m Dating maintenance tags: {{Cn}} |
James Cantor (talk | contribs) +ref |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
'''Body Integrity Identity Disorder''' ('''BIID'''), also called ''Amputee Identity Disorder'',<ref>Furth, G. M., Smith, R. (2000). Amputee Identity Disorder: Information, questions answers, and recommendations about self-demand amputation. Authorhouse. ISBN 978-1-58820-390-8.</ref> is a psychological disorder wherein sufferers feel they would be happier living as an [[amputee]]. It is typically accompanied by the desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs to achieve that end. BIID can be associated with [[apotemnophilia]], sexual arousal based on the image of one's self as an amputee. |
'''Body Integrity Identity Disorder''' ('''BIID'''), also called ''Amputee Identity Disorder'',<ref>Furth, G. M., Smith, R. (2000). Amputee Identity Disorder: Information, questions answers, and recommendations about self-demand amputation. Authorhouse. ISBN 978-1-58820-390-8.</ref><ref>Smith, R. C. (2004). Amputee identity disorder and related paraphilias. ''Psychiatry, 3''(8), 27-30.</ref> is a psychological disorder wherein sufferers feel they would be happier living as an [[amputee]]. It is typically accompanied by the desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs to achieve that end. BIID can be associated with [[apotemnophilia]], sexual arousal based on the image of one's self as an amputee. |
||
The cause of BIID is unknown. One theory states that the origin of BIID is that it is a neurological failing of the brain's inner body mapping function (located in the right [[parietal lobe]]). According to this theory, the brain mapping does not incorporate the affected limb in its understanding of the body's physical form (Mysteries of the Mind, ''Secret Life of the Brain E''2, TVO documentary). |
The cause of BIID is unknown. One theory states that the origin of BIID is that it is a neurological failing of the brain's inner body mapping function (located in the right [[parietal lobe]]). According to this theory, the brain mapping does not incorporate the affected limb in its understanding of the body's physical form (Mysteries of the Mind, ''Secret Life of the Brain E''2, TVO documentary). |
Revision as of 05:08, 7 August 2012
Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), also called Amputee Identity Disorder,[1][2] is a psychological disorder wherein sufferers feel they would be happier living as an amputee. It is typically accompanied by the desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs to achieve that end. BIID can be associated with apotemnophilia, sexual arousal based on the image of one's self as an amputee.
The cause of BIID is unknown. One theory states that the origin of BIID is that it is a neurological failing of the brain's inner body mapping function (located in the right parietal lobe). According to this theory, the brain mapping does not incorporate the affected limb in its understanding of the body's physical form (Mysteries of the Mind, Secret Life of the Brain E2, TVO documentary).
Description
Symptoms of BIID sufferers are often keenly felt. The sufferer feels incomplete with four limbs, but is confident amputation will fix this. The sufferer knows exactly what part of which limb should be amputated to relieve the suffering. The sufferer has intense feelings of envy toward amputees. They often pretend, both in private and in public, that they are an amputee. The sufferer recognizes the above symptoms as being strange and unnatural. They feel alone in having these thoughts, and don't believe anyone could ever understand their urges. They may try to injure themselves to require the amputation of that limb. They generally are ashamed of their thoughts and try to hide them from others, including therapists and health care professionals.[citation needed]
The majority of BIID sufferers are white middle-aged males, although this discrepancy may not be nearly as large as previously thought. [3] The most common request is an above-the-knee amputation of the left leg.
A sexual motivation for being or looking like an amputee is called apotemnophilia.[4][5] In addition, apotemnophilia should not be mistaken for acrotomophilia, which describes a person who is sexually attracted to other people who are already missing limbs. However, many of the people who experience one also experience the other.
Ethical considerations
The idea of medically amputating a BIID sufferer's undesired limb is highly controversial. Some support amputation for patients with BIID that cannot be treated through psychotherapy or medication. Others emphasize the irreversibility of amputation, and promote the study of phantom limbs to treat the patient from a psychological perspective instead.[6]
Today, no surgeons will treat BIID patients by performing the desired amputations. Some act out their desires, pretending they are amputees using prostheses and other tools to ease their desire to be one. Some sufferers have reported to the media or by interview over the telephone with researchers that they have resorted to self-amputation of a "superfluous" limb, for example by allowing a train to run over it, or by damaging the limb so badly that surgeons will have to amputate it. However, the medical literature records few, if any, cases of actual self amputation.[7] Often the obsession is with one specific limb. A patient might say, for example, that they "do not feel complete" while they still have a left leg. However, BIID does not simply involve amputation. It involves any wish to significantly alter body integrity. Some people suffer from the desire to become paralyzed, blind, deaf, use orthopaedic appliances such as leg-braces, etc. Some people spend time pretending they are an amputee by using crutches and wheelchairs at home or in public; in the BIID community, this is called a "pretender." The condition is usually treated as a psychiatric disorder.
