LAUSR

Existential psychotherapy is the main perspective on which the article is focused, as can be seen in Dr Watter’s choice of words, “on concerns rooted in the individual’s existence.” However, the original background of the relation between death and sexuality derives definitively from psychoanalysis and the theoretical work of Sigmund Freud, as incidentally affirmed by Dr Watter when writing that “Freud, too, recognized the powerful connection between the sex drive (Eros) and the death instinct (Thanatos).” Moreover, we have reason to believe, although with some critical positions, that a large part of post-Freudian thought is based on the contraposition between Eros and Thanatos. In this regard, hypersexual individuals try to antagonize depressive states and death anxiety with a life instinct through sexual activities, although in a dysregulated way. Therefore, hypersexual behaviors can be bona fide considered a defensive behavior against death anxiety.