Masochism is the experience of suffering accompanied by pleasure.
The connection between the pain and the pleasure is hidden in the unconscious. This is what psychoanalysts call moral masochism, humiliation and failure which doesn't involve physical pain like being beaten to achieve a sexual climax. The ego is besieged with guilt from a punishing superego or conscience and the solution to this dilemma is to be punished by life. Nowadays like Arianna we are familiar with the enabler or co-dependent, a moral masochist who despairs but also facilitates the addiction of a spouse or companion to casual sex, alcohol, drugs or gambling. Masochism including moral masochism begins during personality formation in infancy and childhood when sexuality becomes linked with pain and suffering.