Posted by used2b on April 3, 2005, at 14:54:11
In reply to Whipping therapy cures depression and suicide cris, posted by jrbecker on March 26, 2005, at 12:41:53
The important element of endorphine-producing therapies probably has to do as much with cognition of associated experiences as it does with the undifferentiated elevation of endorphine activity. In the case of the Siberian study, it would be instructive to know if gay people better respond to same-sex whipping.
Painful rituals enjoy a long history in human culture. Many aboriginal tribes practice, or once practiced, painful initiation rites. Early Spanish Catholics in the American Southwest were reknowned for self-flagelation and a few continue the practice to this day. Tribes in the upper Great Plains of the US practiced painful sundance rituals, and some continue the practice today.
I dare not attempt counting the proportion of modern parents who consider intentional inflamation of the buttocks to be an appropriate means of adjusting the attitude of their progeny. Some schools still maintain the practice, especially toward younger students. Flagelations during initiations to collegiate associations are often dismissed as youthful pranksterism yet their role in shaping social-congition is poorly understood and rarely studied.
I suspect the efficacy of pain-related rituals or treatments somehow correlates with authoritarian circumstances, especially those in which cultural expectations don't allow an individual an opportunity to opt out of cultural roles, or where legitimized authoritarian expecations were closely associated with parental nurturing.
Following the same a hunch, I would expect those who self-injure outside any legitimizing social context usually suffered physical or emotional pain under the control of a childhood caregiver.
poster:used2b
thread:475824
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050330/msgs/479347.html