Anti-masturbation groups are a thing and joining them may be bad for your mental health, study says

A new study has shown that guys who participate in online anti-masturbation groups are more likely to feel depressed and suicidal.

Such “NoFap” groups invite men to become “fapstronauts” by abstaining from whacking off for a set period of time (like “No Nut November”). Fapstronauts believe that abstaining can help “reboot” a person’s sexual energy and end addiction to sexually explicit images while improving a person’s relationships, desirability, sexual performance, concentration, confidence, and low energy levels.

However, new research published in the journal Sexualities found that involvement in NoFap groups can actually increase a guy’s negative self-feelings.

“Qualitative studies have consistently suggested that ‘Reboots’ paradoxically cause more distress,” researchers wrote. So researchers wanted to see if a quantitative study could help illustrate this distress in numbers.

Using online ads, researchers recruited 417 men who had heard of NoFap and “reboot” groups. Researchers then asked these men to complete an assessment measuring their adult content viewing habits, anxiety, belief in conspiracy theories, depressive symptoms, erectile functioning, narcissism, openness to casual sex, and religiosity, PsyPost reported.

Of the 416 men, 257 had tried abstaining in order to “reboot” themselves. Researchers asked these 257 men if they had ever “relapsed” (that is, if they ever spanked off after pledging not to). They also asked these men how they emotionally responded to their most recent relapse.

Surprisingly, 28.9% reported feeling suicidal. This isn’t entirely surprising, considering that many fapstronauts say that relapse is evidence of poor willpower or a deep “addiction” to explicit adult content.

Researchers found that men who reported higher levels of engagement in NoFap forums also reported higher levels of anxiety, depression, and erectile difficulties. Men with higher levels of anxiety and erectile difficulties were more likely to believe that “NoFap” communities had personally helped them, the study found.

Researchers said they don’t know if NoFap communities inspire these feelings in followers, or if men with these pre-existing feelings are just more likely to seek out NoFap forums. Researchers said they’re conducting a longer-term study which seems to confirm that NoFap forums can worsen men’s negative feelings over time.

Even more concerning, many of the men involved in these online NoFap forums said they had seen hateful posts in them. About 74% reported seeing misogynist posts, 49.1% saw pro-bullying posts, nearly 43% saw anti-LGBTQ+ posts, and 32% saw antisemitic content. Shockingly, 23.5% saw posts encouraging people to self-harm or kill themselves, and 21.1% saw content encouraging people to hurt others.

“If you or someone you know is concerned about their pornography viewing, abstinence, and Reboot communities are not good options for support,” study author Nicole Prause told PsyPost. “Rather, focusing on depression or anxiety that usually underlie such concerns is likely to be more helpful.”