Apotemnophilia, also known as body integrity identity disorder or amputee identity disorder, is most likely a neurologic disorder in which a person has the overwhelming desire to amputate healthy limbs or other parts of their body. Most date this desire to their childhoods and most often do not suffer from other psychological problems. In extreme cases, sufferers amputate their own limbs or ask others to do this for them. Because few surgeons are willing to amputate healthy limbs, this often means that the patients themselves will attempt to irrevocably damage the limb in question, necessitating formal amputation. After amputation, most report to being happy with their decision and often state, paradoxically, that they are now “complete.” In addition, body integrity identity disorder also applies to people who wish to alter their bodily integrity in general.
Apotemnophilia is hypothesized to be related to right parietal lobe damage because the disorder has features in common with somatoparaphrenia, a type of monothematic delusion secondary to parietal lobe injury where the afflicted person denies ownership of a limb or an entire side of one’s body.
The major problem in providing treatment is that most people with apotemnophilia do not seek professional treatment for their condition. Cognitive behavioral and aversion therapies have been tried.
Acrotomophilia is a form of sexual fetishism whereby the person without amputation or the wish to be amputated has a strong erotic interest in other people who are missing limbs. In the body integrity identity disorder community, these people are referred to as devotees. However, there might be some relationship between the 2 disorders, with some individuals exhibiting both conditions.