ABSTRACT
Desensitisation is an anaesthetising process in which, as the name suggests, levels of sensation in a given situation are diminished. Enduring and profound desensitisation can be a response to trauma that is either extreme in its nature and/or lacks the holding relational ground that a caring, nurturing and consistent upbringing can provide. Taylor describes desensitisation as, ‘a tuning out of attention to certain physical stimuli’ and goes on to say that it can be placed at the less disturbing end on a continuum with dissociation, a process that involves, ‘a disengagement with current reality'. A degree of desensitisation will be present in any addictive behaviour whether this is compulsive eating, sexual addiction, substance abuse or gambling addiction as with such behaviours the early phases of the cycle (sensation, awareness, mobilisation) are rushed through or virtually bypassed.
