09/27/2025
What is Anorexia in S.L.A.A.?Within S*x and Love Addicts Anonymous, s*xual, social, and emotional anorexia may take a variety of forms.
This document is intended for s*xual, social, and emotional anorectics, that they may see themselves, and
know they are not alone.Possible Signs of Social, Emotional, or S*xual Anorexia:• we may not have had s*x or been in a close personal relationship in years
• we may be in partnerships but find it difficult to be emotionally close
• we may have many acquaintances but no one we’re really close to
• we may have close relations with only certain people, our children, say, but keep distance from anyone else
• we may feel overwhelmed in social settings
• we may feel incapacitated by shyness in relationships with others
• we may be emotionally invested in a relationship but remain s*xually or socially unavailable
• we may have an overwhelming dread of making phone calls
• we may function well in the workplace where intimacy is not usually valued, but find we are distant with
family or friends
There are many other varieties of anorectics, but whichever kind we are, all of us in some important way have
distanced ourselves from experiencing love. Faced with getting our needs met, we are baffled because we
can’t even name these needs. However, beneath the surface, anorexia consists of not doing something. Not
trusting, not committing, not surrendering. Here, unlike picking up a drink or shooting up a drug, anorexia’s
symptoms are obscure, and uneventful. We observe that we are engaged in a policy of dread of others and a
strategy to keep them at bay. Whether our anorexia is social, s*xual, or emotional, we awaken to the fact that
we are not experiencing the giving and receiving of love that is so precious to human life.Hope and RecoveryYou are not alone. There are many who respond as you do and who feel as you do. Or who once felt that way.
We have begun to do the work of recovery and change in S*x and Love Addicts Anonymous. We endeavor to
stop a pattern of s*x and love anorexia and we work the Twelve Steps of S.L.A.A. We have found, no matter
how different or alone we feel, that reaching out to others – to give help and to ask for it – helps us to recover
from our anorexia.
Some S.L.A.A. meetings have a specific focus on anorexia. If there isn’t an anorectic meeting near you, you
may want to start one. For more information about recovering from social, s*xual, and emotional anorexia,
including anorexia-focused meetings and literature, contact the Fellowship Wide Service Office of S.L.A.A,
S*x and Love Addicts Anonymous is a Twelve Step, Twelve Tradition-oriented fellowship based on the model pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous. The only qualification for S.L.A.A. membership is a desire to stop living out a pattern of s*x and love addiction. S.L.A.A. is supported entirely through the co...