Welcome back to Reconnection Moments, a space where we get real about intimacy disorders and healing from sexual compulsivity. Not through willpower or shame, but by gently rewiring the brain and body back into connection. I'm Doctor. Michael Barter, creator of The Reconnection Model. In each episode, I'll be answering questions I hear most from clients and therapists, and I will also be sharing fresh insights from my ongoing work.

Most people think connection is a choice, but it's not just emotional. It's biological. Our ability to truly connect with others depends on one thing, a properly functioning autonomic nervous system. That system is what allows us to feel safe, present, and emotionally available. But here's the hard truth.

For the nervous system to function well, we need certain essential needs met early in life. We need stability, emotional safety, and psychological safety. If these needs weren't met in our formative years, the system doesn't develop in a way it's supposed to. We don't learn to connect. We learn to cope.

And for many of us, that coping turned into self reliance. Not the healthy kind, but the kind where we manage our own moods, our pain, our overwhelm through our sexual behaviors. Not because we're broken, but because our nervous system was doing its best to survive. In the reconnection intensive, we help the nervous system get what it needed so that you can finally connect. And when you can connect, you no longer need the sexual coping mechanisms you once depended on.

Thanks for joining me today. If you want to learn more about how this healing happens, visit drmichaelbarta.com. And if this episode spoke to you, share it with someone who might need to hear it. Until next time, keep reconnecting.