BIID, Bodily Integrity Identity Disorder, formally known as, apotemnophilia (love of amputation), is “a psychologically based condition in which an individual has a fantasy of having a missing limb”("Apotemnophilia ", 2016). In patients diagnosed with BIID who do not receive the surgery they need, the desire to have an amputation is so overbearing that they will go to extreme lengths to conduct the operation themselves. Patients have been known to “pour drain cleaner into her [their] eyes”(Midlane, 2015) or “injure themselves with guns or chainsaws in desperate attempts to force surgical amputations”(Henig, 2005). Many patients diagnosed with BIID struggle to find hospitals and doctors willing to perform such an extreme elective surgery as
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Dr. Richard Bruno is credited with coining the name factitious disability disorder for the condition (Henig, 2005). He also classified his BIID patients into three categories: 1) Devotees (people who were sexually aroused by amputees), 2) Pretenders (those who faked disabilities), and 3) Wannabes (those who desired to have an amputation)(Henig, 2005). The connotation and terms used by Dr. Bruno reflect the belief of many in the medical community - that BIID is not a psychological disorder but rather a need for sympathy or sexual …show more content…
Dr. First recalls a patient that had a lifelong desire of being a double leg amputee. Yet a shotgun accident in which he lost his left arm “did nothing to diminish the intensity of the man 's desire to have his legs amputated”. Furthermore, many patients with BIID know exactly where they want the amputation: “Not just above the knee, but four inches above the knee”(Henig, 2005). This appears to speak to something deeper than just a need for sympathy or sexual desire. When patients are asked for their primary reason for requesting surgery they claim “to feel complete or to feel satisfied inside”.(Blom, Hennekam, & Denys,
Dr. Richard Bruno is credited with coining the name factitious disability disorder for the condition (Henig, 2005). He also classified his BIID patients into three categories: 1) Devotees (people who were sexually aroused by amputees), 2) Pretenders (those who faked disabilities), and 3) Wannabes (those who desired to have an amputation)(Henig, 2005). The connotation and terms used by Dr. Bruno reflect the belief of many in the medical community - that BIID is not a psychological disorder but rather a need for sympathy or sexual …show more content…
Dr. First recalls a patient that had a lifelong desire of being a double leg amputee. Yet a shotgun accident in which he lost his left arm “did nothing to diminish the intensity of the man 's desire to have his legs amputated”. Furthermore, many patients with BIID know exactly where they want the amputation: “Not just above the knee, but four inches above the knee”(Henig, 2005). This appears to speak to something deeper than just a need for sympathy or sexual desire. When patients are asked for their primary reason for requesting surgery they claim “to feel complete or to feel satisfied inside”.(Blom, Hennekam, & Denys,