Whipping therapy cures addiction, depression, and suicide crises

Sigh. I do not believe that I ever said that this was not "an OK treatment." I said that: 1) If I thought it would have worked, I would have tried just about anything -- including whipping -- to find relief when I was going through that experience, and 2) I indicated that IF this was a hoax, it was a cruel one. I have no idea whether this treatment works. I am inclined to agree with others on this thread that it sounds dangerous and unlikely to have long-term benefits...but I am reserving judgment until I see additional -- credible -- evidence.

Wayseeker, speaking of counseling your therapist, the one guy who was able to help me was an interesting case study in his own right. I stopped seeing him for therapy many years ago (certainly an open question as to whether I continued to need it...), but I valued his friendship, so we would meet for coffee or for lunch once every three or four months (he lived in a community about two hours from mine). He was about 5'4" tall and weighed - as he himself put it - north of 300 pounds and occasionally Arctic Circle north, if you know what I mean.

So he was kind of a little fireplug of a man (speaking of which, I applied that same description to one of our dogs this morning while speaking to my 16-year-old daughter, and she said, "Dad, what's a fireplug?" Double Sigh...I felt like Methuselah...). But his mind was incredibly active. He was interested, it seemed, in just about everything but had a particular passion for Irish culture, "fringe" religions and the Central Intelligence Agency.

He passed away the first week of September at the age of 71 (I think all that weight was ultimately just too much for his heart)..,and I miss him terribly. I Googled his obituary a few weeks after he died and made an amazing (to me, anyway) discovery. This rotund little man had, in his youth, been a champion fencer. In fact, he had won first place in the annual Southern California saber championship. I don't recall ever seeing a heavy fencer, so he must have been a much different young man, at least physically.

There are new ways of going about helping people. Like a man who created a pill out of helping his aggressive pigs to become calmer. But people look down on it as something that doesn't work. Why? Because it's different and they are uncomfortable with different.

No shocker since it is happening here as well with "know it alls" on what is and isn't an ok kind of treatment.

To say you have any ideal of whether I'm like you or not and to think you have any idea of my level of maturity is just another one of your know-it-all statements. Try reading the interchange of my comments with others on this post. On second though don't bother because I am not going to get pulled into one of your long winded arguments as some members do, so go find someone else to argue with. I have better things to do.

Unfortunately the selection of medication is still half art and half science. As you know a doctor may have too try a number of antidepressants on a patient before finding one that works for them. Over the years quite a number of medications have been tried with me. I've even had shock treatments which didn't remove my symptoms enough to continue with. Most medications tried haven't relieved the symptoms and none of them have been a miracle pill that cured my condition. It's generally accepted that it is helpful for psychotherapy to be used with medication. My therapists have helped me have valuable incite and given me vital support during the worst times. This is what sound psychiatric treatment consists of and not, excuse my language, the bullshit described in this article.

Wayseeker, your response is not only wonderfully perceptive, it is inspiring. To accomplish what you have accomplished while carrying that heavy burden is remarkable. I too was one of the lucky people for whom anti-depressants provided a measure of relief...though the medications that were available in those days took a LONG time (months) to take effect. My understanding is that several of the newer medications can provide relief to most patients in a matter of weeks.

The challenge, of course,is two-fold: 1) making certain that sufferers do not harm themselves out of despair while waiting for the medications to work (when you take a pill day after day and nothing happens, it is sometimes very difficult to believe that anything ever WILL happen), and 2) finding the right mix of treatments for those poor souls for whom anti-depressant medication is not even a partial solution.

I have done some volunteer work at the local hospital, talking to (and more importantly LISTENING to) people who suffer from depression, and it is those who do not respond to medication who have the most heart-breaking life stories. Offering them false hope is, as I said earlier, just incredibly cruel.

cztheday - You've described the symptoms of serious depression well. I think anyone who's been there will agree. Words can hardly describe the hell of depression. Mine started in my early 20's and became a battle for my sanity throughout my life. I am now 66 and have been on antidepressants and other medications and in consistent therapy for 43 years. I no longer get deeply depressed, I just get pretty sad at times. I try to encourage others not to give up on themselves. Despite not feeling OK I earned a degree in Fine Arts at the age of 55. I've spent my adult life trying to understand my condition while learning a good deal about psychology in general. As I've already said I think the practices described in this article are not only off the road of mainline psychology, they are ludicrous and dangerous. To begin with once you began assaulting someone for any reason it becomes a slippery slope. As jubal said it is sadomasochinist behavior and I would add that it could easily encourage the development of victimization in a master-slave relationship. So whether or not this article is a hoax it is one thing for sure. It is trash behavior science which just delays the patient's reception of sound professional care. I hope that you continue to remain free of the debilitating pain of depression.

I am not familiar with the different kinds of depression (one of the commenters referred, I believe, to anxiety-based depression?). I suffered two bouts of depression in my late 20s. Each lasted about six or seven months, and they occurred about a year apart. One minute I was a straight-A student in graduate school with a dozen reputable firms vying for my post-graduate employment...and the next minute (or at least so it seemed to me), I was immobilized by the blackest, most horrible feelings of utter despair and hopelessness you can imagine.

