Intimacy anorexia is a deeply hidden, often misunderstood addiction that quietly erodes the emotional, spiritual, and sexual connection within relationships. Unlike other addictions, it doesn’t scream for attention—it starves a relationship of it.

If you’ve ever felt unseen, untouched, or emotionally alone in your relationship, it’s possible you’re not just dealing with stress or miscommunication—you may be experiencing the effects of intimacy anorexia.
 

Here are six common patterns

1. Withholding Love – They don’t love you in the way you most feel loved.
2. Withholding Praise – Rarely affirming you in private, even when you’re doing well.
3. Withholding Sex or Intimacy – Physical intimacy may be infrequent, mechanical, or emotionally disconnected.
4. Withholding Spiritual Connection – They may be spiritual publicly, but not with you.
5. Inability to Share Feelings – Emotional connection is avoided or shut down.
6. Roommate Dynamic – You feel more like housemates than partners.

These patterns are painful—but they aren’t permanent.

Healing is possible. With the right tools and support, individuals and couples can learn to reconnect deeply, vulnerably, and consistently.

If you or someone you love is experiencing this, don’t wait. Reach out for help from a therapist who understands intimacy anorexia and the trauma that drives it. Whether through one-on-one sessions, couples work, or intensives, recovery starts with a willingness to stop starving intimacy