Existential Issues in Sexual Medicine: The Relation Between Death Anxiety and Hypersexuality

Abstract

Introduction: Current sex therapy and sexual medicine protocols often ignore the existential dilemmas associated with sexual dysfunction and other problematic sexual problems. This oversight is especially apparent when assessing and treating the controversial phenomenon of hypersexuality, or "sexual addiction." A deeper understanding of the existential concept of death anxiety could offer an alternative treatment paradigm that might lead to a more effective treatment outcome.

Aim: To explore the relation between the existential phenomenon of death anxiety and hypersexuality (ie, sexual addiction) and present an evaluation and treatment paradigm that is rooted in existential psychotherapy, a form of psychotherapy that is a deeply life-affirming and dynamic approach to therapy that focuses on concerns rooted in the individual's existence.

Methods: A review of the literature focusing on the topics of hypersexuality, death anxiety, and existential psychotherapy was undertaken and a treatment paradigm is offered.

Main outcome measures: Current treatment protocols for hypersexuality and sexual addiction were reviewed, as were current concepts in existential therapy. These were integrated into an assessment and treatment paradigm.

Results: Although sexual medicine and traditional sex therapy techniques can often alleviate sexual suffering, there are times when a more in-depth psychotherapy is needed to get to the root cause and ultimate assuagement of the presenting sexual symptoms. Existential psychotherapy is one such form of treatment that allows clinicians to probe the subterranean depths of the human psyche and make meaning of one's sexual behavior and its vagaries.

Conclusion: Although certainly not all cases of hypersexuality are precipitated by a confrontation with mortality and death, there are cases in which sex is imbued with meaning as an antidote to the fear of death. Existential therapy is a form of treatment that could be particularly effective in many of these cases. Watter DN. Existential Issues in Sexual Medicine: The Relation Between Death Anxiety and Hypersexuality. Sex Med Rev 2018;6:3-10.

Keywords: Death Anxiety; Existential Psychotherapy; Hypersexuality; Sexual Addiction; Sexual Medicine; Sex Therapy.