Habit of Mortal Sin

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I’ve been struggling spiritually lately. For the past few months to a year, I’ve become addicted to masturbating to pornography and other disgusting lustful images. Each time I go to confession, I tell my priest these sins, then I find myself committing them again days later. Every method I try to use to break the addiction ultimately fails, and I’m just not sure what to do because I know I’ve deliberately committed the sin when I knew it was wrong. I was wondering if there are any good methods, prayers, or habits I can stick to that will help me break my addiction, and I want to know…is this is a very common struggle for Christians? Have I doomed myself to hell because of these actions? I want to be closer to God but I just can’t find my way around these temptations. I trust in God’s power to heal and forgive me.
 
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Bad habits (vices) are changed by establishing good habits. Good habits are known as virtues. Virtue is the habituation of the good. Virtue takes long and patient practice to become habituated. This struggle is sometimes ex-cruciating. Addiction to lust blunts a person’s agency, or ability to act rightly according to God’s will. as does any addiction. Agency is the true freedom to act decisively.

Prayer and devotion are a necessary part of any life in any circumstance, but they are not magic bullets to establish virtue. And there is no way around this fact:
Holiness is a life long struggle.
When you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for a trial
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Begin making good decisions, one moment at a time, one day at a time. If you must turn off the computer, do it. If you over eat, or lose your temper (lust never acts alone) take charge of those small moments and begin to make good decisions one at a time.

You will find that as you exercise your ability to make decisions, your virtue will increase. And when you fall, get back up and do not wallow in guilt. Get up, go to confession, and look your life in the face again.
Be patient, lust is not overcome in a day or even years.
 
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Install porn blocker on all your devices and have a trusted friend choose the password.
 
How do you spend your days too?. Are you involved in any social activities or are you mostly alone/indoors etc?.
I think the Bible talks of Christ mostly withdrawing Himself mostly from the crowd to pray. Apart from this, He is mainly ENGAGED with others preaching, healing etc.
I think when one begins see the needs and pain of others and when we get more involved elsewhere (e.g volunteering) and find less time for ourselves I.e time for this kinds of sins.
 
A lot is involved with this addiction. i’m very sure you are fighting
a demon & it’s dominating you now.
If you resist solely on own unaided effort, failure is certain.
You will have to overcome it to be freed, time won’t really diminish it
You MUST fight it the right way
This may seem strange, but I must say from experience
that frequent OVER-EATING will make you HORNY
Natural food doesn’t give grace, prayer & fasting do !
 
Porn is a very difficult habit to kick because as others have mentioned it is not uncommon for demonic influences to come into play when you are beginning to make progress. A favorite ploy is briefly playing back certain memories your brain has stored, and making you think they’re your idea. . . Often it’s just a flash of a movie scene, or a graphic image. It eats away at your resistance and can cause an immediate relapse. Abstinence will bolster your resistance after you get past the initial and protracted withdrawal stages. It takes perseverance, though.

Pray to the Blessed Virgin Mother. Enroll in the confraternity of the Brown Scapular and wear it. Pray the Rosary.

If your parish offers a free formed.org account there are a couple of books you can download which might be helpful.

Lost on Planet XXX by Jay Lampart
The Porn Myth by Matt Fradd

I wish you all the best in your struggle. I know it is tough, but it is by no means impossible.
 
Throw away immediatly all pornography and block all pornography on TV’s and computers. Throw the TV and Computers away if you are still being tempted and having a problem. Once a temptation comes, go do something you enjoy that is licit such as taking a walk, playing sports, a hobby.
 
I’m going through the same thing as you are now. Frequent prayer will help. I used to not pray before going to bed and that’s probably what made my addiction worse. Pray to Our Lady, she will guide you and support you. When you feel a temptation coming on,try to distract yourself with something good, like a book or a hobby. If it continues to persist you may need help. There are also several apps on the Google Play store that could help you. Don’t give up!
 
You’re in the trenches, brother. I always felt like this was a battle of attrition. First and foremost you absolutely have to get away from pornography, somehow. Stop putting that into your brain and the craving will fade. That’s step No. 1.

And no you have not doomed yourself to hell; not yet. Hell is not even a possibility as long as you are resisting sin, so don’t worry about that and put it out of your mind; trust the mercy of God or you will be weakened by scrupulosity — a real psychological risk for devout Catholics and a tool of the Enemy.
 
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As somebody with similar issues, I recommend that you analyze yourself fully… study your behaviour carefully and look for triggers that lead you into sin. I’d also strongly recommend regular prayer… even if not formal prayer. Prayer is raising your mind to God, and this can be in any number of ways… do it throughout the day. Even consecrate yourself to God. Allow him to work within you. It’s really difficult to relinquish control, but it does actually work wonders for you. You’ll find true peace and joy. At least, that’s how it has been for me.
 
Thank You all for your support! You don’t know how much it means to me after all this anxiety and grief it’s caused me. I do notice when I’m playing sports or spending time outdoors, my mind dwells on better things. Thank you for the prayer suggestions and methods of fighting this! I will continue to fight this with all my strength knowing that I’m not alone! God Bless!
 
Thank you for the link! I’ve read in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus being tempted by the devil to the point of physical harm being done to Him, but He still never gave in! I usually turn to this as a method of cooling down the temptations that seem to “rush through my veins.” Thank you for your help! I should be turning to courage and strength more often as you have recommended!
 
It helps to know I’m not alone in this fight, I completely understand you when you say how much joy I will feel when I overcome this sin. Before I had fell into the bad habit, I was such a happy kid, and then it was as if I dug a deep hole that’s impossible to climb out of! Thank you for your advice, I’m praying for the similar struggles that have caused you grief, God Bless!
 
I’m going to turn on screen time in settings which will make my browsing history viewable to my family, so that should little by little eliminate my addiction! Thank you for the advice!
 
Thank you! I never really thought of it that way but I now o see how it’s invaded my brain and left it’s mark. It’s hard to persevere through it! I’m going with your recommendation of praying the Rosary and devoting my time to Mary, the Blessed Mother of the Eucharist. Thank you for your help in this time of hard struggles, it means so much!!!
 
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