Dr. Weiss has been working with couples for over 30 years, and in working with Intimacy Anorexia in a relationship, there are cases when there are two anorexics. Often, when this occurs, one of them will claim to be reactive to their spouse’s Intimacy Anorexia. In other words, they believe their spouse’s Intimacy Anorexia has caused them to become Intimacy Anorexic as well.

Reactive intimacy anorexia is a real thing. Sometimes the spouse is actually reacting to the identified Intimacy Anorexic, and over the years and decades, they now have a very similar pattern indicating Intimacy Anorexia. However, these symptoms are reactive to their spouse’s behavior.

When this is the case, the reactive Intimacy Anorexic can heal very quickly. This quicker healing time is indicative that they attained their Intimacy Anorexia behavior from their spouse. Therefore, if they are truly Intimacy Anorexic, they will have some of the slower growth patterns towards healing. For example, they will continue to blame their spouse and healing will have an arduous task feeling.

Reactive Intimacy Anorexia is exactly that. It is reacting to the Intimacy Anorexia of the spouse. The definition of Reactive Intimacy Anorexia is active withholding of emotional, spiritual, and/or sexual intimacy towards one’s spouse as a reaction to the spouses Intimacy Anorexia.

Not having enough sex in your relationship may sound like a rather trivial issue. However, a shortage of sex threatens relationships like almost nothing else – and deserves thought and attention.