. Se fijó una meta, reconoció que había estado viviendo en un mundo de fantasía y encontró motivación al comprender el daño que la conducta estaba causando tanto económicamente como en su relación. Afirma que logró superar el problema.
United States
Steven & Rhyll Croshaw
Steven’s pornography and sexual addiction affected his marriage to Rhyll for decades. Repeated efforts to overcome the problem hadn’t produced lasting change, and the secrecy surrounding it deeply wounded their relationship.
Eventually they found specialized therapy and began approaching recovery differently.
Their experience became about two kinds of healing: Steven’s recovery from addiction and Rhyll’s recovery from betrayal trauma. Their marriage also needed healing.
Years later, Steven and Rhyll turned their experience outward. They founded S.A. Lifeline Foundation to help individuals and families dealing with pornography, unwanted sexual behaviors, and betrayal trauma. Its approach combines qualified therapy with spiritually centered 12-step support and community.
Their story reminds us that sometimes more than one person needs to be rescued from the consequences of addiction.
United States
Sidreis
Sidreis describes sexual and pornography addiction as one of the darkest and loneliest experiences of her life. Shame left her feeling isolated, without value, and without hope that anyone could understand what she was experiencing.
Eventually, she stopped facing the struggle alone.
Sidreis sought help from her bishop and describes finding hope through her faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. She identifies herself as a daughter of God who is recovering from sexual addiction.
Mexico
Miguel Ángel Melgarejo
Fe católica · conversión espiritual · reconstrucción de su vida
Miguel Ángel Melgarejo is from Mexico City and later lived in San Juan del Río, Querétaro. He describes growing up with a Catholic education but eventually becoming trapped in a cycle involving pornography and unhealthy sexual relationships.
Miguel Ángel Melgarejo es originario de la Ciudad de México y posteriormente vivió en San Juan del Río, Querétaro. Describe haber crecido con una educación católica, pero con el tiempo quedó atrapado en un ciclo que involucraba pornografía y relaciones sexuales poco saludables.
His story includes serious consequences and decisions he came deeply to regret. Rather than presenting recovery simply as gaining control over a habit, Miguel describes his transformation through the language of Catholic faith, God’s mercy, and spiritual restoration.
Su historia incluye graves consecuencias y decisiones que llegó a lamentar profundamente. En lugar de presentar la recuperación simplemente como el control de un hábito, Miguel describe su transformación mediante el lenguaje de la fe católica, la misericordia de Dios y la restauración espiritual.
He eventually began speaking publicly about what had happened to him. His story became something he used to help other people rather than something he continued hiding. In his own understanding of his recovery, God rescued him and gave him a path for rebuilding his life.
Con el tiempo comenzó a hablar públicamente sobre lo que le había sucedido. Su historia se convirtió en algo que utilizó para ayudar a otras personas, en lugar de algo que siguiera ocultando. Según su propia manera de entender su recuperación, Dios lo rescató y le mostró un camino para reconstruir su vida.
United States
Sam Louie
Sam grew up Chinese-American in Seattle, navigating the expectations of traditional Chinese family culture alongside American culture. He describes struggling with identity, acceptance, and emotions that weren’t openly discussed within his family.
Pornography became one way of coping.
Recovery eventually required Sam to examine more than the behavior itself. His personal experience with addiction and recovery helped lead him toward a new vocation: psychotherapy. Sam says he has been in recovery since 2001 and today specializes in areas including pornography and sexual addiction, cultural shame, and emotional wellness.
The person who once needed help eventually became one of the people providing it.
Central America
Healing wounds and leaving isolation behind
Guatemala
Franz Peitzner
Fe cristiana · sanación emocional · comunidad · libertad de la pornografía
Franz Peitzner is Guatemalan. He traces the beginning of his struggle to a childhood marked by loneliness and emotional wounds. His mother worked long hours, his father was physically present but emotionally absent, and Franz remembers periods when he felt rejected and alone. He encountered masturbation at 12 and pornography at 14.
Franz Peitzner es guatemalteco. Él sitúa el comienzo de su lucha en una infancia marcada por la soledad y heridas emocionales. Su madre trabajaba largas jornadas, su padre estaba físicamente presente pero emocionalmente ausente, y Franz recuerda períodos en los que se sintió rechazado y solo. Conoció la masturbación a los 12 años y la pornografía a los 14.
