Body Integrity Identity Disorder, or BIID, is a mental disorder which causes the victim to feel as though they would be happier as an amputee. BIID often causes the victim to have strong desires to self-amputate, sometimes resulting in the amputation of a healthy limb. The sufferer often feels incomplete with all four limbs.
Symptoms
- Feeling incomplete or disabled because of having four limbs
- Planned location of amputation
- Intense jealousy towards amputees
- Plans of self-injury to achieve amputation
- Rehearsal of being amputated
References
Fast Facts
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Fact:
Some patients request the amputation of their limb
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Often associated with apotemnophilia, the sexual fixation on becoming an amputee
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Some include the desire to be paraplegic and other physical disabilities under BIID
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Not considered a psychosis
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Commonly compared to Gender Identity Disorder
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Often triggered by sight of amputee
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Symptoms can begin at age 4 or 5
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Nearly always established by puberty
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Few doctors perform elective amputation
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Some patients use prosthetic to make them appear and feel amputated
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Males much more likely to have BIID than females
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Most cases not sexually motivated
