Blog > Thoughts > Sean's Thoughts > Why Do I Read So Many Academic Papers About BIID?
Why Do I Read So Many Academic Papers About BIID?
Written by Sean on Thursday, January 7, 2010
I read a lot of the publications I can find that discuss BIID. I’m sure I’ve missed some, but I’ve read most of what is available. Why? Because we need to be informed when we talk to different "interest groups" about BIID.
Someone was telling me recently that they didn’t want to read these articles, as they were already entirely too prone to being obsessed with BIID. Fair enough. BIID is certainly quite strong and able to keep you in its grips without adding often dry reading to it.
Yet, I find it of the utmost importance to be able to know what is being said about BIID "out there". I need to know what research has been done about BIID. I need to know what ethicists are thinking about BIID. I need to know if new understandings of the condition are arising. I need to get all arguments in favour of surgery as well as against surgery, in order to be able to talk coherently about the topic with doctors, researchers, or the media.
Information is power.
Does that mean I expect everyone to read up? Hell no! These texts are usualy fairly dry reading, and often use convoluted "academic style". And they can really depress or anger the reader with BIID. I’ve stopped counting the number of times I wished the author was in front of me so I could shake them by the shoulders, trying to make them see sense. Or the number of times where I thought the whole thing was just pointless.
Yet, without being informed about what had been said, written, published, I wouldn’t have had a strong argument to talk Dr. First into doing his follow-up study covering non-amputation BIID. This is in the process of being analysed now. This *is* progress, slow as it is.
I know there are a few other people who also get their hands on such articles. And that’s fine, a few of us doing that, we’ll keep up collective knowledge :)
Tags: BIID, Doctors, Research, Surgery
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2 Comments
2 On 11 January, 2010, Phil said:
I never know for certain WHY I am doing things (as I don’t know why I desire to have two short thigh stumps), so the following are just things I THINK I know:
I read everything I can about BIID, because:
- I once experienced good feelings when I found the first sites about amputees and in particular about people who need to be so and later about BIID,
- I still have the hope that I will learn something important about myself in all these research thoughts and findings,
- I still have a small hope that somebody will find a way out of this misery without surgery,
- on the other hand I hope that I read something about surgical solutions coming nearer,
- I don’t want to be alone with BIID, and it does good to read that some researchers and therapists do care about me (and you all),
- in short: I am hoping that I might find myself and that I might find a way for me.
Often I find things which hurt me. Quick judgments. Misinterpretations. But I also find interesting things.
Unfortunately, up to now I haven’t found one single case report about somebody who managed to overcome BIID (except by surgery).
But it still can happen. Who knows?
I am very grateful for your work, Sean, because you collect these papers systematically and make them available or known on your web sites (particularly on http://biid-info.org).
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1 On 7 January, 2010, Chloe said:
@ Sean: I really do appreciate your efforts in keeping on top of this stuff. It benefits all of us. Thank you.