HYBRID EVENT: You can participate in person at Boston, Massachusetts, USA or Virtually from your home or work.

7th Edition of Global Conference on

Addiction Medicine, Behavioral Health and Psychiatry

October 19-21, 2026 | Boston, Massachusetts, USA

GAB 2026

Sexualizing anxiety and anxiolytic sex: Misattribution of arousal

Speaker at Addiction Medicine, Behavioral Health and Psychiatry 2026 - Sam Vaknin
CIAPS, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Title : Sexualizing anxiety and anxiolytic sex: Misattribution of arousal

Abstract:

Anxiety can be misidentified as sexual arousal, eroticized (misattribution of arousal). Sexual arousal can be anxiogenic (sexual arousal can be misidentified as anxiety). Sex can be anxiolytic. Gender roles are connected to anxiety: masculinity is anxiogenic, femininity anxiolytic or vice versa. Narcissist’s auto-erotism translates to diffuse, generalized anxiety with masturbation as the only anxiolysis.

Biography:

Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited as well as many other books and ebooks about topics in psychology, relationships, philosophy, economics, international affairs, and award-winning short fiction.

He is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and Management Studies in CIAPS (Commonwealth of International Advanced Professional Studies), Cambridge and Birmingham, UK; Ontario, Canada; Lagos, Nigeria; a Visiting Professor of Psychology and Economics in South East European University (SEEU); and a former Visiting Professor of Psychology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

He was the Editor-in-Chief of Global Politician and served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, eBookWeb , and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He was the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101. His YouTube channels garnered 100,000,000 views and 450,000 subscribers.

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