Experience in Close Relationships (ECR) Scale for Sex Addiction & Compulsive Sexual Behaviors

The Experience in Close Relationships (ECR) Scale is a widely used psychological assessment that measures patterns of attachment—how a person connects, relates, and responds emotionally in intimate relationships. For individuals struggling with sex addiction, compulsive sexual behaviors, and problematic pornography use, attachment patterns are often deeply intertwined with the development of these behaviors and with the emotional wounds that fuel them.

The ECR focuses on two core dimensions of adult attachment:

1. Attachment Anxiety – how strongly a person fears rejection, abandonment, or not being valued in relationships. High scores often indicate worry, clinging behaviors, sensitivity to emotional distance, and difficulty feeling secure.

2. Attachment Avoidance – how strongly a person struggles with emotional closeness, vulnerability, and trust. High scores may reflect discomfort with intimacy, self-reliance to the extreme, emotional detachment, and difficulty sharing needs or feelings.

Understanding these patterns is especially important in the context of sex addiction and compulsive sexual behaviors, because attachment wounds often shape how a person uses sexual behaviors to manage emotional pain, self-soothe, or avoid vulnerability.

For example:

• Someone with high attachment anxiety may use pornography or sexual behaviors to escape feelings of rejection, shame, or not feeling “good enough,” or may rely on sexual intensity to feel temporarily valued.

• Someone with high attachment avoidance may use porn or anonymous sexual outlets to maintain emotional distance, avoid relational vulnerability, or feel in control without risking intimacy.

Why the ECR Matters in Porn Addiction Recovery

Within the Eliminating Porn program, the ECR Scale helps uncover how early experiences, unmet emotional needs, and relational patterns contribute to compulsive sexual behavior. Sex addiction rarely develops “just because of porn”—it is often rooted in earlier trauma, relational instability, or emotional neglect that shapes how a person feels safe (or unsafe) with others.

By identifying these attachment patterns, the assessment helps pinpoint:

• Core emotional wounds behind compulsive behavior

• Trauma-related triggers that fuel urges

• How a person handles closeness, conflict, or emotional disconnection

• Why certain sexual behaviors became a preferred coping strategy

• What relational patterns keep the cycle alive

This deeper understanding becomes essential for developing long-term, shame-free recovery.

Professional Interpretation by Maxim Arbuzov, LICSW

At Eliminating Porn, Maxim Arbuzov, a specialist in porn addiction and compulsive sexual behavior, personally interprets each ECR Scale. Using his clinical background in trauma, attachment theory, and men’s sexual health, Maxim helps each participant understand:

• What their attachment style means

• How their attachment patterns relate to porn use

• How unresolved trauma shows up in their relationships

• How their emotional world drives sexual compulsivity

• What specific healing steps will support long-term recovery

This individualized interpretation helps clients not only understand the “what” of their porn addiction, but the “why” beneath the surface.

A Tool for Trauma Healing & Healthy Intimacy

Ultimately, the ECR Scale is more than a questionnaire—it is a roadmap. When integrated into treatment, it provides powerful insight into how a person learned to protect themselves emotionally, and how those same patterns now influence intimacy, sexuality, and the struggle with porn.

For individuals in the Eliminating Porn program, it becomes a starting point for healing trauma, building secure attachment, and developing the emotional foundation needed to live porn-free and create truly connected relationships.