For Franz, pornography eventually became connected to something deeper than sexual desire. Looking back, he came to understand it partly as an attempt to soothe emotional pain and fill needs that had gone unmet earlier in his life. His attempts to change became a long process rather than a single dramatic moment.
Para Franz, la pornografía llegó a estar relacionada con algo más profundo que el deseo sexual. Al mirar hacia atrás, llegó a comprenderla en parte como un intento de calmar el dolor emocional y llenar necesidades que no habían sido satisfechas anteriormente en su vida. Sus intentos por cambiar se convirtieron en un proceso largo, no en un solo momento dramático.
Franz describes his eventual freedom explicitly through his Christian faith. He says God called him toward freedom from pornography and masturbation, while the recovery process also required confronting wounds, changing patterns, and no longer remaining isolated. He now tells his story publicly so that his past can be used to help other people.
Franz describe su eventual libertad explícitamente a través de su fe cristiana. Dice que Dios lo llamó hacia la libertad de la pornografía y la masturbación, mientras que el proceso de recuperación también requirió enfrentar heridas, cambiar patrones y dejar de vivir aislado. Ahora cuenta públicamente su historia para que su pasado pueda servir para ayudar a otras personas.
Africa
Voices of courage and purpose
South Africa
Tshepi
Tshepi speaks publicly about something still rarely discussed: a woman’s experience with pornography addiction. Her recovery story centers on breaking secrecy, faith, perseverance, and accepting support from other people.
Project Exodus describes her movement from shame toward hope and healing as she confronted the struggle instead of continuing to hide it.
Kenya
Fredrick Mboya
Fredrick describes pornography becoming an entrenched part of his life even while he was active in church. A public confession became part of his turning point.
His sister’s epilepsy also changed the direction of his life. Caring about her struggle drew his attention outward and eventually contributed to his becoming an epilepsy activist. His story connects recovery not only with stopping a behavior, but with rediscovering responsibility and purpose.
Nigeria
Banky W
Nigerian musician, actor, and pastor Banky W has publicly revisited his earlier struggle with pornography. He traces its beginning to his freshman university years, when explicit material became readily available through another student’s shared computer files.
He describes discovering, when he tried to stop, that the behavior had a much stronger hold than he had realized. He says freedom required a deliberate journey, and he now speaks openly about the struggle—including from the pulpit—to reduce the secrecy surrounding it. His wife also played an important supportive role during his recovery.
Southeast Asia
Grace, disclosure, community, and helping others
Singapore
Josiah
Josiah says pornography and masturbation began when he was nine. For years he believed he might simply have to manage the problem forever.
He describes a spiritual turning point in which his understanding of God’s grace changed from an abstract religious idea into something personal. Rather than crediting willpower, Josiah credits his relationship with Jesus and an experience of grace for the transformation. At publication, he reported nearly three years free from the addiction.
Singapore
Teh Hsin
Teh Hsin has spoken publicly about a pornography problem that lasted decades and contributed to the loss of his marriage. What makes his story particularly useful for Night2Day is what happened afterward: he stopped hiding it.
He has publicly revisited the experience and talks about how life changed after disclosing his past. Today his story exists alongside another important part of his life—being a husband and foster parent—and he continues talking about his past so other people know they are not alone.
Philippines
M. Garcia
M. Garcia says pornography entered life at age eleven against a background of rejection and feelings of inferiority. Alcohol later intensified the pattern, and pornography and prostitution continued even after becoming a Christian.
Recovery developed through weekly small-group participation, confession, and healing prayer. Garcia describes receiving freedom from habitual sexual behavior along with hope for continued growth rather than portraying recovery as the disappearance of every future struggle.
Australia, Oceania & Pacific
Freedom grows in community
Fiji
Vasitia Bolabiu
Vasitia says she first encountered pornography at 14. What began with curiosity eventually left her feeling depressed, ashamed, and profoundly alone.
By 2020 she says she was exhausted by the cycle and recognized a need for God to move in her life. When she publicly told her story in Fiji, she reported being free from pornography for more than a year and, for the first time, feeling good about herself.
Australia
Dane
Dane used pornography as stress relief and escape until it increasingly took over his life and contributed to the collapse of his relationship.
After reaching what he calls rock bottom, he stopped pornography and internet-device use and eventually discovered 12-step groups specifically addressing sexual behavior. He describes the ability to speak openly with other people without being condemned as one of the most important elements of his recovery.
Australia
Josh Gazzard
Josh says pornography entered his life at only eight years old and became a hidden escape from hurt and fear. By thirteen, the secrecy and shame had become overwhelming.
