Body Integrity Identity Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, And Treatment
At the age of 30, Jewel Shupping decided to spray her eyes with unclogging liquid to fulfill her wish to go blind. On the other hand, Jennins-White is known for spending half her life fighting to get rid of what is a heavy burden for her: her healthy legs.
Although at first glance these seem like two isolated cases, the truth is that they are a disorder known as body integrity identity disorder Throughout this article we will talk about the characteristics of this disorder, as well as its possible causes and existing treatments.
Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) is a psychiatric disorder in which the person suffering from it suffers from an overwhelming need or desire to amputate some healthy areas or limbs of your body
Although it has traditionally been given in the name of apotemnophilia, the reality is that body integrity identity disorder does not include any type of sexual component or motivation for which the person wishes to amputate any area of their body.
Therefore, a clear differentiation must be established between both concepts. While in apotemnophilia the person feels sexual excitement or pleasure at the idea or image of one of their amputated limbs, in body integrity identity disorder there are other types of motivations.
Specifically, One of the main motivations for this type of patient is to have some type of disability But not for economic reasons, but for the mere attraction that living in this state causes them.
Another motivation is to achieve a certain physical appearance that is particularly pleasing to these people. This motivation would be the extreme equivalent to that felt by some people who undergo any type of cosmetic surgery with the intention of modifying some part of their body that is not attractive to them.
However, in body integrity identity disorder, people they experience the sensation that certain parts of their body do not belong to them they feel alien to them and this causes them great discomfort.
This disorder tends to manifest itself at a very early age during which children tend to imagine that some part of their body is missing or disappearing.
Finally, this disorder can be confused with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). However, in the latter, the person experiences deep anguish over the appearance of a specific part of their body which they consider defective or unattractive, and even though they feel the urgent desire to modify it, they never consider it disappearing completely.
What is the symptomatology?
The main symptoms of body integrity identity disorder are as follows.
Cognitive and emotional symptoms
Within the symptomatology of this disorder, which could materialize both in the desire to amputate some part of the body, and in the attempts or self-harm that a person may cause for this purpose; People with body integrity identity disorder tend to behave or think in a certain way that characterizes them.
This symptomatology, mostly cognitive in nature, manifested through repetitive and intrusive irrational ideas in which the patient feels incomplete with his body as it is or, on the other hand, does not feel identified with certain parts of his body.
The intensity of these ideas can become such that they tend to become obsessions, which lead to high levels of anxiety and a low mood. These thoughts, as well as the anxious symptoms, are relieved or disappear once the amputation has been carried out.
As a general rule, patients They are very clear about which part of their body is to blame for their anxiety and they even go so far as to report a certain feeling of envy towards those people who have an amputated limb.
People with body integrity identity disorder tend to experience high levels of loneliness and feelings of incomprehension of their needs. Aware that the rest of the population is unable to understand them, they often feel a great sense of shame, even going so far as to socially exclude themselves. Finally, once their wishes are realized, these patients never feel or identify themselves as invalids, but instead experience a feeling of satisfaction and liberation after having gotten rid of what was a burden for them.
Behavioral symptoms
Regarding behavioral symptoms, people with body integrity identity disorder often carry out numerous self-harm behaviors with the intention of having their leg amputated. These behaviors can range from injuring themselves in their own home to allowing themselves to be run over or shot with a gun.
The goal of any of these behaviors is to inflict a series of injuries serious enough that the damaged limb must be amputated by medical professionals. However, there have also been recorded cases in which the patient himself has tried to amputate or “free himself” from some part of his body on their own.
Likewise, although the area, limb or part of the body that causes this aversion in the patient may vary from person to person, the most common request is to amputate the left leg in the upper area of the knee or amputate one of the two. hands.
What causes this disorder?
The origin or exact causes of body integrity identity disorder are, at the moment, unknown. Nevertheless, There are various theories based on both psychological and neurobiological basis who have tried to find the genesis of this disorder.
One of these theories raises the possibility that, during childhood, the child is so deeply marked by the image of a person with an amputated limb that he or she may adopt this image. as an ideal body archetype
On the other hand, a second psychological theory hypothesizes that, faced with the feeling of lack of attention or affection, the child may come to think that, by amputating one of his limbs, he will get this much-needed attention.
Regarding the neurobiological theory, a lesion or abnormality in the cerebral cortex associated with the extremities could explain the reason for this phenomenon. If so, body integrity identity disorder could be considered a type of somatoparaphrenia, which can appear after a stroke or embolism in the parietal lobe.
Furthermore, if this theory were true, it would explain the fact that this disorder has a greater incidence in men than in women; since in these, the right side of the parietal lobe is significantly smaller. As well as clarifying that in most cases the area to be amputated is on the left side of the body.
Is there a treatment?
Since the symptoms of this disorder are primarily cognitive, cognitive behavioral treatment may be especially effective with body integrity identity disorder. However, the ideas of these patients are so deeply rooted that it is very difficult for the symptoms to subside with psychological therapy alone.
In cases in which the patient or his or her family choose to follow psychological treatment, response prevention techniques as well as thought stopping are usually the ones that are most effective.
The goal, in any case, is for people with body integrity identity disorder to accept their bodies as they are, eliminating the desire or need to undergo amputation.
