This experiment occurred during the context of an orgasm study. All pa — Orgasm

"Recent work with real-time fMRI, in conjunction with compatible EEG/MEG, shows promise in allowing us to observe the brain at work (or play). Perhaps this method, in conjunction with effective connectivity data analysis techniques, will permit us to unravel the continuing mysteries of the orgasm sequence. How the various brain regions influence each other, activating and inhibiting one another, to produce the pleasures leading up to and including orgasm may well have applications beyond the bedroom. This method has already been therapeutically applied as a tool for neuro biofeedback, with the goal to increase activity in the left amygdala (Zotev et al., 2014) and insula (Veit et al., 2012), which has been associated with enhanced mood regulation and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is possible that by studying people who are virtuosos in regulation of their pleasure systems, such as the easily orgasmic women in our study who activated their genital sensory cortex simply by “imagining” genital stimulation, or the population of women who can literally “think” themselves into orgasm, previously studied by our group(Whipple et al, 1992), we will learn more effective strategies for helping mood-challenged individuals exercise the brain’s capacity for self-regulation."

"The objective of this study was to test the Betty Dodson method of breaking the female orgasm barrier in chronic anorgasmic women. The aim was sexual and existential healing (salutogenesis) through direct confrontation and integration of both the repressed shame, guilt, and other negative feelings associated with body, genitals, and sexuality, and the repressed sexual pleasure and desire. We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinic data from holistic sexological manual therapeutic intervention, an intensive subtype of clinical holistic medicine (CHM). The patients received 3 × 5 h of group therapy, integrating short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) and complementary medicine (CAM bodywork, manual sexology similar to the “sexological examination”). The therapy used the advanced tools of reparenting, genital acceptance, acceptance through touch, and direct sexual clitoral stimulation. A clitoral vibrator was used. Participants were 500 female patients between 18 and 88 years of age (mean of 35 years) with chronic anorgasmia (for 12 years on average) who were participating in the “orgasm course for anorgasmic women”; 25% of the patients had never experienced an orgasm. Our results show that 465 patients (93%) had an orgasm during therapy, witnessed by the therapist, and 35 patients (7%) did not. Postmenopausal women were as able to achieve orgasm as fertile women, as were women who never had an orgasm. No patients had detectable negative side effects or adverse effects. NNT: 1.04 500. Therapeutic value: TV = NNH/NNT > 446. Our conclusions are that holistic sexological manual therapy may be rational, safe, ethical, and efficient."

"Our laboratory, the Komisaruk group, has consistently found widespread, regional brain activation leading up to and peaking at orgasm, including frontal and temporal brain regions, while conversely, the Georgiadis group report diametrically opposite results in which the frontal cortex—specifically the right medial orbitofrontal, left lateral orbifrontal, and left dorsolateral cortices—and right amygdala were deactivated during orgasm. And also in contrast with our findings of widespread activation during orgasm, the Dutch group has reported finding reliable orgasm-related activation only in the cerebellum (Georgiadis et al., 2006), and more recently, the pons (Huynhet al., 2013)"

"What happens in the brain that initiates and orchestrates the “going over” from stimulation to orgasm? This is of interest for clinical applications for individuals suffering from the inability to experience an orgasm. We attempted to elucidate this by comparing the stimulation period that immediately precedes the onset of orgasm with that at the onset of orgasm."

"Overall, our findings lead us to conclude that women’s orgasm is a major neurological event, involving widespread activity in many regions of the brain. Future effective connectivity studies should help elucidate how the activity of these regions develops and is integrated over the course of stimulation, orgasm, and recovery in the totality of the orgasm sequence."

"If you understand the way that the genital system gets to the brain, we can understand pathologies, where there is a blockage—say, in people who don’t have orgasms—where is their system blocked, and why. That’s where we are going now. Once we can understand the natural process, we can understand the pathology and how to attack."