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Unusual Changes in Sexuality: Case Studies in Neurology

Hicup

Hicup

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Something to consider. As many here know it my hypothesis that sexuality, or more accurately, abnormal sexuality, derives from an imbalance or disfunction in the prefrontal cortex. This is the reason center of the brain, and in most humans is not fully developed until age 21 through 28 in some cases. I came across an article recently and meant to post it, but work interupted and it fell off my radar.

The article posted here is something that I think might relate to my ideas, and although nowhere near conclusive, certainly something to give one pause.

Link: The Neurocritic: Unusual Changes in Sexuality: Case Studies in Neurology

Some excerpts -
Hyposexuality is the most common, but other kinds of sexual changes do occur. ... In England, Davies and Morgenstern went out and found, among the temporal lobe epileptics, several other patients who were transvestites. ... I’m sure that the great majority of transvestites don’t have temporal lobe epilepsy, but it’s interesting that for whatever reason it can cause this. Although I’ve seen many women with temporal lobe epilepsy, someone called to my attention a phenomenon that I hadn’t observed before. The last four women I have seen have all been bisexual, which again is a rather striking finding.
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In 2003, the Archives of Neurology carried a startling clinical report [Burns & Swerdlow, 2003]. A middle-aged Virginian man with no history of any misdemeanour began to stash child pornography and sexually molest his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Placed in the court system, his sexual behaviour became increasingly compulsive. Eventually, after repeatedly complaining of headaches and vertigo, he was sent for a brain scan. It showed a large but benign tumour in the frontal area of his brain, invading the septum and hypothalmus - regions known to regulate sexual behaviour.

After removal of the tumour, his sexual interests returned to normal. Months later, his sexual focus on young girls rekindled, and a new scan revealed that bits of tissue missed in the surgery had grown into a sizeable tumour. Surgery once again restored his behavioural profile to "normal".
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A 57-year-old gay man, comfortable with his identity and aware of his sexual orientation since his early teens, came to the attention of Jawad et al. (2009) after suffering a stroke in the distribution of the left middle cerebral artery. He had experienced an earlier stroke 12 years before, a minor one in his right hemisphere but recovered completely. However...

The patient started complaining of his changed personality and heterosexual orientation 6 months after his second stroke. At the same time he complained of excessive mood swings and changed interests. He became preoccupied with photography and had a successful photographic exhibition a year after his second stroke. His sexual orientation remained heterosexual 4 years following the second stroke, and he preferred to describe himself as bisexual because of his previous homosexual orientation.
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Thoughts?



Tim-
 
Hicup said:
Something to consider. As many here know it my hypothesis that sexuality, or more accurately, abnormal sexuality, derives from an imbalance or disfunction in the prefrontal cortex. This is the reason center of the brain, and in most humans is not fully developed until age 21 through 28 in some cases. I came across an article recently and meant to post it, but work interupted and it fell off my radar.
Thoughts?

Tim-
Click to expand...

If true, it proves that sexual orientation is not a choice, but is biologically caused, something I've long believed.
 
The last four women I have seen have all been bisexual, which again is a rather striking finding.
Click to expand...

Striking finding? Sounds like this dude needs to get out more.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
If true, it proves that sexual orientation is not a choice, but is biologically caused, something I've long believed.
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It's not a gay gene...it's a gay tumor.
 
Just a few thoughts garnered from your examples...

-the great majority of transvestites don’t have temporal lobe epilepsy
-placed in the court system, his sexual behavior became increasingly compulsive
-aware of his sexual orientation since his early teens

None of these examples seem to support your hypothesis. They have done brain scan studies of gays before and while they have found differences, they haven't found anything which would provide for predictive validity. In other words, you cannot take a brain scan and deduce what a person's sexual orientation is from it. Until that is done, these are nothing but anecdotal correlations, which means they could be utterly meaningless.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
If true, it proves that sexual orientation is not a choice, but is biologically caused, something I've long believed.
Click to expand...

A thought, I might add that I have never dismissed outright. It could be entirely true. :) Besides, this article isn't written by someone anti gay; couldn't be farther from the truth, and if you read it all, he dismisses reparative therapy, for instance. I was not going the "reparative therapy" route, just so we're all on the same page. I find it interesting research though, and was genuinely curious what others thought.

Tim-
 
CriticalThought said:
Just a few thoughts garnered from your examples...

