Hormones, Pain, and Altered States: A Scientific Search for

the Essence of Sadomasochism

Brad SagarinNorthern Illinois University

Hamilton’s 1929 survey of 200 married men and women:

Men

Women

“Pleasant thrills” frominflicting pain

“Pleasant thrills” fromreceiving pain

51%

32%

28%

29%

Clinical

Criminal Consensual

Physiological and psychological effects of consensual BDSM

Hormonal changes and couple bonding in consensual sadomasochistic activity

Co-authors: Bert Cutler Nadine Cutler Kimberly Lawler-Sagarin Leslie Matuszewich

Participants and methods

13 participants: Arizona Power Exchange (APEX)

45 participants: Thunder in the Mountains

Questionnaires and saliva samples before and after scenes

Testosterone

Cortisol

Relationship closeness

Relationship closeness

Conclusions

SM activities show marked physiological and psychological effects on participants

Aftereffects confirm reports by SM practitioners: Reductions in stress and increases in relationship closeness

Opposite effects occurred in the scene that went poorly

SM without sex?

Dance of Souls

Sadomasochism without sex: Pain as a catalyst to transcend the self

Co-authors: Kathryn Klement Ellen Lee James Ambler Sarah Hanson Evelyn Comber

David Wietting Michael Wagner Valerie Burns Bert Cutler Elwood Reid

Participants and methods

67 participants: Southwest Leather Conference (SWLC)

Questionnaires, saliva samples, cognitive tests, behavioral observation

Straight Gay Heteroflex Bisexual Other0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

SwitchBottomTop

Sexual orientation and BDSM roles

Positive and negative affect

Positive Affect Negative Affect10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Pre-DanceDuring-Dance

p = .18

p = .01

Psychological stress

Pre-Dance During-Dance1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Stressedp = .02

Extremely

Not at all

Physiological stress (cortisol)

Pre-Dance During-Dance0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

Cortisol

p = .06

Intimacy

"We"

Rel

atio

nshi

p

Self/

Oth

er O

verlap

1

3

5

7

Before DanceDuring Dance

p = .85

p = .005

Why are you participating in the Dance?What do you hope to get from the experience?

“It is a wonderful way to exchange energy not just with my owner but with my tribe. It is transcendental & amazing. It is also a great way to release the negative.”

“I find peace, power, and well-being at these events.”

“To participate in high energetic levels and feel the transformation that can occur in myself and others.”

“I have had visions and deep spiritual experiences. Or not. But it's fun anyway.”

“I am in an amazing happy place. Serene yet joyous.”

“Connection through the drums and the tribe and the shared energy that overrides any pain and -opens my heart and mind to a focus beyond the physical.”

“Just very high!!!”

“Pleasantly exhausted”

“I'm very happy and aroused. I feel strong and beautiful.”

Thoughts or feelings during the Dance

“Observed energetic releases of others, saw emotions stir in many; tears, anger, screaming, laughter, pure joy. Many had variety of different experiences. I got to share in all of them, and feel their release.”

“The experience was quite calming. The degree of pain I allowed myself to have physically allowed my hyper-analytic brain to focus/center on the present. With the exception of knitting and crochet, pain this intense is the only way I can truly fall into this state of peace/have a quiet mind.”

After the Dance

Themes

29

23 2117 16 15 14 12 12

8 7 6 4 3 3 2 2

Frequency of Qualitative Data Codes

Conceptualizing the Dance

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

How SexualHow SMHow Spiritual

p <.001Extremely

Not at all

Altered states of consciousness

Physiological short term changes in the brain caused by SM related activities

The self is sometimes burdensome

"The greater the demands in my outside life, the likelier I am to feel submissive sexually."

Escape from the Self

Baumeister (1988)Wiseman (1996)

Consciousness as a Process

Transient Hypofrontality Hypothesis

Dietrich (2003)

The Stroop Test

Read the word

Green

Red

Blue

Yellow

Name the color

XXXXX

XXXXX

XXXXX

XXXXX

Read the word

Yellow

Green

Blue

Red

Name the color

Green

Red

Yellow

Blue

Altered states in tops?

Flow

Csikszentimihályi (1991)

The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one.

Conditions under which flow happens

1. Engagement in activity chosen for its own sake

2. Perceived challenges are high while skill level is also high

3. Clear goals that are regarded important

4. Immediate feedback indicating success at task

5. Highly focused attention

Characteristics of flow state

1. Intense concentration on task

2. Deep sense of involvement and merging of action and awareness

3. Sense of control over one’s actions

4. Enjoyment in activity

5. Distorted sense of time

Correlation does not imply causation!

