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Jungian Interpretation of Sexual Addiction: A Case Study of Mid-Life Crisis

NCJ Number
232064
Journal
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity Volume: 17 Issue: 3 Dated: July - September 2010 Pages: 185-209
Author(s)
Gabriel Cavaglion
Date Published
September 2010
Length
25 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this article was to sugguest a Jungian theoretical approach to sexual addiction.
Abstract
This study presents a single case of an adult middle-class male, M., whom the author treated professionally as a psychotherapist in an Israeli mental health community service center. He briefly used cyberporn sites, moved to cybersex sites and rapidly precipitated into hyper-activity (matching criteria for addiction) to actual sexual encounters with call girls advertising on Web sites. In its discussion, this article proposes a Jungian approach to the interpretation of the case study of M. In particular it uses two central concepts in Jungian theory: the meaning of the second half of life, and the archetype of the "shadow." It is shown that this apparent case of mid-life depression in fact concealed "possession" of raw repressed material of the shadow that ultimately led to sexual acting out and the abrupt termination of therapy. Notes and references (Published Abstract)