Sad Nipple Syndrome (SNS) is an abrupt negative feelings occurs with the nipple stimulation which could happen to both female and male.
Presentation
SNS is described as “anxiety, disgust, sadness, anger and general negative emotions”, even some people stated their experience as a feeling of impending death. Such phenomenon usually continue for no more than a few minutes and will disappear after the nipple stimulation is stopped. It could happened on both female and male, and the age of the first onset is usually during the childhood or teenagerhood.
Recognition
There is no direct research on SNS, but many anecdotal information can be found online from a number of sources, mostly websites discussion. The previous posters were actually treating SNS as a sub-symptoms of dysphoric milk ejection reflex (D-MER), which is characterized by an abrupt dysphoria that happens with the MER and continues for no more than a few minutes. However, a lot of comments underneath were from people who didn’t lactate but felt ‘weird’ when their nipples were touched. Even some people described this drop feelings just like a switch link to depression. Whether there is a relationship between the SNS and depression is still unknown.
Hypothesis on Mechanism
Why and how does SNS happen are still unknown. Since the symptoms of SNS is very similar to D-MER, two possible theories which related to SNS are base on the hypothesis from D-MER and other online sources.
1. Hormones Theory
There are two hormones that release in response to breastfeeding: oxytocin and prolactin. The release profile of these two hormones suggests that oxytocin is the most plausible one responsible for D-MER since it is released so quickly in response to suckling. SNS happens on the nipple stimulation which is same as the movement of suckling, that’s why people thought there maybe have some relationship between SNS and D-MER.
By the way, some researchers have attributed the D-MER to a decrease in the levels of dopamine. Downregulation of dopamine can generate a series of negative feelings, however dopamine mediates prolactin, not oxytocin. So it’s still a controversial question for D-MER and SNS.
2. The Oedipus Complex Theory
Although research on SNS is still blank, anecdotal information from a number of sources establishes a basis for its understanding. There is a lot of comments underneath were from people described their SNS feelings as a homesick emotion, who had an unhappy childhood, and always had been pushed by their strict parents. That’s why some people tend to regard SNS as arising from childhood deprivation, and it maybe belong to the purview of psychology.
