Apotemnophilia

Apotemnophilia, more commonly known as body integrity identity disorder, can be defined as the obsessive desire to have one or more healthy limbs amputated. Individuals suffering from this disorder, considered rare and not recognized by the usual diagnostic classifications, experience profound discomfort and distress from living in a body that is not "complete" as it is for them. The solution, although paradoxical, of amputation in order to achieve a certain completeness of identity appears for many of them as a tempting option and even, in some cases, as an absolute necessity, sometimes going so far as to voluntarily put themselves in danger in order to get rid of the limbs concerned. The ambition of this book is to shed light on the complex process involved in the appearance of a new psychopathological disorder in the field of modern psychiatry, as well as all the issues that this raises in terms of definitions, diagnosis and treatment.