Body integrity identity disorder

Body integrity dysphoria (BID, also referred to as body integrity identity disorder, amputee identity disorder and xenomelia, formerly called apotemnophilia) is a disorder characterized by a desire to be disabled or discomfort with being able-bodied beginning in early adolescence and resulting in harmful consequences. BID appears to be related to somatoparaphrenia. People with this condition may refer to themselves as 'transabled'. BID is a rare, infrequently studied condition in which there is a mismatch between the mental body image and the physical body, characterized by an intense desire for amputation of a limb, usually a leg, or to become blind or deaf. The person sometimes has a sense of sexual arousal connected with the desire for loss of a limb or sense. Some act out their desires, pretending they are amputees using prostheses and other tools to ease their desire to be one. Some people with BID 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. To the extent that generalizations can be made, people with BID appear to start to wish for amputation when they are young, between 8 and 12 years old, and often knew a person with an amputated limb when they were children; however, people with BIID tend to seek treatment only when they are much older. People with BIID seem to be predominantly male, and while there is no evidence that sexual preference is relevant, there does seem to be a correlation with BIID and a person having gender dysphoria or a paraphilia; there appears to be a weak correlation with personality disorders. Family psychiatric history does not appear to be relevant, there does not appear to be any strong correlation with the site of the limb or limbs that the person wishes they did not have, nor with any past trauma to the undesired limb. As of 2014 the cause was not clear and was a subject of ongoing research. As of 2014 there were no formal diagnostic criteria. As of 2014 it remained unclear whether BID is a form of human diversity or a mental disorder, similar to the development of the concept of gender dysphoria. There was debate about including it in the DSM-5 and it was not included; it was also not included in the ICD-10. It has been included in the ICD-11, which reached a stable version in June 2018, as 'Body integrity dysphoria' with code 6C21. The ethics of surgically amputating the undesired limb of a person with BID are difficult and controversial. There is no evidence-based treatment for BID; there are reports of the use of cognitive behavioral therapy, antidepressants, and surgery to amputate the undesired limb.