I'm really surprised when I run across something I've never ever heard about before. This is one of them.
BIID or body identity integrity disorder is when a person feels a compulsion to remove one or more body parts (arms, finger, legs, toes and I can't image what else). Below is a snippet from a very personal article from the Guardian about someone with this disorder.
I was six when I first became aware of my desire to lose my legs. I don't remember what started it - there was no specific trigger. Most people want to change something about themselves, and the image I have of myself has always been one without legs.To the general public, people like me are sick and strange, and that's where it ends. I think it is a question of fearing the unknown. I have something called body identity integrity disorder (BIID), where sufferers want to remove one or more healthy limbs. Few people who haven't experienced it themselves can understand what I am going through. It is not a sexual thing, it is certainly not a fetish, and it is nothing to do with appearances. I simply cannot relate to myself with two legs: it isn't the "me" I want to be. I have long known that if I want to get on with my life I need to remove both legs. I have been trapped in the wrong body all this time and over the years I came to hate my physical self.
Here's the original. Very Interesting.
Comments
I wonder if BIID is caused by a failure of mapping in the brain? That might explain the alienation they feel for their limbs. It sounds to me like a developmental failure...
Posted by: John Wilkins | February 3, 2007 3:16 AM
It was disturbing when I first heard of it - and more so when it become clear that the result can be to accommodate the person. That raises moral and practical issues that other forms of body modification doesn't necessarily do.
What I'm curious about is if it was heard of before surgery and/or amputees become a familiar sight by media?
Posted by: Torbjörn Larsson | February 3, 2007 3:22 AM
But John, everything is developmental.
I'd be more specific and wonder about parietal lobe pathologies, but I suspect it's more a symptom of normal plasticity -- some people have shoe fetishes, others hate feet. It's organic only in the sense that developing brains are easily shaped.
Posted by: PZ Myers | February 3, 2007 11:42 AM
I've heard of this disorder before, it's incredibly weird. I wonder if these people still get phantom limb pain, and how do they feel about it? Does it anger them, does it make them feel unwhole or ill because the limb suddenly feels like it's there again?
Posted by: cephyn | February 3, 2007 11:50 AM
Isn't this an extreme form of hypochondria?
I'm reminded of Gould's warning against reification: giving something a name (BIID in this case) does not mean that it is a concreate thing with a specific biological locus.
I think her account is highly suspect. I don't believe for a second that as a child she secretly played amputee-dressup. I also don't believe that she and her mother knew about BIID since she was a teenager. That sounds made-up to me. People can make up all sorts of fantasies to try to justify crazy behavior. It's unfortunate that she has a creep of a husband that helped her mutilate herself rather than get counseling.
Posted by: Herb West | February 3, 2007 1:37 PM
Hmm. I had the impression fetishes could be learned behavior, perhaps motivated by objectifying part of social interactions may relieve stress from having your partner respond as a unpredictable free individual.
But of course it can also be a symptom of a pathology, so my question of correlations to society isn't really pertinent.
Posted by: Torbjörn Larsson | February 3, 2007 5:29 PM
This is real, there was a long article in The Atlantic Monthly about it a few years ago. I have personal experience with depressive symptoms that included an urge to hurt myself every time I picked up a knife or pair of scissors. Medication has relieved the symptoms. Perhaps BIID is a form of depression, and meds should be tried before accomodating the wish for amputation.
Posted by: Rugosa | February 4, 2007 11:22 AM
I've been fascinated by BIID ever since I learned about it. It is very real. I've seen interviews with and profiles on several people who are amputees by choice. I've always though it has something to do with the mapping in their brain "missing" the unwanted limb. Therefore, I don't think it would be possible for them to feel phantom pain, but the existence of phantom pain makes this sort of thing more understandable - our brains do have a body intengrity sense that is non-physical.
Posted by: Gazelle | February 4, 2007 12:20 PM
Oh, I can verify that it's real. I personally have it. I have memories of wanting my legs to "not work" since I was 5 years old, and specifically to be a paraplegic since I was old enough to know what the word means. (And btw, BIID suffers can desire other impairments other than amputations: such as paralysis, blindness or deafness)
Counseling is fine in theory except that it has nothing to offer BIID sufferers at this time. There is currently *no* effective psychological treatment, and I knew this already even before my psychologist, followed by my psychiatrist, came right out and told me that. Attempts to treat it with certain drugs (such as those prescribed for OCD) have also failed. That leaves surgery to alleviate mental suffering, which it does do, according to several successful BIID patients who I have personally spoken to.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that BIID sufferers who desire and obtain an amputation do NOT suffer from phantom pain.
Researchers at UCSD are currently look at this from a neurological point of view.
Posted by: Claire | February 22, 2007 8:21 AM
thanks Claire! It's always good to hear info from the source.
Posted by: steve | February 22, 2007 9:53 AM
There are not only people who wish to lose a leg. There are also people who will become paralysed, deaf or blind. In most countries selfinjury is not against the laws. So I see no problem for the medical society with BIID. There are a lot of doctors world wide who are willing to perform surgery. So where is the problem ? I had surgery one year before. Now I am paralysed down T 12. No doctor found out what was the reason for it. I feeld quite happy now. Poor chaps who fight with therapy because of a morality from the past. And doctors are naive who are not willing to perform surgery against payment. The market is good. What we will see in the future is many schietiest will wrote big books about this subject without finding a reason. They never found a reason for GID. They will never find a reason for BIID. I am a happy man today and I am angry about the fact that I didn´t it earlier.
Posted by: Sumatra | March 6, 2007 3:25 AM