Creepiest Mental Disorder Ever. (genghis)

Body Integrity Identity Disorder. People who feel compelled to amputate perfectly healthy limbs in order to feel, umm..."whole" (like that makes any sense.)

"Josh" says he was fully prepared when he amputated his left hand with a power tool. He says he had tried to cut it off before—once putting it underneath a truck and trying to crush it (the jack didn't collapse right); once attempting to saw it off with a table saw (he lost his nerve). He even spent countless miles driving around with his hand dangling out the window, hoping to get side-swiped.

You know where this is leading, of course.

Surprising as it may seem, Josh is not alone. He has what some scientists are calling Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), an exceedingly rare condition characterized by an overwhelming desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs or become paraplegic. The desire to be disabled seems so bizarre and contrary to basic human instincts that those who suffer from BIID have largely kept their compulsion a secret. But online communities of those with BIID have formed over the last decade, galvanizing a small movement to bring the disorder into the open.

Urgent: I have it on good authority that LauraW is considering amputating a perfectly functional and healthy hump. Please talk her off this ledge. Stop the madness!

posted by xgenghisx at 06:56 AM

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