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* <youtube>v=3AulRgBt6ls&feature=youtu.be</youtube>
* === A Therapist on Men's Hidden Circumcision Grief === <youtube>tNCJ7AL_ThY</youtube> <br>=== Gregory Becker voices a personal memoir on his circumcision experience ===<youtube>https://youtu.be/02K_76WjOds</youtube>
→Depression, rage, and grief in circumcised men: Wikify.
Male [[circumcision]] is a surgical [[amputation]] of the [[foreskin]], which contains more than one-half of the erogenous epithelium of the [[penis]]. The [[amputation]] is most frequently carried out on infants and small boys who cannot and do not give consent for the loss of so much of their [[penis]]. There are many '''psychological issues of male circumcision''' that arise from the painful, traumatic, involuntary loss of the part of the [[penis ]] with the erogenous tissue that provides much sexual sensation.<ref name ="uberoi2022">{{REFjournal
|last=Uberoi
|first=
== Profound lack of understanding of psychological issues ==
There was little awareness of emotional and /or psychological issues when child [[circumcision ]] was being promoted in the late 19th century and early 20th century. For example, [[Douglas Gairdner]] (1949) made no mention at all of [[pain]], [[trauma]] behavior changes, or psychological issues in his landmark 1949 paper.<ref name="fate1949">{{GairdnerDM 1949}}</ref> Intact America (2023) reported that [[intact]] males were shamed.<ref>{{REFweb |url=https://intactamerica.org/foreskin-phobia-intact-penis-shamed/ |title=Foreskin Phobia: How The Intact Penis Has Been Shamed |last=Anonymous |first= |init= |publisher= |date=2023-12-21 |accessdate=2023-12-31}}</ref>
==Increasing awareness==
* Hysteria.
Levy saw a relationships to what was then called ''combat neurosis '' and now known as postraumatic post traumatic stress disorder ([[PTSD]]).<ref name="levy1945">{{REFjournal
|last=Levy
|first=David
British child psychologist Gocke Cansever tested twelve Turkish boys before and after circumcision. Cansever (1965) confirmed the conclusions of Anna Freud (1952) and reported:
<blockquote>
The results of the tests showed that [[circumcision]], performed around the phallic stage is perceived by the child as an act of aggression and castration. It has detrimental effects on the child's functioning and adaptation, particularly on his ego strength. By weakening the controlling and defensive mechanisms of the ego, and initiating regression, it loosens the previously hidden fears, anxieties, and instinctual impulses, and renders a feeling of reality to them. What is expressed following the operation is primitive, archaic and unsocialized in character. As a defensive control and protection against the surge of the instinctual forces coming from within and the threats coming from outside, the ego of the child seeks safety in total withdrawal, this isolates and insulates itself from disturbing stimuli.<ref name="cansever1965">{{REFjournal
|last=Cansever
|first=Gocke
|pubmedID=5322308
|pubmedCID=
|DOI= https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1965.tb01314.x
|accessdate=2019-12-05
}}</ref></blockquote>
Emde et al. (1971) being curious about changes in infant behavior after painful heel sticking, decided to test baby boys before and after routine (non-therapeutic) [[circumcision]] performed without anesthesia. Not surprisingly, they found that circumcision changed behavior. They concluded:
<blockquote>
Routine hospital circumcision, done without anesthesia, was chosen as a potential stressor which might be expected to produce prolonged bombardment of pain pathways. Two studies, one without polygraphic manipulation and one with EEG and polygraphic manipulation and one with EEG and polygraphic recording, resulted in similar findings. Circumcision was usually followed by prolonged, non-REM sleep. Effects of circumcision were demonstrable in terms of an increase in the amount of non-REM sleep (p<0.01) and a decrease in latency to the onset of non-REM sleep (P<0.05). Infants were used as their own controls and were compared with non-circumcised males for statistical analysis. Postcircumcision Post circumcision increase in non-REM sleep was also reflected in an increased total number of non-REM sleep periods and an increased number of extremely long non-REM sleep periods.<ref name=emde1971">{{REFjournal
|last=Emde
|first=Robert M.
