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BIID amputee says he’s happy.
Written by Sean on Monday, June 30, 2008
Someone pointed me to a YouTube video that appeared recently. It seems to be an extract of an actual documentary, though it’s not one I’ve seen. It is interesting that Dr. Robert Smith is in there, doing a follow-up on one of the people he’s provided an amputation for. Or that is what it looks like anyway. In the short segment (~2 mins), the amputee is asked if he has any regrets, and he says that being an amputee is all that he’s ever wanted and he’s happy.
Transcript of the video at the bottom of this page.
It’s not shattering news to us to know that surgery does help. We’ve known that for a long time, and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to that effect. It’s good to have it documented on film, however. It’s good to have someone, on camera, showing his amputation (with a fair bit of atrophy, so it has to be a few years old), and stating categorically that he is happy to be an amputee.
Of course, anecdotal evidence is not sufficient evidence to convince the surgeons to proceed. But perhaps at some point the amount of anecdotes will become more meaningful.
It is most certainly a chicken vs egg dilemna though, isn’t it? In order for surgery to be acceptable, we have to prove empirically that it works. But until surgery is provided, we won’t be able to have the numbers to prove empirically that surgery heals BIID. The medical establishment is well protected that way. They know that until we can prove it works, they don’t have to help. And they know that without their help, we can’t prove it will work.
A brief note on “healing BIID”. I’m not meaning cure. When I say healing BIID, I intend it to mean a way to remove the emotional anguish of not being in the body we need to be in.
Anyway, I’ll quit now before I start rambling even more.
Video transcript
Note there may be a few mistakes in this transcript, but it’s pretty much accurate
Narrator: Hans did not want to be identified.
Hans: I felt that at the age of 14 "I’m in the wrong body" and I should have a leg amputated. I consulted psychologists and psychiatrists and eventually I came to the point where I said [thought] "This has to be done". I felt like, you know, if the leg was removed, I would feel like being more complete. That’s the way I’d like to be. I’m happy with it. Quite happy with it.
Narrator: The surgery seems to have been effective. Amputation has freed Hans of his obsession. The success of these amputations has led many more BIID sufferers to demand the same surgical treatment.
Dr. Smith: Clearly, there are many members of the medical profession who are totally opposed to the concept of amputation for these people.
Dr. Smith [to Hans]: Are you happy having only one leg?
Hans: Yes
Dr. Smith: You enjoy being a one-legged man?
Hans: Yes, I enjoy being one-legged, yes, that’s correct. I’m happy with it, quite happy with it.
Dr. Smith: Is there any aspect of your life that has deteriorated as a result of us having taken your leg off?
Hans: Today, if you ask me today, [if you hadn't removed my leg], I would not hesitate saying yes, without any reservations. It improved my life quite a bit because that’s the way I wanted to be and that’s the way it is. And I’m quite happy about that.
Dr. Smith [handling Hans' stump]: And you’ve got no tender spots in it?
Hans: No, no.
Dr. Smith: Not even down there?
Hans: No
Dr. Smith: And you can put it straight and you can bend it right up.
Hans: Absolutely
Dr. Smith: Good range of movements. That’s excellent
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Tags: Amputee, BIID, Happy, Regrets, Robert Smith, Surgery
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5 Comments
John, the idea of surrogate disabilities is very interesting from a theoretical point of view. I hadn’t even thought about it until my interview with Dr. First. He asked me about how various amputations would affect my need to be paralysed. If my right leg was amputated, I would still need my left leg to be paralysed. However, if my left leg was amputated, I think I would be happy enough with that, provided it was a complete hip disarticulation. Very curious.
However, I suspect that a surrogate disability would have to be rather closely related to the manifestation of one’s BIID. Dante’s “A Little Bit of Everything” exemplifies this rather well.
3 On 1 July, 2008, Claire said:
I concur with surrogate disability needing to be closely related to BIID. I *do* have an unwanted, physically genuine, disability, unrelated to paraplegia, and it does nothing to alleviate BIID.
However, my recent self-injury attempt, while it didn’t give me nearly as much as I needed, is somewhat related to paraplegia and I’ve been very happy with it, even the bad parts such as the unwanted chronic pain. I don’t enjoy the pain, but the small amount of mental relief it provides is more than worth the physical pain. I find comfort in it.
This is a sequence from BBCs Horizon, he voice-over seems different
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/1999/obsession_script.shtml
I totally relate to everything Claire said. I have a physically genuine disability that, at times, necessitates assistance in getting dressed, undressed, eating, etc. It sucks! I don’t like it at all. It’s not related to paraplegia, and it doesn’t help with the BIID. If anything, it makes the BIID feelings worse because it reminds me that I have the wrong disability.
On the other hand, my back injury provided a good amount of sensory loss in my leg. I love the feeling of not having feeling there. It is a delicious, albeit small, step in the direction of paraplegia. It is absolutely worth the chronic back pain that also resulted. I do find it comforting.
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1 On 30 June, 2008, John said:
This anecdotal example, and all of the others suggest, to me, that the next study that Dr First (or others interested in this field) should consider is searching out as many BIID cases who have through intention, medical help, accident, or whatever, achieved their needed disability or something close to it. Such a study should also include those who have acquired a different disability than desired (say fingers amputated instead of a leg or a SCI instead of an amputation). My guess is that there are enough people out there who have acquired a disability intentionally to put together a decent sample size and ascertain the consequences of achieving the needed disability and whether or not ’surrogate’ disabilities satisfy the needs stemming from BIID. That would be the medically responsible thing to do.
What would be the answer? Always hard to say but every or almost every anecdote that I have read about is happy with the results (these are all amputations or deafness–still like to hear from a realized paraplegic wannabe).