Books
- Stirn, A., Thiel, A., Oddo, S. (2009). Body Integrity Identity Disorder: Psychological, Neurobiological, Ethical and Legal Aspects. Pabst Science Publishers. ISBN 978-3-89967-592-4.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Sacks, Oliver W. (1998). A Leg To Stand On. Touchstone Books. ISBN 978-0-684-85395-6.
BIID in popular culture
- Whole, a documentary about people with B.I.I.D., was broadcast in 2004.
- Armless (2010), a film in which the protagonist John leaves his wife and goes to New York City to find a doctor to amputate his arms.
- In the Mental episode "Life and Limb," the patient Brian Jennings self amputates his healthy left hand and says he feels, "...better than I've ever felt—like a great weight has been lifted. My body is finally right...complete. I'm whole."
- In the Nip/Tuck episode "Ben White," the title character wants a healthy leg amputated so he will feel whole.
- In the CSI: NY episode "Outside Man," the detectives discover the world of BIID when a person with the disorder dies from an illegal amputation.
- In the Grey's Anatomy episode "Haunt You Every Day," a former patient of Christina's claims his foot "isn't his," and wants a doctor to amputate it. He amputates it himself using a chainsaw. In the episode, the condition is incorrectly referred to as Body Dysmorphic Disorder.
- In an episode of Casualty, a woman's leg is destroyed by a train. She is suspiciously unfazed by what has happened and she is later diagnosed with BIID.
- In the show Taboo, there is a segment on a woman named Chloe who lives her life as a paraplegic in a wheelchair and decides to go public.
See also
- Abasiophilia
- Alien hand syndrome
- Attraction to disability
- Body image
- Body modification
- Deformity
- Erotic target location error
References
- ^ Furth, G. M., Smith, R. (2000). Amputee Identity Disorder: Information, questions answers, and recommendations about self-demand amputation. Authorhouse. ISBN 978-1-58820-390-8.
- ^ Smith, R. C. (2004). Amputee identity disorder and related paraphilias. Psychiatry, 3(8), 27-30.
- ^ Ellison, Jesse (28 May 2008). "Cutting Desire". MSNBC. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
- ^ Money J, Jobaris R, Furth G (1977). "Apotemnophilia: Two cases of self demand amputation as a sexual preference". The Journal of Sex Research. 13 (2): 115–124. doi:10.1080/00224497709550967.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Everaerd W (1983). "A case of apotemnophilia: a handicap as sexual preference". Am J Psychother. 37 (2): 285–93. PMID 6869634.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Levy, Neil (2007). Neuroethics — Challenges for the 21st Century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-68726-8.
- ^ Large MM (2007). "Body identity disorder". Psychol Med. 37 (10): 1513, author reply 1513–4. PMID 18293510.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help)
External links
- Movie called Armless: [1]
- ABC News article: What Drives People to Want to Be Amputees?
- Bensler JM, Paauw DS (2003). "Apotemnophilia masquerading as medical morbidity". South. Med. J. 96 (7): 674–6. doi:10.1097/01.SMJ.0000078367.94479.B9. PMID 12940318.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - Bridy A (2004). "Confounding extremities: surgery at the medico-ethical limits of self-modification" (PDF). J Law Med Ethics. 32 (1): 148–58. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2004.tb00460.x. PMID 15152438.
- Bruno, Richard L. (Winter 1997). "Devotees, Pretenders, and Wannabes: Two Cases of Factitious Disability Disorder". Sexuality and Disability. 15 (4): 243–60. doi:10.1023/A:1024769330761.
- First MB (2005). "Desire for amputation of a limb: paraphilia, psychosis, or a new type of identity disorder". Psychol Med. 35 (6): 919–28. doi:10.1017/S0033291704003320. PMID 15997612.
{{cite journal}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - Bayne T, Levy N (2005). "Amputees by choice: body integrity identity disorder and the ethics of amputation". J Appl Philos. 22 (1): 75–86. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5930.2005.00293.x. PMID 15948330.
- slate.com article: "Costing an arm and a leg"
- Wise TN, Kalyanam RC (2000). "Amputee fetishism and genital mutilation: case report and literature review". J Sex Marital Ther. 26 (4): 339–44. doi:10.1080/009262300438742. PMID 11056898.
- Elliott, Carl (December 2000). "A New Way to Be Mad". The Atlantic.