Entwistle murder trial: Sex addiction and the will to kill

Watching handsome Neil Entwistle stand steely with frozen emotion, as the juror read out their verdict, I was briefly tempted to take a fantasy ride and return a not plea, but outward mien is about the ultimate deceit. The suggestion that he was sex addicted creates a window to assess the drive for homicide. A foremost researcher in the psychology of addiction once noted that at the heart of this defect is, “a spiritual and emotional impoverishment that causes the self to invest in some thing or person to obtain a sense of worth and security”. It true that he was embattled with failed businesses, but a lifestyle that indicates inner emptiness provides a snap shot of Neil life in the last days. Any addiction can competently disallow progressive growth of the spirit which prevents long lasting fulfillment.

He may have been saddled and asphyxiated by his circumstance, but the main essential source of fortitude is one’s family, which he apparently walked away from. Instead of drawing closer to the ageless healer; a daughter and a wife, he instead sought, “temporary relief from his emptiness”. In a way his capacity for love was transformed by basic human experience into a self seeking disordered attachment with his vices and a morbid pre-occupation with what he was unable to achieve in spite of an effort he thought was abundant. In many cruel ways he confirms the suggestion that who the person his determines his response when motivated to do anything, even to kill. Some may be drugged to do harm, while others with even a greater amount of the same drug, will do no harm.

This saga reminds a lot of us of the frailty of our composure and how emergent it is to proffer more competent solutions for coping with various stressful situations in other to prevent the total collapse that precipitates harms to our love ones. Our addictions are more of reflective devices that tells us about our deepest ills.

Out of control sexual behavior: Can it be assessed?

The twin scourge of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), causative agents for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and cancer of the cervix, has prompted the emphasis on sexual health and reproductive tract infection. And the obvious link between these infectious agents and their uncomfortable effects is sexual intercourse, especially when unprotected. Individual that exhibit out-of-control-sexual behavior are at exceptional risk of these poor outcomes. A new research highlights a useful tool application to young people that can be used to identify individuals who are so “preoccupied with their sexual desires and behaviors to the degree that disruptions in social relationships, occupational difficulties, and problems in daily living are experienced by them”.

They administered the questionnaire to college students, containing 170 items and taking approximately 40 minutes, which may be coming to a school near you. An important observation was that sexual orientation was independent factor that predicted sexual behavior. In terms of poor responses to the adverse outcomes associated with this behavior, men solely expressed themselves in physical terms; “the pattern maybe experiencing pain, injury or problems” while women expressed themselves more in psychological, spiritual and emotional terms, “actions being inconsistent with their spiritual belief, feeling ashamed or guilty.

The author concluded by stating that “the results of the study indicate that the Sexual Compulsivity Scale is a reliable and valid tool for assessing sexual compulsivity among college students and the findings indicate that higher levels of sexual compulsivity, the greater the negative outcomes, as well as sexual risk-taking behaviors.

Mcbride K, Reece M, Sandes SA (2008). Using the Sexual Compulsivity Scale to Predict Outcomes of Sexual Behavior in Young Adults. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity; 15:97–115, 2008.