[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: Psychological Effects of Circumcision

Written by Rood at 10 Jan 2003 23:33:10:

As an answer to: Re: Psychological Effects of Circumcision written by Robert Levy, MD, Phd at 10 Jan 2003 21:35:33:

>>Not having been circumcised as an infant I'm afraid that I can't help you.
>>However, the type of study to which you refer is of great interest to me. I have heard several scholarly presentations on the effects of trauma on an infant's brain, but no one, it seems, has been willing to study the subject of circumcision, presumably because of its controversial status...meaning, evidently, its religious connections.
>>We are told not to shake a child, not to throw them up into the air, we are told of the traumatic and psychological effects of "battering", but crushing or cutting an infant's foreskin is too "controversial" and ordinary an occurrence to warrant study. Ellen Galinsky, President of the Family and Work Institute, gave a speech in Phoenix in which she said, "...negative experiences or the absence of appropriate stimulation are more likely to have serious and sustained effects (on the child's brain)." When queried on the impact of circumcision on the brain, she had to admit that she had never given it a thought. To my knowledge, no one has ever done a brain scan on a child undergoing circumcision. The most to which a professional will admit is the possibility of a connection between the trauma of circumcision and later, adult, violent and anti-social behaviour. It is all an educated guess on their part. Perhaps you would find more fertile ground for your study in our prisons.
>>The entire field of circumcision as it applies to both infants and adults is a field ripe for serious study. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Circlist and its companion site at Yahoo: PROCIRC, and you will find the full horror of the adult obsession with cutting foreskins. In many of these cases the obsession developed at a very early age...3,4 and 5 years. In some of these instances the psychological obsession developed from NOT being cut, or from seemingly innocent comments by parents or friends. You would shiver in your skin to hear some of the stories these men will tell in private. I refer to genital self-mutilation with razor blades, and of series of circumcision...2,3,4,5, even six separate instances over a period of years.
>>Almost as much as I'd like to know the effects of circumcision on the infant brain, I'd like to know why ADULTS find it so easy to mutilate helpless babies and themselves. Why has the medical establishment ignored this subject?
>>Oh, and by the way, it's unfortunate that you weren't around a year ago. There was a site on Yahoo called "Circstories" (now defunct) devoted to individual stories of circumcision. There were hundreds of examples.
>>As an aside, I must say that you have come into a mine-field. The subject of circumcision is rife with controversy. There are strong feelings on both sides of the subject...and much interest in discrediting individuals. For you to expect men to freely give details of their private lives in regard to circumcision on an open forum such as this is terribly naive of you. It's why many will question both your credentials and your purpose. Should you wish to do a serious study...you have probably come to the wrong place. Your study, as presented, is so amateurish that this alone would cause anyone to hesitate to help you...
>>But good luck.
>>
>>>I wish to gain some insight into the possibility that circumcisions performed on infants may have an effect later in life. I am currently treating a young man, aged 19, who was circumcised as an infant. Over the past several sessions it is becoming evident to me that the procedure has had a profound influence upon his behavior and feelings.
>>>What I am asking is that anyone who might think he has also been affected to please share with me how you think it has. In order to maintain your privacy, I would ask that you answer here in the forum.
>Mr. Korydon, you have mistaken my intentions. My inquiry is not to be misinterpreted as a study. Formal studies consume both time and money for conducting them as well as arranging them in advance.
>You see, I am Jewish and was circumcised according to tradition. To think that circumcision might be objectionable to anyone is completely foreign to me. When the young man in question started bringing the subject into our discussions, I was initially surprised that such an accepted practice could have any effect upon the patient. In thirty years of practice, this is the only time this subject has been discussed. Now, I am pondering if something may have been missed in other patients in the past.
>You seem quite knowledgable about this particular subject, and perhaps a study might be in order, but you must understand that in the profession of medicine as practiced in the Americas, any physician suggesting such a study risks being laughed right out of his practice. From the looks of things here, others besides doctors find comedy in it also.
>Mr. Korydon, do you know of any physicians who contribute to this forum?
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Well, at first I assumed that you were a physician, but now I wonder. Doctor's take an oath, do they not, part of which states: "First do no harm." They are trained to alleviate pain and to help the sick and lame.

You, on the other hand, evidently think nothing of genitally mutilating helpless infants, and then wonder why someone, indeed a patient, should complain or exhibit symptoms of distress. How do you even dare ask here for confirmation of your "discovery". Aren't you afraid that your fellow doctors will laugh you right out of your practice?

You are either hopelessly naive or borderline "stupid". There's certainly no evidence that you have been taught to think logically. To have been genitally mutilated and remain completely unaware of its effect upon your body and mind certainly doesn't illustrate the thought processes necessary to diagnose illness.

I'm afraid that you are going to have to prove yourself, preferably at "Fathermag", or by independent demonstration, before anyone here will take you seriously.


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