BDSM and Mental Health
So with all the info on here, before we get started, I would like to say that I am not a Doctor or any kind of Mental Health Professional. Now I do have a lot of experience with Mental Health because I have Depression.
I’m also currently on medication. However, personal experience is all I have to go on, and of course good old Google. I’ve tried to find as much medical research as I can to help clarify why BDSM has such a positive effect most of the time for people with Depression.
So how does kink activities like power exchange, or impact play affect someone with Mental Health, depression or anxiety?
Well, it has been shown that everyone or most agrees that there is a temporary effect because of the release of endorphins, and neurochemicals such as dopamine. These neurochemicals play a large part in subspace and that euphoric feeling you get after a great flogging session or when you have had a great scene with your partner.
In a 2015 survey by Christian Joyal Ph.D., asked 1,500 women and men about their sexual fantasies, which showed that “64.6 percent of women and 53.3 percent of men reported fantasies about being dominated sexually — and 46.7 percent of women and 59.6 percent of men reported fantasies about dominating someone sexually.” Which is about right, from the people I talk to. Around the world, we have a hard time publicly talking about our fantasies because of the fear and breaking of the norm. But I would say that over the last 15 or 20 years we have started to become a lot more open about sex and sexuality.
Studies have also shown that there is an increase in the closeness of those that take part in BDSM activities which could be associated with the release of oxytocin, which is another feel-good neurochemical, and the one that is released when we feel love or good feelings about a person, I think this is one of the reasons my most recent relationship broke down we stopped playing.
There is a relationship between BDSM Mental Health and the treatment of depression, even though speculatively speaking, it is only a temporary alleviation of symptoms when engaged in activities such as impact play, sensation type play, bondage, and other types of heavy play.
For example, when a submissive goes into “Subspace”, it’s a state of consciousness called transient hypofrontality, which is when a submissive reaches a different level of consciousness where they feel reductions in pain, feelings of floating, feelings of peacefulness, feelings of living in the here and now and time distortions.
So how does BDSM affect depression, at least in the short term, it alleviates the symptoms and could possibly for a short period of time help a person feel different, and could maybe help get the right neurochemicals where they need to be.
I would still strongly suggest never stopping any kind of medication or medical treatment for your mental health issues.
A flogging session should never be a replacement for medical care for your mental health issues. So there you have it. A look into how BDSM and Depression and how they both are and are not related and how BDSM might help Mental Health… Now, where did leave that paddle?
