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Treating BIID – A Clinic
Written by Sean on Saturday, April 10, 2010
Claire just pointed me to the website of a “mental health clinic dedicated primarily to evaluation and treatment of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and similar body image disturbances“. The fascinating thing is, they list Body Integrity Identity Disorder as one of the condition they work with…
As far as I’m aware, this would be the 1st mental health clinic to say they are treating BIID. It seems like a momentous thing. Finally, someone is taking BIID seriously enough to say they’ll help those of us with BIID. Not through surgery, of course, but there is a LOT that can be done to help us deal with BIID in our lives. Despite my bad history with the mental health profession, I continue to maintain that everyone should try and work out issues surrounding BIID in therapy – especially if they think they are serious about going to surgery.
But reading more about this clinic, I got dubious. Have a look yourself: The Los Angeles Body Dysmorphic Disorder & Body Image Clinic. They are specialising in treating BDD – Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Which is not at all what BIID is. They say that "BDD is a severe condition that involves a preoccupation with a perceived defect in appearance". Folks who have BIID don’t believe they have a defective or abnormal body. We know full well that our bodies are "normal". That seems to always be a major stumbling block for people to understand.
Nevertheless, they may have found something no one else has.
They list BIID as a "related disorder". Here’s what they say about BIID:
Body Integrity Identity Disorder, also referred to as BIID, is a psychiatric condition in which an individual experiences an overwhelming desire to amputate an otherwise healthy limb or other parts of their body. Individuals with BIID yearn to have their bodies physically match the idealized image they have of themselves. Some of the common symptoms of body integrity identity disorder include feelings of jealousy when seeing amputees, firm ideas regarding which part of the body should be amputated, feelings of not being complete, frequent episodes of depression, and excessive shame regarding having these thoughts. As a result of the pervasive shame component, many individuals never disclose their preoccupation to friends, family members, or even their mental health practitioners. Sometimes these individuals attempt to achieve their idealized image of themselves by self-surgeries or by implementing “accidents” where by a body part is damaged to a degree in which a surgeon would have to remove it to prevent further damage to the individual. It is currently not known how many people suffer from this condition, but men seem to be affected by BIID more frequently than women. Body integrity identity disorder is not the same as apotemnophilia and acrotomophilia. Apotemnophilia is defined as a condition characterized by sexual arousal or attainment of an orgasm being oneself an amputee. Acrotomophilia is a condition of sexual arousal being contingent upon having an amputee partner or fantasizing about an amputee.
To be fair, they aren’t too far off, not a bad one paragraph overview. Ok, so they focus on "amputation", forgetting other conditions. Not unusual. It does make me wonder just how familiar they really are with BIID though.
In any case, I’ve contacted them and asked what experience they actually have working with people who have BIID and what their "success rate" was like. Time will tell. I would genuinely love to see a less drastic option than surgery. I will not hold my breath.
Tags: BDD, BIID, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Body Integrity Identity Disorder, Mental Health
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2 Comments
“Individuals with BIID yearn to have their bodies physically match the idealized image they have of themselves.”
This is the one sentence I have difficulty with. First, the way I understand yearning is wanting something my my whole body, mind and soul. Now, I don’t yearn an impairment. I don’t yearn wheeling. I need it and was there some other way, I would take. My mind realises very well the negatives that come from physical impairment or even just wheeling.
Second, the idealized image implies to me that that would be the perfect image for me. Now, if you ask me what my idealized image really is I am thinking more in terms of me 20 pounds lighter and with a flat tummy, swaying gently in my hips…
Would be interesting to hear from others about their idealized image.
But to give them some credit, their description of the symptoms is very accurate. And it’s nice that they distinguish between BIID and the sexually motivated other conditions.
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1 On 10 April, 2010, Sophie said:
I saw that a while ago but didn’t really bother with it, they didn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence in me.
BTW how is claire?