Sadism And Masochism As Medical Terms
In psychiatry, the terms sadism and masochism describe a personality type characterized by the individual deriving pleasure and gratification from either inflicting or receiving physical pain and/or humiliation, respectively. In some cases the pleasure and gratification may be sexual but in others sexual pleasure is not experienced, and it may involve deriving the pleasure from masochistic or sadist behaviour towards the opposite gender or same gender as self. Some individuals appear to be exclusively sadist and others exclusively masochistic in deriving their pleasure, but many alternately derive pleasure from sadist and masochistic thoughts and experiences involving themselves and others.
The term sadomasochism denotes the co-occurrence of sadism and masochism in one person, as discrete mental disorders. Some contend masochism to be the spiritual inner self-punishment for acts inwardly acknowledged to be sadism. In psychiatric theory, the term "sadomasochism" may be used exclusively. The medical definitions (denotations and connotations) of "sadism" and "masochism" have been modified as required by medical progress, since the Austrian psychiatrist Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902) introduced the terms to psychiatry in the 19th century. This article presents the development of "sadism" and "masochism" as medical terms, leading to their contemporary definitions as a paraphilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). As erotic practices, the sadomasochistic subculture, and related matters, are noted historically.
Read more about Sadism And Masochism As Medical Terms: Early Descriptions, Krafft-Ebing and The Psychopathia Sexualis, Freud and Psychoanalysis, Empirical Research, Contemporary Perspective
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“Sadism and masochism, in Freud’s final formulation, are fusions of Eros and the destructive instincts. Sadism represents a fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts directed outwards, in which the destructiveness has the character of aggressiveness. Masochism represents the fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts turned against oneself, the aim of the latter being self-destruction.”
—Patrick Mullahy (b. 1912)
“Sadism and masochism, in Freud’s final formulation, are fusions of Eros and the destructive instincts. Sadism represents a fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts directed outwards, in which the destructiveness has the character of aggressiveness. Masochism represents the fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts turned against oneself, the aim of the latter being self-destruction.”
—Patrick Mullahy (b. 1912)
“Sadism and masochism, in Freud’s final formulation, are fusions of Eros and the destructive instincts. Sadism represents a fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts directed outwards, in which the destructiveness has the character of aggressiveness. Masochism represents the fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts turned against oneself, the aim of the latter being self-destruction.”
—Patrick Mullahy (b. 1912)
“Sadism and masochism, in Freud’s final formulation, are fusions of Eros and the destructive instincts. Sadism represents a fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts directed outwards, in which the destructiveness has the character of aggressiveness. Masochism represents the fusion of the erotic instincts and the destructive instincts turned against oneself, the aim of the latter being self-destruction.”
—Patrick Mullahy (b. 1912)
“They said I’d never get you back again.
I tell you what you’ll never really know:
all the medical hypothesis
that explained my brain will never be as true as these
struck leaves letting go.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Ay, ay, the best terms will grow obsolete: damns have had their day.”
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)