Enhancing sexual desire and experience: an investigation of the sexual correlates of gamma‐hydroxybutyrate (GHB) use

Abstract

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate seems to be a potential substitute for both stimulant and depressant substances. Increased sexual desire and disinhibition may lead to a more frequent and potentially more riskful sexual activity. Experienced blackouts need to be considered as risk factors for suffering sexual or acquisitory crimes.

Prohedonic properties of gamma‐hydroxybutyrate are associated with changes in limbic resting‐state functional connectivity

“…It is remarkable that a predominant GABA‐B agonist exerts a spectrum of subjective effects that is usually attributed either to tranquilizers (sedation, relaxation, anxiolysis) or stimulants (euphoria, stimulation, sexual arousal; Abanades et al, ; Abanades et al, ; Barker, Harris, & Dyer, ; Bosch et al, ; Bosch, Havranek, et al, ; Kapitany‐Foveny et al, ; Miotto et al, ; Sumnall et al, ). Here, we show that GHB induces euphoria and sexual arousal.…”

“…Euphoria and sexual arousal are frequently reported by illicit users of GHB (Kapitany‐Foveny et al, ; Sumnall et al, ), but the specificity of these effects is still a matter of debate. These hedonic subjective effects represent the main reasons for the illicit instrumentalization of GHB (Luby, Jones, & Zalewski, ; Sumnall et al, ), and they are also proposed as potentially therapeutic features in psychiatric conditions with occurrence of anhedonia (Bosch & Seifritz, ).…”

“…We found that in healthy male subjects, 35 mg/kg p.o. Kapitany-Foveny et al, 2015;Miotto et al, 2001;Sumnall et al, 2008). Here, we show that GHB induces euphoria and sexual arousal.…”

“…However, for the same prohedonic effects, the drug is also a drug of abuse (Miotto et al, ; Sumnall, Woolfall, Edwards, Cole, & Beynon, ). In fact, although prosexual effects of GHB are not among the most frequent side effects such as sedation, nausea, dizziness, and headaches, in clinical populations (Alshaikh, Gacuan, George, Sharif, & Bahammam, ; Leone et al, ; Spaeth et al, ), they are regularly reported in the context of illicit use (Kapitany‐Foveny et al, , Miotto et al, , Sumnall et al, ). As such, GHB is a very well‐known substance among club drugs, as recently reported in different studies in samples of adolescents and young adults (Martinotti et al, ; Martinotti et al, ).…”

Novel psychoactive substances: second and third international conferences

“…Kapitány‐Fövény et al . () noted that gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) was used as date‐rape drug by criminal rapists, although their paper focused on its usage for consensual sex. GHB was reported to facilitate sexual openness and riskiness and to generate stronger feelings of sexual attraction, although this was accompanied by negative effects such as nausea and blackouts.…”