I’m a 30-yr-old male and I’ve watched porn for most of my life. I’ve had trouble in the past with performance anxiety. It’s presented itself with the same pattern in the last few relationships I’ve had. I start dating someone, and subsequently stop watching porn. For a month or two the sex is great. Then all of a sudden I start to lose arousal, which sends me into a panic and so starts the anxiety stress loop. Want to have sex, get anxious, lose arousal, feel guilt, repeat.
I recently got into a relationship and its been about a month and a half and the symptoms are starting to present themselves again. I really like this person and I’m extremely attracted to them, but I find myself losing arousal all of a sudden during sex. Or I’ll get anxious beforehand in anticipation of losing arousal. How can I recover from this? Is the damage ive done to my brain permanent? If not, how do I try to take steps toward a healthy sex life with my partner?