Escape from intimacy - Anne Wilson Schaef

How can relationships be bad for your health? The answer is that many, if not all, are involved in addictive pseudo-relationships that lead not to real love and intimacy but to all the unwelcome, even destructive, side-effects of any other addictive process. "Love" addictions are initially hard to admit and get to grips with because thay are so well integrated into society and even encouraged, but they are diseases that are ultimately as fatal to individuals, families and societies as substance addictions.;This book demonstrates that there are three different types of love addiction - sex, romance and relationships. Sex addiction is not just about perversions, but can include addictive fantasy, treating the other sex as a sex object, even celibacy, if it is repressive. The romance addict lives in a world of illusion, avoiding the reality of the present. Relationship addictions may appear friendly and open but they have little real concern for the other person, hanging on to the idea of a relationship at any cost.