Grimes (1978) also expressed concern, writing:
<blockquote>
In contrast to the sometimes dramatic somatic responses of the neonate to operation without anesthesia, the psychological consequences of this trauma are conjectural. Psychoanalyst Erik Erickson has described the first of eight stages of man as the development of basic trust versus basic mistrust. For the baby to be plucked from his bed, [[Circumstraint|strapped in a spread eagle position]], and doused with chilling antiseptic is perhaps consistent with other new-found discomforts of extrauterine extra-uterine existence. The application of crushing clamps and [[excision]] of penile tissue, however, probably do little to engender a trusting, congenial, relationship with the infants infant's new surroundings.<ref name="grimes1978">{{REFjournal
|last=Grimes
|first=David A.
}}</ref>
Marshall et al. (1982) studied the effect of [[circumcision ]] on mother-child interaction (primarily breastmilk substitute feeding behavior) in a hospital setting. They reported: "The experimental group exhibited fewer intervals of uninterrupted feeding than did the control group."<ref name="marshall1982">{{REFjournal
|last=Marshall
|init=RE
}}</ref>
Porter et al. (1988) recorded the cries of boys undergoing non-therapeutic child circumcision. They found that the pitch of the cries increased as stress ([[euphemism]] for [[pain]]) increases.<ref name="porter1988">{{REFjournal
|last=Porter
|first=Fran Lang
}}</ref>
The research reported in this section clearly establish the the distress shown by male infants during unanesthetized circumcision does not come from being restrained, that infants feel extreme pain, that sucking on a pacifier does not reduce pain, although it may reduce crying, and that neonatal non-therapeutic [[circumcision ]] is traumatic for the child.
==Trauma of circumcision==
[[Dan Bollinger | Bollinger]] & [[Georganne Chapin| Chapin ]] (1999) documented the extremely painful and traumatic nature of infant [[circumcision]].<ref name="bollinger2019">{{REFdocument
|title=Child Genital Cutting as an Adverse Childhood Experience
|trans-title=
|date=2019-08-01
|accessdate=2021-06-30
}}</ref> Ramos & [[Gregory J. Boyle| Boyle ]] (2001) studied the psychological effects of [[circumcision]] ([[tuli]]) on Philippine boys. They reported that sixty-nine percent of traditionally [[circumcised]] boys and fifty-one percent of medically circumcised boys met the criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder ([[PTSD]]).<ref name="ramos-boyle2001">{{REFbook
|last=Ramos
|first=Samuel
}}</ref>
[[Anna Taddio | Taddio]] et al. (1995) (1997) studied the behavior of [[circumcised]] boys in comparison to the behavior of [[intact]] boys at the time of routine vaccination. Taddio et al. (1995) reported:
<blockquote>
Male circumcision is the most common neonatal surgical procedure. It causes intense pain and measurable changes in behaviour that last up to 1 day. We found that circumcision status was associated with increased infant pain response to routine vaccination at 4-6 months. [[Circumcised]] boys had significantly longer crying bouts and higher pain scores. That both outcome measures, pain index, and cry duration, were influenced by circumcision lends credibility to our observations. During the second (HIB) vaccination, circumcision status was more clearly associated with the observed pain response than after DPT. The DPT injection might have had a priming effect in [[circumcised]] infants which led them to exhibit even more pain after the HIB injection. The effects of memory and reinforcement on later nocioceptive experience in neonates are not known. Because memory of pain is believed to be important in subsequent pain perception, and the main structures for memory are functional in the neonatal period, it is conceivable that pain from circumcision may have long-lasting effects on pain response and/or perception.<ref name="taddio1995">{{TaddioA etal 1995}}</ref>
|date=2022-03-31
|accessdate=2023-07-29
}}</ref> [[Circumcised]] men historically have protected their feelings by ''denying that they have lost anything''. <ref>{{REFbook |last=Bigelow, Ph.D |first=Jim |init= |author-link=Jim Bigelow |year=1995 |title=The Joy of Uncircumcising |url= |work= |editor= |edition=Second Edition |volume= |chapter=Psychological factors related to infant circumcision. |scope= |page=92 |pages= |location=Aptos |publisher=Hourglass |ISBN=0-934061-22-X |quote= |accessdate=2023-08-13 |note=}}</ref> Trivialization of the loss is a frequent defense mechanism. Another is the production of fantasies about the alleged horrors of [[smegma]], [[Pheromone| aroma]], and [[Acroposthion| appearance]].
