What Did I Just Do? Sex and Bipolar Disorder

Sexuality and bipolar disorder have a strong link. In manic phases, people will have sexual relationships with anyone. Often engage in promiscuity - even sexual addiction.

I was fortunate, depressive almost all the time. It is difficult to want sex when you are depressed, even exhausted because of it. I only had a very few relationships also because of my experience, I was afraid of men. And, because I am hopelessly heterosexual, I didn't (as some do) enter into sexual encounters with other women. I also had a strong moral code that forbid indescriminate sex. For those who belong to a religion, it can lead to the sense of being damned to hell.

But, when I was in relationship with men I felt "safe" with, or was married to, I was hypersexual. They didn't mind. Although restrained by my depression and fear, I also was pretty disciplined. Just because you are strongly attracted to someone doesn't mean you absolutely have to act on it. However, I walked around almost unbearably "turned on" many a time with no respite acceptable to me.

I thought it was just my nature. I thought it was it was easy for men to be atracted, even "fall in love" with me. Now I know it was just a biological sympton of bipolar disorder.

I channeled my sexual drive, as some men do, (see

Think and Grow Rich

)into my intellectual pursuits. I channel it into my writing (though I don't write about sex). It's been so long since I've been sexually active, it doesn't bother me at all anymore.

However, I can imagine how painful and disasterous it can be for a bipolar person. There are serious sexually transmitted diseases to consider. Indescriminat sex puts you at high risk of catching something. It can lead to a loss of self worth and a sense of having no character. It can take a toll on relationships.

Despite the myth that "men always want it," just like women, there are times they don't. The demand for constant performance can give them a feeling of inadequacy, the sense they are not truly a real man. It could even threaten your job where sex, even dating among co-workers is forbidden. Even "normal" people have been fired for that.

Sex Annonymous is one organization I know of that offers help for those who are sexually addicted. Counselling can help. Even some medications reduce the sex drive. You may be lucky enough to need one of those. If that is a side effect your psychiatrist is worried about, let them know you wouldn't mind that. Unlike the disorder itself, this is one thing you can use will power to overcome the effects of your disorder.

See Test For Addiction vs Normal Behavior