And there was no REASON for it! I kept writing inventories of everything that had happened to me, trying in vain to find a cause. On the one hand, I had no energy to do anything...and yet I would have leapt at ANY hope for a cure. Anti-depressants? OK by me. Electroshock? Bring it on. Whipping? Hell yeah. What? Like I am going to feel any worse? Physical pain meant nothing to me in those depths. I was DEFINITELY motivated to find a cure...or even just some kind of palliative treatment to ease my suffering.

When the second depression hit just one year after the first had ended, the experience was almost beyond endurance -- especially because I had to wonder whether there would be a third and a fourth and fifth...I had read of people who had such experiences...I think Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln suffered in that way, making their achievements all that much more remarkable...

That was more than 20 years ago now, and I have been depression-free for all that time. But I know how quickly it can descend and shudder when I consider how close I came to taking permanent measures to end my suffering. So if this IS a hoax, it is a cruel one indeed.

So I guess I'm not dysfunctional for enjoying a good whipping from time to time. Really though? I have trouble accepting that whipping therapy is going to give people the will power to stop drug addiction. Won't they wanna get high after such painful physical abuse? Isn't physical abuse one of the biggest reasons children grow up to become addicts? I know that's why I did. I definitely did not get sober from being whipped me into shape.

My god man just give the poor people a joint. Besides he obviously doesn't know American's. they pay to have that shit done to them.

Actually, getting flogged can be a lot of fun... but seriously... ever wonder why some people just really like to fight?

Makes sense? I guess so does rapidly beating someone's head against the wall to cure day dreaming. That works too. I'm outta here.

I laughed this off at first, but after some thought it begins to make sense. Extreme physical exertion results in the release of endorphins and a sense of elation and well being. Maybe the whipping mimics the effects of exertion causing the release of the feel good hormones? I would go for the exercise.

The opinion of other well known and established behavior scientists on the practice of whipping a subject to increase endorphins to beak addition might be quite different than the Russian scientists. Being professionals in the same field they have the right and responsibility to critique the claims being made. I would certainly want to hear from them before believing even for a minute that this practice isn't pointless and possibly dangerous. I'm not ignorant on this subject and my take is the practice is absolutely ludicrous.

These aren't scientists, their Sadomasochists.

This isn't the first thing like this to come out of Russian psychology. There was another not dissimilar treatment that used drugs to induce dangerously high fevers that lasted for days.
They thought for a while it was highly effective, but it later turned out that the patients would simply lie about their symptoms to get out of the treatment.

It sounds that you would be willing to believe anything j-jammer. Doesn't say much for your intellect.

There's a lot of way worse things people believe in. This is mild in comparison.

This is too serious of a subject to blindly accept someone's word for it half a world away. Good science requires good research that can stand up too scrutiny. If you're willing too believe claims this outrageous without holding them up to the light then you get what you pay for so to speak..

This proves you believe what you want to believe. Evidence means nothing if the person just doesn't believe it.

Works on kids too - maybe not with an old slave whip, but whatever happened to getting the belt? F'n kids these days just do what they want!

I saw this on Manswers some time ago. Interesting idea that seems to work.

what about marks? or bloodly gaping wounds?

"Russian scientists from the city of Novosibirsk, Siberia," Like this is a great source for proven scientific research. If it isn't obvious just by the claims they make that this isn't bullshit I don't know what is. I suppose "Psychology Today" would jump at the chance too print this one. (satire)

Um...if the release of endorphins is the object, wouldn't frequent sexual intercourse have similar results? Nephwrack seems to be on the right track. I suppose the two therapies could be combined...but when it comes to the whole pain versus pleasure thing, I am afraid I must admit an aversion to pain...it hurts me...

This article -- if it is not tongue-in-cheek does make me wonder if electroshock therapy also releases endorphins. Articles I have read recently indicate that the therapy has become more sophisticated and thus more successful than the horrific outcomes from such therapy as portrayed in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest...

who i didnt say i agreed with beating people.
lolz.
i just thought this was so interesting/funny cause i have to do a research paper on addictions and i stumbled upon this.

And with me, impotence xP

This bit of bull shit proves no such thing. But your comment proves you don't know crap about raising kids.

this proves that people need to beat their kids asses when they acted up. If this were the case then you wouldn't have kids shooting up schools because they knew their parents would make them go out back and pick a switch off the tree to beat their ass with.

I would rather be depressed.

After the treatment - " Well . at least my as* doesn't hurt anymore - things are lookin' up ! " . It is all relative .

LOL I can see it now:

doc "so are you feeling depressed again today?"
patient "will I get whipped again if I am?"
doc "Of course."
patient "Well it's a good thing I feel great then! I'm cured! It's a Miracle! Thanks doc I hope never to see you again.. ever."

the reason ppl "like" getting whipped is because of the endorphine (sp) rush it causes, so basically, sex therapy could work just as well.

reads like something out of the onion.

What happens when they stop the whipping therapy?

Replacing one set of endorphin producing activities (substance abuse) with a physically damaging set is no way to treat addiction or depression. You'll simply create masochists addicted to pain.

Exercise is a much healthier alternative.

Ok, so my Dad had it right so long ago.......

very interesting