Patient ‘Natasha’ receiving spanking therapy at a clinic in Russia
If you have even a passing interest in spanking, the chances are you’ve searched for information about it on the internet. It’s likely that you’ve seen ‘therapeutic spanking’, or ‘spanking therapy’ offered, or written about. When many people read claims that spanking can be used this way, they are a little skeptical. Isn’t this just a way to pretend a spanking kink is something different and less ‘kinky’? Aren’t you just dressing up a spanking fetish with a veneer of therapeutic benefit? While those are good questions and it’s healthy to be skeptical, there is a body of evidence out there to show that spanking therapy is real, and many people find it beneficial.
A few years ago, an article appeared inThe Siberian Times, about a clinic in Russia that uses corporal punishment as a way to treat a wide range of addictions. Not only that, but a physician at the clinic, Dr Chukhrova, claimed
‘the increase of endorphins through the pain can change the lives of people who have suicidal tendencies, depression or other psychosomatic disorders’.
When the story and the clinic’s founder, Dr Sergei Speransky, first gained notoriety, they made quite an impact on the spanking web. Many blog posts were written about it, like this one, and more than one or two spanking videos were inspired by the idea (those links are very NSFW). Eventually, everybody calmed down a bit, and the non-spanko world stopped sniggering about it quite so much. After the dust settled, there seemed to be an opening up of the discussion about whether spanking, done safely and by an experienced disciplinarian, could be something other than BDSM, or a bit of boudoir naughtiness.
The approach used in Siberia is extreme, no doubt. Furthermore, despite claiming their approach is grounded in science, they haven’t published anything in the medical literature to show that it works. That said, there are enough practitioners of a more measured approach to spanking therapy, and enough happy spankees who claim benefits to suggest that spanking really can be therapeutic.
Take this article, for example, by Beth Sissons, in Medical News Today. As the article states, there are no clinical trials to prove the efficacy of going over a person’s knee per se, but there is a growing base of evidence from studies of BDSM practitioners about the positive effects of impact play, including spanking. Evidence suggests that getting spanked can reduce stress by improving hormonal balance, and releasing endorphins, and may help process or release trauma.
Spanking therapy has been likened to primal therapy, which aims to create a sort of mini-trauma to draw out repressed emotional pain. As Spankologist Miss Cane puts it in this BuzzFeed video on youtube:
If something traumatic happens, it puts a groove in the brain. What I’m doing is the same thing, but it’s not trauma to injure. Most of this is psychology and then the spanking just sort of underscores that.
By the way, if you watch that video to the end, both the journalists that volunteered to undergo spanking therapy for the piece said that it was helpful and that they’d recommend it. So, spanking therapy seems plausible, and there’s evidence from studies on BDSM practitioners that impact play can be useful psychologically, but does therapeutic spanking, of the sort practiced by many disciplinarians, really work?
I would argue that, anecdotally at least. It does. I’ve spanked many women over the years. Some of them have come to me because they’re struggling at work or at university and need help focusing. Others are struggling with social or parental pressure, with anxiety, or bad habits that they wanted to change. In enough cases to convince me, talking about the challenges that they face, coupled with spanking to create an altered state of mind and a cathartic experience has made a huge difference. It’s not just me that says so. Take a look at Kate Sloan’s piece in medium about her mental health need to be spanked, or any of Jilian Keenan’s writings about her lifelong spanking fetish.
So that’s my view on spanking therapy. Like so many things in life, it’s all about the context. Spanking can, under the right circumstances, be highly therapeutic. When accompanied by a healthy conversation about what the spankee wants to achieve, I strongly believe it can help a person open up and access suppressed emotions, fears, and pains. If done responsibly, the process can be an extremely valuable tool in helping deal with stress, anxiety, and conflict.
Disclaimer:
Dr David is a real doctor but doesn’t have any qualifications in psychology, psychotherapy or mental health. The information in this blog post is purely opinion and not intended to replace real medical advice. If you’re struggling with mental health issues, please see a medical professional.
