I couldn’t find a way to lock or delete this thread, but basically I wasnt happy with the first answer I received and didn’t do enough reflecting before accepting the first answer, so I sought an actual counselor who had experience with this, which I should have done to begin. Long story short, he didn’t view it as a relapse, which was how it really felt to me.
So, I’d appreciate no more responses to this thread and if a moderator happens across this, please lock it down.
This is not an addiction that I have experience with, but as is the case with other addictions - my opinion would be if you willingly engage with your substance/behavior of choice, it’s a relapse and a timer reset. Very straightforward. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t get any arousal etc from your actions. That’s just looking for a loophole.
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Edit after your update: why ask the question if you’ve apparently already decided your answer to the point where you don’t want to hear anything to the contrary?
There were times before I quit for good, where I drank without getting drunk and did not enjoy it. Despite not getting the desired result, they were still relapses no matter how you slice it.
It’s not fun to say or hear, but you did relapse. I’m not saying this to be confrontational or mean. I’m saying it because you’re only harming yourself by bullshitting.
I am an alcoholic. So see it in the light of this: I drink a beer but I didn’t like the taste of it and I do not feel intoxicated. Is it a relapse? I would say it is.
Your inner circle behaviours are for you to define, however I would guess that if your addiction is to AI generated porn, then using an AI chatbot to generate porn and looking at it would be in your inner circle, so that would count as a relapse.
The fact that you mention feeling disgusted and removed grok afterwards kinda tells you your answer. That is a classic thing I used to do when I was in active addiction - finish, feel awful, close all the tabs, delete all the apps - repeat the cycle…
I agree with @TMAC , it sounds like you’re trying to justify your addictive behaviours through a bit of a loophole.