BIID and the concept of trans-abled

[Morrigoon]

I thought this might be interesting discussion fodder. Watching a show right now on Body Integrity Identity Disorder (http://www.newsweek.com/2008/05/28/cutting-desire.html). Basically, people who somehow feel that a certain part of their body (usually a limb) isn't a part of them and they feel compelled to remove it.

Not something people used to hear much about, but I'm thinking that before the days of safe amputation, the concept of elective amputation was so foreign that sufferers would never have had reason come forward about it. They probably just had "accidents" of the variety that modern sufferers talk about/consider/have.

Sufferers argue that relief only comes from removal of the offending limb, and the experience of those who have found a way to remove theirs seems to hold that up. But if this is a neurological disorder, then is there a way to fix it on the desire end, rather than on the limb end? Scientists are still looking into what causes the disorder, so looks like that's a while off.

The whole concept is so weird and beyond our normal mental understanding as to be fascinating.

And it brings up another question... if sufferers somehow won the legal right to the changes they want to make to their body (as in the comparison the article makes between people with this problem and the transgendered), then what adjustments would society make? Would the privileges/support given to the disabled be extended to the transabled? Would society tolerate that?

[Morrigoon]

On a side note, this show is actually on a wide variety of mental disorders. Most of what they've covered so far seems to have manifested in the early teen years. They haven't specifically mentioned links to puberty, but seems to me there's probably a connection.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Everyone has issues, with others, with society's expectations, with their own bodies. Some more so than others.

Usually I'm fine with people doing what they want. Where I think this gets tricky is when I think of how I'd react if a family member developed this issue. I'd be pretty horrified and would probably do as much as possible to prevent them from harming themselves. It's an instinctual reaction and I'm not sure I could handle it in any other way.

I do think something is "wrong" in their brain and it could be medicated, same way you can medicate away lots of tendencies, both positively and negatively.

[Morrigoon]

I think I agree on their right to remove, but it gets tricky when you add in the concept of disability.

Then again, I think anyone burdened with this condition might fairly be called disabled (in some sense) to begin with. And if voluntary removal of the limb keeps them from, say, packing their limb in dry ice for 5 hours to kill it themselves (that's what the guy on the docu eventually did - and thus risking their life), then perhaps that's what needs to be done.

But jeez, what a cure...

[Disneyphile]

It's actually talked about among body modification groups. From reading various articles, a lot of the "limb-haters" see it as no different than piercings, tattoos, etc. Some in the body modification groups also see it that way. It's weird, and I think there's a line between "expressing oneself" and self-mutilation.