An experiment to test the causal effects of topping and bottoming

Recruited switches willing to be randomly assigned to the top or bottom role

Co-authors: James Ambler Ellen Lee Kathryn Klement Evelyn Comber Sarah Hanson

Bert Cutler Nadine Cutler Tonio Loewald

An experiment to test the causal effects of topping and bottoming

Recruited switches willing to be randomly assigned to the top or bottom role

With generous support from:

Participants

14 participants, 10 women, 4 men

Mean age= 40.86, SD=12.46, Range: 23-64

Sexual Orientation 1 gay/lesbian 10 bisexual/pansexual 3 heterosexual

Race All participants were Caucasian

Participants

BDSM experience (years) M=6.86, SD= 5.07, Range: 1-17

BDSM experience (# scenes) M=386.65, SD= 510.67, Range: 18-1500

Experience with study partner (# scenes) M= 39.64, SD= 79.73, Range: 0-250

Procedure

Informed consentPractice StroopBaseline StroopBaseline saliva

sampleBaseline survey

Pre-scene Stroop Pre-scene saliva

sample Pre-scene survey Scene Post-scene Stroop Post-scene saliva

samples (x3) Post-scene survey

How well did the scene go?

Top Bottom1

2

3

4

5

6

7

How well did the scene go?Very Well

Very Poorly

Open-ended thoughts

“It went better than I expected since it was random I did not know how well it would go.”

“It was fun and since I had never played with (#6) before it was nice the variety and different style.”

“Incredibly sensual and sexually charged, less about pain than sensuality and sensation.”

“He got my masochist to come out then fed her pain. I liked it.”

Impact of observation

Top Bottom1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Impact of ObservationVery strongly affected

Not at all affected

Self-other overlap

Baseline Post-scene1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Tops and bottoms

How intense was tonight’s scene?

Top Bottom1

2

3

4

5

6

7

How intense

What activities were most intense?

“the connection between us.” “heavy flogging at end.”“Being bitten on the tender sides of

my stomach and ribs.”“Biting the spot where her heart

chakra is.” “no one thing. It all added up to a

very intense/gratifying scene.”

Sexual, Spiritual, SM

Top Bottom1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

SexualSpiritualSM

Positive affect(excited, determined, attentive, …)

Baseline Pre-scene End of scene

Post-scene20

30

40

50

TopsBottoms

Negative affect(distressed, irritable, nervous, …)

Baseline Pre-scene End of scene

Post-scene10

20

30

40

TopsBottoms

Sexual arousal

Baseline Pre-scene End of scene

Post-scene1

2

3

4

5

TopsBottoms

Stress

Baseline Pre-scene End of scene

Post-scene1

2

3

4

5

TopsBottoms

Cortisol

Base

line

Pre-

scen

e

Post

-sce

ne

20 m

in la

ter

40 m

in la

ter

00.020.040.060.080.1

0.120.140.160.180.2

TopsBottoms

Altered states (Stroop)

Baseline Pre-scene Post-scene0

100

200

300

400

500

600

TopsBottoms

36 items (1-5 plus “not applicable” option)

“I was challenged, but I believed my skills would allow me to meet the challenge”

“I did things correctly without thinking about trying to do so”

“Time seemed to alter (either slowed down or speeded up)”

“I really enjoyed the experience of what I was doing”

Altered states (flow)

Altered states (flow)

Top Bottom1

2

3

4

5

Flow

Yoga: 3.85

Sports: 3.68

Exercise: 3.88

Conclusions

Incredible community support for research

Participants volunteered for more intrusion!

SM activities Increase intimacy Decrease stress and negative affect Increase then decrease sexual arousal

and positive affect Facilitate flow

Topping and bottoming caused

Different perceptions of scenes Tops: Sexual > Spiritual > SM Bottoms: SM > Sexual > Spiritual

Different perceptions of scene intensity Tops saw scenes as more intense than did

bottomsAltered states

Objective evidence of altered states of consciousness in bottoms

Future directions

For moreinformation:

http://www.niu.edu/user/tj0bjs1/bdsm.html

Thank you

http://www.niu.edu/user/tj0bjs1/bdsm.html

Brad Sagarin <bsagarin@niu.edu>