Abstinence
Origin
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin abstinentia, from abstinent-, abstinens, present participle of abstinēre
Definitions
- 1: voluntary forbearance especially from indulgence of an appetite or craving or from eating some foods
- 2a : habitual abstaining from intoxicating beverages
- b : abstention from sexual intercourse
Description
Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, or abstinence from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions and practical considerations. Abstinence may also refer to drugs. For example you can abstain from smoking. Abstinence has diverse forms. Commonly it refers to a temporary or partial abstinence from food, as in fasting. In the twelve-step program of Overeaters Anonymous abstinence is the term for refraining from compulsive eating, akin in meaning to sobriety for alcoholics. Because the regimen is intended to be a conscious act, freely chosen to enhance life, abstinence is sometimes distinguished from the psychological mechanism of repression. The latter is an unconscious state, having unhealthy consequences. Freud termed the channeling of sexual energies into other more culturally or socially acceptable activities, "sublimation". [1]
