Never Satisfied Boyfriend a Victim of Chemical Imbalance?
Reader’s Question
My boyfriend is a very well-rounded, healthy, smart, honest, caring, and giving man who struggles with always wanting more. There are times that he feels satisfied, but most of the time he wants more of just about everything. He has always felt the need to have two women. But he would really like to be satisfied with one and start a family. He wants more of everything in his life, and even though he gets something that should satisfy him, he’s not satisfied. An example is his buying a motorcycle that he loves, and then after a little bit he may decide that he wants something better. There have been times he states that he becomes easily bored. He also has trouble sleeping and shutting off his brain. We are wondering could this be a chemical imbalance?
Our Clinical Psychologist’s Reply
While trouble sleeping, increased mental energy and the lack of ability to experience pleasure can be associated with certain mood conditions caused by brain chemical imbalances, unmoderated desire and rampant sensation-seeking are more often traits associated with an individual’s personality and character. And character issues such as the ones you mention are often a fairly reliable indicator of what life with such an individual will be like. Even though the character issues evident here are fairly striking as well as relatively obvious, you indicate that you see your boyfriend as “well-rounded, healthy, caring,” etc. So, one thing that you might consider is that if there’s an “imbalance” at work here, it might just be in your perceptions about the character of your boyfriend.
