Hi,

I am pretty new to this forum, so please be moichel (and/or post links) if this issue was already discussed somewhere else.

The torah approach to dealing with yetzer horo problems has (or used to have) different directions, the most prevalent being mussar and chassidus (interesting that the description of this forum doesn't include mussar, maybe the people coming here do not find mussar to be effective?). The mussar derech is primarily to show a person the evil and harm caused by following the yetzer horo to motivate him to overcome it, the chassidus derech is primarily to explain to the person who he is (his neshama) and what his job is in this world and to motivate him to stay focused and eliminate the distractions.

Different approaches work better for different people, which approach do you relate to better? Can you share something that you heard/learnt that inspired you?

Thanks.

Most of us tried one or both of those methods. They do not work for any addict I know. Losing enough times to the Y"H, hitting bottom, coming to realize that we are totally beaten and can't do it without Hashem. That is usually the start of a recovery process. A 12 step program in some form or another has worked for many addicts.

The methods you write about may work for a non-addict, but it did not work for me. Mussar just made me feel more guilty.... and soooo to alleviate my guilt I acted out, which made me feel even more guilty, sooooo, I acted out, which... ok, I think you get my point.

Have you read the GYE handbook? There is a lot of good stuff in there. See what works for you.

Gibbor, you are 100% right! A torah/chizuk approach of any kind does not work for addiction (see the description of this forum).