Sadism and Masochism Mental Health Cry for Help

Practices of sexual masochism and sadism aren't games but mental health conditions in need of intervention. The practices can be deadly for people either by accident or murder.

ABC news reports the actor David Carradine Carradine may have practiced auto-erotic asphyxia for a long time. This dangerous sexual practice may have been responsible for Carradine’s death, and if so, his mental health was impaired for years, as experts observe. He was found dead in a hotel room closet in Thailand this week in an intricate web of ropes. One was around his neck, another around his genitals; and the two were tied together according to the Thai authorities who discovered him. Sex experts referred to in the ABC news article maintain that Carradine’s advanced age indicates that he may have practiced auto erotic asphyxia for a long time, indicating a pattern of self abuse would have been seen by mental health professionals as a cry for help. Divorce documents from Carradine’s last marriage was put online by The Smoking gun. In those documents the ex-wife Marina Anderson maintains Carradine practiced “deviant sexual behavior" which was potentially deadly.” Some experts consider auto erotic asphyxia as that behavior. If this is true, one wonders if there is anything in the records indicating a mental health professional to have been recommended to Carradine and if not, why not. Stephen J. Hucker, forensic psychiatrist, describes auto erotic asphyxia as “a sub-category of sexual masochism. Also known by terms such as asphyxiophilia, autoerotic or sexual asphyxia, this potentially lethal sexual practice refers to sexual arousal that is produced while reducing the oxygen supply to the brain. The condition is described in the DSM IV, which is the diagnostic manual of mental conditions. It is described as “ behaviour that results from intense and recurring fantasies or sexual urges over at least six months must be causing significant clinical stress and/or impairment (social, occupational, other).” The condition of auto erotic asphyxia has been known to medical science for about a hundred years, according to Hucker, who has studied the practice extensively. He writes, “ There is no evidence that hypoxyphilia is a form of disguised suicide. In most cases hypoxyphilic deaths are a complete surprise to family and friends as the deceased was typically in a good mood and giving every indication that they were looking forward to the future.” Some of the sexually aberrant conditions described in the DSM IV describe those who hurt themselves, while other definitions incorporate sexually sadistic acts directed towards hurting others. Evelyn Nesbitt, a famous model - show girl, was one of the most famous, publicly described cases early on of sadistic behavior. In the Carradine case some speculate there may have been someone with the actor at the time of death who was also involved in the sex game, which is one of the reasons why an investigation in depth is being asked for by the Carradine family. Evelyn Nesbitt, the original' "Gibson Girl" model of the late Meiji-era, and the darling of photographers in the early 1900's, was sexually involved with the famous architect Stanford White who liked to photograph women naked and enjoyed sex games. She, like Carradine, lived a life of thrill-seeking that was said to possess a sexuality which could drive men mad with lust. She became the central figure in the trial of her husband, Harry Kendall Thaw, who killed White in a jealous rage after Nesbitt described White's sexual proclivities and her involvement with them. Sex games can be risky in many ways, it seems, when they lead to murder or to accidental death, as is now hypothesized occurred in the case of Carradine. Chuck Binder, David Carradine’s manager, describes the deceased actor, David Carradine, as someone who liked to do interesting types of roles in films and not someone who would intentionally commit suicide. Carradine was described on the Larry King Live show by experts and those who knew him as someone who was optimistic and who had positive hopes for his continuing work as an actor. While Carradine’s family pursues authorities in Thailand to conduct a thorough investigation of the cause Carradine’s cause of death, the description of events and the details provided by Hucker and the DSM IV seemed to indicate auto erotic asphyxia among some of the seriously-considered set of possibilities of Carradine’s death. Nothing has been said, however, whether Carradine sought help for his condition or whether it was recommended, which is of note given the divorce records and statements of the problem.