-the great majority of transvestites don’t have temporal lobe epilepsy
-placed in the court system, his sexual behavior became increasingly compulsive
-aware of his sexual orientation since his early teens

None of these examples seem to support your hypothesis. They have done brain scan studies of gays before and while they have found differences, they haven't found anything which would provide for predictive validity. In other words, you cannot take a brain scan and deduce what a person's sexual orientation is from it. Until that is done, these are nothing but anecdotal correlations, which means they could be utterly meaningless.
Click to expand...

True... But rather than the "same old" discussions on homosexuality we seem to endure here at DP, I thought a new track might be worth exploring?


Tim-
 
Hicup said:
A thought, I might add that I have never dismissed outright. It could be entirely true. :) Besides, this article isn't written by someone anti gay; couldn't be farther from the truth, and if you read it all, he dismisses reparative therapy, for instance. I was not going the "reparative therapy" route, just so we're all on the same page. I find it interesting research though, and was genuinely curious what others thought.

Tim-
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Your posts have taught us to be skeptical of you.
 
StillBallin75 said:
IIRC Oscar mentioned being a chem major in college, which should at least mean a basic understanding of some bio?
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bio is for ******s. I took one bio course in college. got tired of looking at green blobs under a microscope. bio lab final exam: identify 100 specimens, all of which were either indistinguishable green, red or brown blobs.
 
Hicup said:
A thought, I might add that I have never dismissed outright. It could be entirely true. :)
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If it were true that homosexuality, for instance, was a medical disability then it would be the end of a lot of debates because medical disabilities are a federally protected class.
 
CriticalThought said:
If it were true that homosexuality, for instance, was a medical disability then it would be the end of a lot of debates because medical disabilities are a federally protected class.
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wouldn't the homosexual communtiy just love that. get a welfare check from the gubbermint every month just for being gay.
 
OscarB63 said:
wouldn't the homosexual communtiy just love that. get a welfare check from the gubbermint every month just for being gay.
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That would be improbable. Homosexuality was removed from the DSM on the grounds that it alone did not lead to distress or impairment in day to day functioning. Even if it were categorized as a medical disability it would be classified as a reproductive impairment, not a mental one. As such, the most government money would likely be used for would be invitrofertilization treatments.
 
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What we do know about the PFC is that it is responsible, among other things, for desire, reason, attractiveness, emotion etc.. My hypothesis is that in some cases physical trauma has been responsible for altering one's sexuality, or in most cases their sexual proclivity. My hypothesis is that trauma takes on all forms, and not just physical. It is my guess that non-physical trauma, acting in cohort with several other neural centers of the brain, can be responsible for the early altering of what would otherwise be normal sexual orientation. I have NO data to support my theory, or even know of a way to test it, but intuitively I think it is possible.


Tim-
 
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CriticalThought said:
Contrary to reparative therapy, I am sure there are a host of treatments that you would support, right?
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"other" than raprative therapy, I'm not aware of any other forms of treatment for homosexuality? Are there more? Labotomy perhaps? :)


Tim-
 
Hicup said:
"other" than raprative therapy, I'm not aware of any other forms of treatment for homosexuality? Are there more? Labotomy perhaps? :)
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Raprative? Labotomy? Are these technical terms I've never come across before?
 
Hicup said:
What we do know about the PFC is that it is responsible, among other things, for desire, reason, attractiveness, emotion etc.. My hypothesis is that in some cases physical trauma has been responsible for altering one's sexuality, or in most cases their sexual proclivity. My hypothesis is that trauma takes on all forms, and not just physical. It is my guess that non-physical trauma, acting in cohort with several other neural centers of the brain, can be responsible for the early altering of what would otherwise be normal sexual orientation. I have data to support my theory, or even know of a way to test it, but intuitively I think it is possible.


Tim-
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That isn't improbable. Trauma does indeed come in many forms. Childhood neglect, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse have all been shown to have a measurable and substantial affect on neurology. Even certain chemical byproducts over time can lead to considerable neurological changes in specific areas of the brain.

However, it may be untestable. Not everyone who has experienced childhood trauma can recall it, and many who do may not be forthcoming in reporting it in a study. Environmental contaminants are also difficult to study since they tend to occur in random clusters. Furthermore, not everyone who experiences trauma, experiences it the same way even when it is of the same severity and type.
 
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