Hi all - 1st post for me!

I've struggled for a long time - with what? That’s what I’m confused about. 

There are two types of people who struggle with porn. (My opinion)

The first type lives a normal life. They have jobs, hobbies, relationships, and a general sense of purpose. Their struggle is with lust and urges. They’re attracted to others and / or  are constantly turned on, and can’t always hold themselves back. Porn is their outlet. For them, the battle is self-control and containment. 

The second type is different. (I fall in this category)

I wake up with no drive or purpose. No desire to move forward. I love my wife and kids, but marriage is work, relationships are hard, and I don’t trust easily. Depression, apathy, and anxiety cloud almost everything.

So to cope with the darkness and hopelessness of nearly everything, I binge. Sometimes it’s food. Sometimes it’s YouTube. Sometimes it’s movies/tv. Sometimes it’s porn. 

All roads lead to the same place: a heavy sense of dread, guilt, and hopelessness. It’s a loop. I feel empty, so I binge. I binge, so I feel worse. And around and around it goes.

Im not saying either one is easier or harder. Both are struggles. 

here are my questions:
A - am I in the right place? Is GYE where I should be? Or should I (somehow) get a life which would then solve the porn issue?
B - is this me just overthinking things instead of taking action?
C - what type are you?

1 - Are the two mutually exclusive? GYE can help with what you describe, I think
2 - Perhaps, though you gotta decide on a plan of action, and DO it
3 - What you describe resonates with me, though perhaps not as extreme; I suspect that you too are describing it worse than the real metzius is....

One guy's 2 cents....

A- you're definitely in the right place, congrats for doing this major step of coming to the right place!

B- you'll hang around here, or more importantly, get a mentor, you will understand yourself like never before.

C- maybe there are no two types (of course everyone is different) - we all turn to porn etc. because we're missing something in life and then we're hooked and don't have a life (at least on the outside) and use it to cope.

my humble opinion

more importantly,
HATZLACHA ON YOUR JOURNEY, WE'RE ROOTING FOR YOU!!! 

A lot to unpack there but I think try to be mechazeik in Emuna and Bitachon. I can't say it will make things easier but can help form a baseline.

If you can wake up in the morning and say Modeh Ani and recognize the gift life is. That's huge even if the rest of the day is down the tubes.

If you are referring to depression, anxiety or boredom you can see what I posted here:

https://guardyoureyes.com/forum/19-Introduce-Yourself/399000-My-long-journey?limit=15&start=45#422020

If you are referring to general Shalom Bayis problems or other underlying issues aside for moods that need to be resolved and they are interfering with your life you may want to go for therapy. If your moods are getting worse and nothing seems to be working you may also want to go for therapy.

You are right that there are two different types of urges; those coming from general desires and those coming from negative moods. This is discussed in the mini-course Dealing with Urges, lesson 5.

Not so much to add to the very excellent points above.

Just want to say Welcome!!

You are in exactly the right place. Start putting in the work and you'll see progress. Thinking you need to fix your life before you can work on this is classic YH tricks. That just means you'll never work on this.

What's the chicken and what's the egg is a good-but-irrelevant shaila. The main thing is to start working. Along the way you'll see that tuning in to your life is important. You'll also see that tuning out of lust is important for tuning in to life. It can be become a positive upwards spiral, instead of the negative spiral you're stuck in now.

As you put in the work it's possible you'll see you are struggling with something that needs specific tools: something like therapy, 12 steps, shalom bayis coaching, whatever. But the point is that it starts with putting in the work, not waiting for someone to point you to the perfect solution.

There's no magic bullet. There's just a bit of hard work and some seichel. This is good news - it means all the tools you need are right in front of you. (Credit to @Heilegeyes on the monday night vaad for this fresh insight. Oh hey, maybe joining a vaad would help. . . .)

Hatzlacha and KOT!!

Edit: I'll throw in my answers to the specific questions:
A. Yes. Yes. Meh.
B. Yes. Not that your thoughts are off target. But think them while working.
C. Both and neither.