Pleasure and pain in sexual addiction

vicissitudes of masochism

Abstract

Sexual addiction can be defined as a psychopathological condition in which sex is sought in an uncontrollable, unrestrained manner, despite the emotional, social, and professional harm caused to the addict’s daily life. After the frenzy, excitement, and adrenaline rush experienced in indulging in their own urgent and eager impulses, sexual addicts find themselves incapable to manage their sexual performances, being consumed by feelings of emptiness, failure, and despair. The issue of sexual pleasure “beyond the pleasure principle,” combined with the issue of psychic pain, leads us to a more rigorous questioning about the dimension of masochism in subjective life and its relation with the destructive states of psychosexuality. In this article, based on the perspective of psychoanalysis, we seek to examine the close relation between self-destruction and libidinal satisfaction in the phenomena that are characteristic of the condition in question.