''Anger'' is the second stage of grief.<ref name="kr1969"/> <ref name="cc2022"/> Research done since the 1960's forward to the present day has elucidated the nature, functions, and purpose of the [[foreskin]]. Circumcised men are learning what they have lost from the Internet, so they are less able to maintain the ego defense of ''denial of loss'',<ref name="watson2017">{{REFjournal
}}</ref>
''[[Depression]]'' is the fourth stage of grief.<ref name="kr1969"/> <ref name="cc2022"/> Several cases of [[suicide]] have been reported.<ref name="lowbridge2019">{{REFnews
|title=My son killed himself after circumcision
|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-47292307
==Autism spectrum disorder==
[[Rosemary Romberg]] (2021) observed that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the [[United States]] occurs four times more frequently in boys than in girls.<ref name="romberg2021">{{REFbook
|last=Romberg
|first=Rosemary
|init=
|author-link=Rosemary Romberg
|year=2021
|title=Circumcision — The Painful Dilemma
|url=https://circumcisionthepainfuldilemma.wordpress.com/
|work=
|editor=[[Ulf Dunkel]]
|edition=Second Edition, Revised
|volume=
|chapter=A possible link between infant circumcision and autism
|scope=
|page=420
|pages=
|location=
|publisher=Kindle
|ISBN=23: 979-8683021252
|quote=
|accessdate=2023-08-31
|note=
}}</ref>
</blockquote>
After the medical community belatedly learned that infants actually feel [[pain]], Howard, Howard, & Weitzman (1994) tested the use of acetaminophen (paracetamol) for post-surgical pain following neonatal non-therapeutic circumcision.<ref name="howard1994">{{REFjournal
}}</ref>
Hirota & King (2023) report reported the incidence of autism spectrum disorder was 3.7% in males as compared to 0.9 % in females.<ref name="hirota2023">{{REFjournal
|last=Hirota
|first=
==Alexithymia==
[[Dan Bollinger | Bollinger]] and [[Robert S. Van Howe|Van Howe]] (2011) associated [[Alexithemia| alexithymia]] with the [[trauma]] of [[circumcision]].<ref name="bollinger2011">{{REFjournal
|last=Bollinger
|first=Dan
|DOI=10.3149/jmh.1002.184
|accessdate=2019-12-12
}}</ref> Psychiatrists call this phenomenon alexthymia alexithymia — Greek for not having words for feelings.<ref>{{REFbook
|last=Van der Kolk
|first=Bessel
|accessdate=2023-07-16
|note=
}}</ref>[[Bessel van der Kolk| Van der Kolk ]] (2014) said, "People with alexithemia can get better only by learning to recognize the relations between their physical sensations and their emotions, much as colorblind people can only enter the world of color by learning
to distinguish and appreciate shades of gray."<ref>{{REFbook
|last=Van der Kolk
}}</ref>
Bollinger & [[Georganne Chapin | Chapin]] (2019) reported that [https://simplyhealth.today/16-common-triggers-of-adverse-childhood-experiences/?msclkid=a663823c1fa01a8515b9e0f09aaad3bd adverse childhood experiences], which includes [[circumcision]], is a cause of alexithemiaalexithymia.<ref name="bolinger2019">{{REFdocument
|title=Child genital cutting as an adverse childhood experience
|trans-title=
{{SEEALSO}}
* [[Adamant father syndrome]]
* [[Association of male circumcision with homosexuality]]
* [[Circumcision coma]]
* [[Circumcision and violence]]
* [[Psychosexual Effects of Circumcision]]
* [[Psychiatrist Discusses the Lasting Trauma of Circumcision]]
* [[Posttraumatic Post-traumatic stress disorder]]
* [[Suicide]]
* [[Trauma]]
==VideoVideos ==
=== Voices of those affected De drabbades röst ===The following poignant video expresses the emotional pain that many men who were [[circumcised ]] in infancy feel. There is a short NSFW section:
{{LINKS}}
* {{REFweb