Resource Tag: SADOMASOCHISM

To date, no study has examined rates of suicide ideation or theory-based risk factors for suicide ideation among bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism (BDSM) practitioners. Participants were 321 adults that endorsed BDSM involvement. Thirty-seven percent of the sample indicated a nonzero level of suicide ideation. Thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness (PB) were […]

This article presents a case study of 55-year-old housewife who committed suicide after psychiatric inpatient treatment following a previous severe suicide attempt. The social & psychological situation of the patient is described, with special emphasis on her relationships with her husband, the therapist, & the other staff members on the ward. The conclusions that were […]

Eight cases of autoerotic asphyxia deaths on Oahu are reviewed. Distinguishing features typically separate these deaths from intentional suicides or homicides. The sexual nature of these incidents is a salient feature of the death. The etiology of the practice is unknown but worth investigation. 31 refs.

This paper examines whether there is a degree of commonalityof determination of suicide & other self-damaging behavior. Also outlines ways in which sociobiological theory & research may contribute to an understanding of these topics. Discusses alcohol & drug abuse, risk taking & other self-damagingbehavior patterns.

The author examines the relationship between sexual perversion & suicidal behavior, describing this association in psychoanalytical terms. Three case histories are used as illustrations of eroticized self-destruction in the form of either suicide attempts, sadomasochistic acts, or self-extinction. (NBB)

The author states that instinctual & interpersonal factors contribute to the masochistic phenomena. He illustrates this by a ‘helpless’ suicidal patient whose life has consisted of love & work failures, & who acts ineffectually. Treatment principles involved included: encouragement of dependence on the therapist; quarantine from other interpersonal communications; demonstration that the therapist was not […]

Suicide has been commonly understood as an attack intended to destroy an inner presence. While this is usually so, suicide may often serve the purposes of revenge, punishment, flight from a persecutor, reunion with the mother of early infancy, & is often accompanied by fantasies of escape & rebirth. The inter-relationships of such fantasies with […]

The author reviews neurotic excoriations & dermatitis artefacta, two types of commonly occurring dermatoses. Victims are usually emotionally immature, introverted, have difficulty communicating with others & have low stress tolerance. self-mutilation in the form of dermatalogic abuse is highly predictive of suicide in schizophrenic patients. 48 refs. (NBB)

The individual who talks of killing others, but then kills himself, has received little attention in the psychiatric literature. This paper describes 4 young men who shared a number of features, including the initial threat of homicide, which the authors feel represent a serious suicidal syndrome. A striking aspect of these cases is the denial […]

Indirect self-destructive behavior may, as much as direct suicide, shorten a person’s life. Dr. Kalle Achte’ states thatindirect self-destruction generally proceeds slowly & often unconsciously. Certain personalities sabotage their lives by adopting a chronically miserable life style, while others choose occupations or interests that involve high levels of stress & risk taking. The purpose of […]

This study explores the theory that self mutilation patients may regard their bodies as transitional objects. (In defining this term, the author draws an analogy to the blanket belonging to Linus, of comic strip fame.) The case history of a female college student is discussed in this context. Transference & countertransference of the patient’s ambivalent, […]

An unknown precipitant appears to trigger self-mutilation in vulnerable individuals. The act reduces unbearable levels of stress, anger, & anxiety and results in feeling of intense relief. In this article, the author presents typical problems faced by the self mutilator and the staff caring for this type of patient on a psychiatric hospital ward. The […]

Deviant sexual behavior may lead to unusual skin lesions. The following is a case report of unusual trauma-related, symmetrical lesions of the nipples in a male homosexual from repeated application of bondage apparatus to his areolae and nipples.

A discussion of superstitious belief & the concept of illness. Witchcraft is described as a projection of forbidden impulses & behaviors into external, feared objects. Throughout history, it has been believed that illnesses & abnormalities are caused by “..witches, demons, deceased forefathers, malevolent gods, bad weather, stars, & the moon.” (p.47) The Witch Hammer was […]

An anthropological study of suicide among native people in New Britain. The author illustrates that these suicides result from motives he describes as a form of “social deception”. (NBB)

The hidden & unconscious factors involved in the People’s Temple Movement, led by the Reverend Jim Jones, are discussed in terms of psychoanalytic psychology, focusing on the concepts of charisma & collective regression. These concepts are applied to the mass madness that engulfed the inhabitants of Jonestowm as they committed mass suicide. The author suggests […]

The case history of a 29-year-old man who castrated himself & who reported cyclic alterations in sexuality is reviewed, together with the psychiatric psychological & endocrine findings in this case. Self-castration is discussed from differing theoretical perspectives, including Blacker & Wong’s view that genital mutilation is a form of “attenuated suicide”, a compromise that avoids […]

This study examines the phenomenon of wrist cutting, attempting to identify those at risk for this behavior & to understand motivational factors. The author tested & interviewed 3 inpatients of a MHC who had cut their wrists & compares findings with that of earlier sociobiologicl studies. It is suggested that there are 5 types of […]

The central themes of this paper are an adolescent boy`s tragic & chaotic life, dominated by object loss, the struggle against depressive affect, & the ways in which this struggle found form & direction under the sway of adolescent development.

The descriptive models of self-mutilation fall into 3 broad categories. The psychodynamic formulation; the 2nd category includes the anxiety reduction model, the hostility model, the behavioral learning model & the appeal model; the 3rd social learning category includes the group-epidemic model & aspects of the violence & punishment model. The problems faced by self-mutilating patients […]

Although transsexual surgery has received considerable attention, autocastration remains a rarity. Self-castration is usually performed in a state of psychotic confusion, except for those few men throughout history who castrated themselves for religious reasons. A case report describes a man with minimal psychotic confusion & elements of psychotic depression, who committed autocastration in a premeditated […]

This paper describes a variety of homicides characterized by an element of reality in resorting to the killing of a parent. It deals with families marked by the presence of what is catastrophic conflict. This term denotes a conflict which exceeds the adaptive capacity of an individual and can be resolved only by structural changes […]