One of the crucial moments came when he finally told his mother. His story emphasizes the damage secrecy can cause and the importance of allowing another human being into the struggle. He now publicly writes and speaks about what he learned through recovery.
Australia
Tyran Mowbray
Tyran describes beginning his recovery journey by giving up pornography and later confronting other substance use. His broader recovery became an examination of intimacy, masculinity, shame, and how he related to himself and other people.
By the time of this interview, he described his pornography recovery journey as having begun nine years earlier and was using what he learned to work with other men around shame and healthier expressions of masculinity.
Middle East & Muslim voices
Persistence, faith, and fellowship
Türkiye
Murat
Murat says pornography entered his life around age 12 and was followed by years of guilt and isolation. In 2022 he discovered Neverfap Akademi and began trying to stop. His first attempt lasted 15 days; subsequent attempts included repeated setbacks.
Murat, pornografinin hayatına yaklaşık 12 yaşında girdiğini ve bunu yıllarca süren suçluluk duygusu ve yalnızlığın izlediğini anlatıyor. 2022 yılında Neverfap Akademi’yi keşfetti ve bırakmaya çalışmaya başladı. İlk denemesi 15 gün sürdü; sonraki denemelerinde ise birçok kez yeniden başladı ve aksilikler yaşadı.
Rather than presenting a miraculous overnight cure, Murat describes learning to recognize his own needs, confront problems he had been avoiding, write about his internal state, and continue after relapses. His 2026 account describes an eight-month Neverfap period while incarcerated at Silivri Prison.
Murat, bir gecede gerçekleşen mucizevi bir iyileşmeden söz etmek yerine, kendi ihtiyaçlarını fark etmeyi, kaçındığı sorunlarla yüzleşmeyi, iç dünyası hakkında yazmayı ve nüksetmelerden sonra yoluna devam etmeyi öğrendiğini anlatıyor. 2026 tarihli anlatısında, Silivri Cezaevi’nde bulunduğu dönemde sekiz ay boyunca Neverfap sürecini sürdürdüğünü belirtiyor.
Jerusalem, Israel
Anonymous
יהדות · תוכנית 12 הצעדים · אחווה ותמיכה · תפילה · צמיחה רוחנית
After struggling in school and using fantasy as an escape from emotional pain, he says curiosity eventually led him to pornography. What began as a coping mechanism gradually developed into an addiction that he kept secret. He later went to Israel to study in a yeshiva, married, and settled with his wife in Jerusalem—but the addiction continued and became increasingly difficult to hide.
עברית: לאחר שהתמודד עם קשיים בבית הספר והשתמש בעולם הדמיון כבריחה מכאב רגשי, הוא מספר שהסקרנות הובילה אותו בסופו של דבר לפורנוגרפיה. מה שהחל כאמצעי להתמודדות התפתח בהדרגה להתמכרות שאותה הסתיר. בהמשך נסע לישראל ללמוד בישיבה, התחתן והתיישב עם אשתו בירושלים — אך ההתמכרות נמשכה והפכה לקשה יותר להסתיר.
After his secret was exposed, filters, accountability, and willpower alone did not produce lasting change. A rabbi eventually encouraged him to contact Sexaholics Anonymous. Through SA meetings, a sponsor, the 12 steps, therapy, prayer, and a growing relationship with God, he describes finding substantial periods of sobriety and rebuilding honesty and intimacy in his marriage. Rather than describing recovery as perfection, he presents it as continuing spiritual progress, honesty, and living one day at a time.
עברית: לאחר שהסוד שלו נחשף, סינון אינטרנט, שותפים לאחריות וכוח רצון בלבד לא הביאו לשינוי מתמשך. בסופו של דבר עודד אותו רב לפנות ל-Sexaholics Anonymous. באמצעות מפגשי SA, עבודה עם ספונסר, תוכנית 12 הצעדים, טיפול, תפילה והעמקת הקשר שלו עם אלוהים, הוא מתאר תקופות משמעותיות של פיכחון ושיקום הכנות והקרבה בנישואיו. במקום לתאר את ההחלמה כשלמות, הוא מציג אותה כתהליך מתמשך של צמיחה רוחנית, כנות וחיים יום אחד בכל פעם.
Muslim recovery voice
Ahmed J.
After years of trying alone, Ahmed found meaningful sobriety through Sexaholics Anonymous, with Islam and 12-step recovery working together.