Hello fortbliss: Welcome to PsychCentral. PC is a great place to gain support, learn strategies for handling mental health concerns, & to make internet friends. There are many wonderfully supportive members here on PsychCentral. Two forums that may be of interest include:

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Sexual and Gender Issues - Forums at Psych Central

With regard to the particular problem you describe in your post: it's somewhat unclear to me exactly how this developed. Had you begun this practice prior to the beginning of your relationship with your GF? I also don't know how old you are. Anyway, a couple of things occur to me.

First, as men get older (& I don't mean "old"... just in or perhaps approaching middle age, impotence can begin to rear it's ugly head, so to speak. Also, if a man is taking, or has taken, any kind of prescription medication, or used drugs, this can have an impact as well.

But the other things I suspect are coming into play here are guilt & fear. You feel guilty about your picture viewing & masturbatory activities. This guilt is causing you to have difficulty maintaining an erection. And every time you experience a loss of erection, you confront the fear that it may get worse. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As to why you don't have this problem masturbating to pictures on the computer, well, neither the computer nor the pictures can judge you. You're alone, & in that sense, safe. I would venture to guess that telling your GF you just couldn't have sex anymore took allot of pressure off of you. As to why you might have needed to be relieved of this pressure, this is something that would need to be explored in therapy.

Also I would suspect that masturbating to pictures on the computer has, at this point, become something of an addiction not unlike an addiction to porn or gambling or anything else people become addicted to. If in fact this is the case, then individual therapy is perhaps the best solution long-term. You & your GF may want to participate in some couples counseling as well. Over the short-term, you might consider trying some Viagra or Cialis. Talk with your doctor about this.

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