Hypersexuality in Bipolar Disorder - Why Does It Happen?

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I have that issue...both...and it's hard. I just now at the age of 45 have put it all together. Now I'm making progress

πŸ‘οΈŽ︎ 2 πŸ‘€οΈŽ︎ u/YOUREABOT πŸ“…οΈŽ︎ Mar 13 2019 πŸ—«︎ replies
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Hypersexuality and bipolar disorder, it's not a sex addiction. Why does it happen? That's what I'm gonna talk to you day about in this video. I'm Dr. Tracey Marks, a psychiatrist, and I publish weekly videos about mental health education and self-improvement. If you don't wanna miss one, click Subscribe and the notification button. I've gotten a few requests to talk about this topic. And there's a lotta different directions that I could've gone with this, but I decided to talk about some of the ways that hypersexuality can manifest. Now, keep in mind, this is a very individual experience, and I realize that I don't know how it is for everyone. Hypersexuality is one of the symptoms that you can see in the manic phase of bipolar disorder. And for more on bipolar disorder, check out the playlist that I have in the corner. What we consider hypersexual is somewhat relative. One person who has the desire to have sex everyday may seem hypersexual to the person who's good for just once a month. But that's not really what this is about. When a person becomes manic, it's like a car that's, car engine that's just idling too high. And everything is moving faster, your thoughts, your impulses, and this affects your judgment and your decision making. And your sexuality is just one of those parts of your identity. It's a basic primal desire that everyone has. Everyone has some degree of sexual desire. You may suppress it because of social conventions and expectations, but it's there. And it's similar to your basic desire to attach to people. Everyone has some degree of need to attach to someone else. Okay, so when a person becomes manic, it's like your engine is tuned up and these primal needs and desires increase. It's like having an increased appetite for different things, not just sex, but lots of things. You can, and if you combine this increased appetite with fast moving thoughts, poor impulse control, poor insight and judgment, what do you get? You get unrestrained gratification seeking. And there's different ways that this can look. It can look like someone who decides that they're gonna start a new company that solves a unique problem that no one else can solve. And so you withdraw all of your money out of your savings and invest it into some process that's gonna kickstart your company and help you just change the industry. Or you can have the urge to speak to someone important in your life about something, and you just have to speak to them right now and, and get this question answered, even if it means pulling this person out of an important meeting because you just really need to speak to them right now. Can you get a picture in your mind of what this person may be feeling? So with hypersexuality, you start with your basic sexual needs, and then there's this ramped up energy around it that creates this urge that you just can't control. It's like having an itch in the middle of your back, and you find something to scratch at it, and it feels kinda good, but there's just still this one spot that you just can't find, and it's still itching. So you're scratching all around but this one spot is still there. I use that example because the scratching feels good, but you're also over-scratching parts of your body. So the inability to get it all satisfied feels bad. So you feel good and bad simultaneously. If you look from the outside, as a person not affected by mania, it may just seem like the manic person is just having fun. Good for you, that you've got all that energy. But it's not all fun. And for many people, it doesn't feel that good. Or the feel good is very temporary. And many people will have a lotta shame when the mania goes away because, unlike a sexual addiction, the hypersexuality of mania is only present during the manic episode. So after that passes, they go back to their usual behavior, whatever that was. And, often, with bipolar disorder, the opposite mood follows. So mania will be followed by depression, either immediately, or some time later. So if a person who was hypersexual while they were manic then gets depressed, their sex drive is shot. And they're completely the opposite. In fact, this may be a period of mourning the losses and the damages that they created during their manic phase. What are the ways that people can behave when they become hypersexual? It can be increased sexual activity, either with your partner, or multiple partners, or even strangers. A person who would otherwise never consider being unfaithful could have an affair during this period, not only because of the increased urges, but the poor judgment, the trouble controlling their impulses, and even a misperception of their world and what's going on around them. It's like they can just get this tunnel vision that, and nothing else exists except them and the other person or other people. But not everyone has sex with multiple partners. Some people masturbate excessively, and I say excessively because it is considered normal to masturbate. But some people will just lose track of time watching pornography and masturbating all day. Here's a more subtle way it can look though. Some people can get caught up in their sexual fantasies, such that they neglect their responsibilities. Or it distracts them from getting their work done, so they're not performing well at work or at school. And these are just some examples of how you could have hypersexuality that's problematic, but it doesn't involve having sex with someone. So what do we do about this? The main solution is to treat the episode. As I mentioned before, if the hypersexuality is from mania and not from a sexual disorder, when the mania dies down, the hypersexuality also dies down. You don't become non-sexual, your baseline sexuality is just reigned back in. So it's important to recognize early signs of your manic episodes. Even if you're fairly stable on your medication, you can still have breakthrough episodes. So this can be important to look for early signs to see your doctor to have your medication tweaked. Not sleeping and hypersexuality are often early signs for people. And sleep deprivation and mania is like lighter fluid on a fire. It's one of, it's one of the ways that manic episodes can escalate. If you have a partner and you have an affair during an episode, you should get some couples therapy so that you and your partner can have, can better understand what happened. Then, the burden is on you to keep yourself well and to continue to look for the early signs so that you don't repeat the behavior. Because in the throes of a manic episode, the judgment goes out the window. And it's easy to just forget the damage that was done from the last time. It's like that movie Groundhog Day where the guy gets stuck in this loop and the day just keeps repeating itself. For you, if you're not proactive, each manic episode could be just another day starting all over again. And you may be able to deal with that, but the people in your life won't. Okay, I hope this helped you understand what's behind the hypersexuality in bipolar disorder. Discuss this with me in the comments. I'm very interested to hear about your experience, whether it's happened to you or whether you know someone who, for whom this has happened. And, of course, you can always just say hi as well. See you next time. ("My Harlem Days 1")
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Channel: Dr. Tracey Marks
Views: 527,138
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Keywords: bipolar hypersexuality, bipolar hypersexuality infidelity, bipolar hypersexuality symptoms, bipolar hypersexuality treatment, bipolar hypersexuality triggers, hypersexuality, bipolar disorder, bipolar hypomanic episode, bipolar hypomanic episode example, self-improvement, hypersexual, hypersexuality symptoms, hypersexuality treatment, mental health channel, mental health education, dr. tracey marks
Id: iYHTDn86hSo
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Length: 8min 14sec (494 seconds)
Published: Wed Oct 24 2018
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