foxylady, see if I can answer your question from my perspective (that of a dom). Of what I have read, humiliation is designed to "ground" a person. That means to me, that she thinks or feels like she is so much better than others. Say she is very successful but also feels a great deal of stress as a result, she needs/craves someone to ground her, to bring her down from her feelings and to let her relieve the stress she has. Humiliation does that. It brings the person down from where they are. But used improperly, it may result in her not feeling good about herself.

My opinion is that it should only be done when needed by the submissive. If you end up damaging her mentally (as someone has noted), that takes a lot longer to heal. I can do it, meaning I know the words but I prefer to give pleasure some other way. I prefer the idea of humiliation done in the form of action, such as letting her be a puppy for a time, letting her enjoy the feeling of being less than human but still treasured and cared for. I also love the idea of Ponygirls, the idea of a woman being less than human and used to pull carts/sulkies but most definitely used sexually. But it has to be something that gives her pleasure. Communicating with your submissive is the key to understanding her needs/cravings.