Algolagnia

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Wartenberg wheel pain stimulation of the areola and nipple

Algolagnia (

sexual pleasure and stimulation from physical pain,[1] often involving an erogenous zone. Studies conducted indicate differences in how the brains of those with algolagnia interpret nerve input.[1]

History of research

In 1892,

Psychopathia Sexualis – where the terms sadism and masochism were used – were adopted by Sigmund Freud and became an integral part of psychoanalysis
, thereby ensuring their predominance over the concept of "algolagnia".

The neurologist Albert Eulenberg was another one of the first researchers to look into algolagnia,[2] in the 1902 Sadismus und Masochismus (Sadism and Masochism). Soon thereafter, Havelock Ellis also looked into algolagnia, in the early 1900s, and stated "Sadism and Masochism – Algolagnia Includes Both Groups of Manifestations"[3] but maintained that enjoyment of pain was restricted to an erotic context,[4] in contrast to Krafft-Ebing's interpretations. With such titles as Analysis of the Sexual Impulse, Love and Pain, The Sexual Impulse in Women and The Evolution of Modesty, The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity, Auto-Erotism, Ellis described the basics of the condition. Eugen Kahn, Smith Ely Jelliffe, William Alanson White, and Hugh Northcote were other early psychological researchers into algolagnia.

Research

In 1992, algolagnia was described as a physical phenomenon in which the brain interprets pain signals as pleasurable leading to psychological effects.[5][page needed][original research?] Dolf Zillmann wrote that:

...most algolagniacs see their actions as an active lust, not a motivational one. Patients with algolagnia could lead normal lives, enjoy normal arousal sequences, and indulge in fairly normal sexual intercourse, but when exposed to sexual pain, were unable to control their reaction. One woman described it as being unable to prevent her arousal or subsequent orgasm due to pain, even if she was not aroused when it began.[6]

This and other research [7] have linked algolagnia to aggression, hypersexuality, or other control psychoses.

Research using MRI and

SCN9A, causing inaccurate nociception to occur.[8]

At least one researcher in the 1900s,

pathological when in fact they were statistically abnormal, but harmless. In 1993 Thomas Wetzstein published a large-scale study of his local subculture from a sociological viewpoint, confirming Spengler's results and expanding on them.[12]

No empirical study has found a connection to violent crimes or evidence for an increased tendency towards any sociopathological behavior in algolagnia or the related features of sexual sadomasochism, as had been generally assumed since Krafft-Ebing's era.[citation needed]

The term algolagnia has fallen into rare usage, and there is no entry for it in the

pathological form of sadism in Mosby's Medical Dictionary, which also equates the pathological form of masochism to "passive algolagnia",[14] but it cannot be a pathological (dangerous) paraphilia form of sadism or masochism unless it involves pain inflicted on "non-consenting" persons, or "cause[s] marked distress or interpersonal difficulty."[15] And using algolagnia as both a pathological and non-pathological term, some in the modern research community still link it to some but not all BDSM activities.[2]

There is little ongoing research, with most neurophysiologists concentrating on neuropathological reasons for such reactions.[16]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89859-677-9
    .
  2. ^ a b c d The pleasure of pain. | Goliath Business News Archived November 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 3 by Havelock Ellis - Project Gutenberg
  4. ^ Ellis, Havelock. 1967; first published 1939. My Life London: Spearman.
  5. ISBN 978-0-393-00688-9
    .
  6. ISBN 978-0-8058-1907-6
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-443-03455-8
    .
  8. ISBN 978-1-4286-1543-4
    .
  9. ISBN 978-1-4286-2544-0. Archived
    from the original on 2023-04-19. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  10. ^ Breslow Norman et al. 1985. "On the prevalence and roles of females in the sadomasochistic subculture: Report of an empirical study". In: Archives of Sexual Behavior Vol. 14
  11. ISBN 978-2-909997-03-2
  12. ^ Wetzstein, Thomas A. 1993. Sadomasochismus. Szenen und Rituale. Hamburg: Rowohlt
  13. ^ http://www.behavenet.com/algolagnia Archived March 15, 2010, at behavenet.com (Error: unknown archive URL)
  14. ^ [1] Archived 2011-06-12 at the Wayback Machine and [2] Archived 2011-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "BehaveNet Clinical Capsule: Sexual Sadism". Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  16. ^ Pg 197,Therapeutic Suggestion in Psychopathia Sexualis with Special Reference

References

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