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Healthcare
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Body Misperceptions: When the Brain and Body Don’t Match
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Body Misperceptions: When the Brain and Body Don’t Match

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 June 2024 | Viewed by 3845

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Erich Kasten

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, MSH University of Applied Sciences & Medical University, D-20457 Hamburg, Germany
Interests: Neuropsychology; somatopsychology; body integrity identity disorder; body integrity dysphoria
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue intends to collate articles from different disciplines that deal with medical, psychological, legal, and philosophical aspects of body image disorders.

In such disorders, the real body and the sufferer’s mental image of the body do not match. The most typical example of this disorder is found in transgender people, in which the affected person feels that they do not belong to the sex presented by their body, often desiring operative modification, especially of the genitals. However, it can also be found in anorexic patients who feel that they are far too fat, despite the scales showing facts to the contrary. Likewise, obese people are often amazed when they see photos clearly exhibiting their size; mentally, they often don't feel so overweight. Moreover, neurological patients with lesions in the corpus callosum can develop alien limb syndrome, in which limbs make movements that are unwanted and perceived as alien to the patient. Patients with neglect symptoms or with asomatognosia also often have the feeling that a body part does not belong to them. Another group comprises people with an intact, healthy body who feel the need to display or experience a disability, such as amputation, paralysis, blindness, toothlessness, incontinence, or another condition. The symptoms described above have been termed apotemnophilia, xenomelia, amputee identity disorder, and body integrity identity disorder.

Studies related to the above conditions are welcome for submission. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Erich Kasten
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • body image disorders
  • body integrity dysphoria
  • body integrity identity disorder
  • apotemnophilia
  • transgender
  • transidentity
  • anorexia nervosa
  • obesity
  • alien limb syndrome
  • neglect
  • asomatognosia

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

16 pages, 2959 KiB  
Review
The Girl Who Wants to Get Rid of Her Left Leg—Body Identity Dysphoria
by Erich Kasten
Healthcare 2023, 11(13), 1901; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11131901 - 30 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3365
Abstract
Introduction: One of the strangest kinds of misperceptions of the body is “Body Integrity Dysphoria” (BID), formerly named as “Body Identity Integrity Disorder” (BIID). The affected people have the feeling that a limb is not part of their body. They can feel it, [...] Read more.
Introduction: One of the strangest kinds of misperceptions of the body is “Body Integrity Dysphoria” (BID), formerly named as “Body Identity Integrity Disorder” (BIID). The affected people have the feeling that a limb is not part of their body. They can feel it, they can use it, they can move it, but they cannot get along with the fact that it is a part of their own body. Most feel the need for an amputation of a leg, others of both legs, some want a palsy and use a wheelchair. Still discussed is whether other disablements such as blindness, dumbness, deafness or a desire to have an incontinency can be included in this diagnosis. This review discusses parallels and differences to transgender/trans identity, body dysmorphic disorder, alien limb syndrome, hemineglect, and self-induced amputations in schizophrenic patients. The cause for the need to be disabled is still unknown; the review gives an overview about psychological and neurological theories of explanation and what kind of therapy may help. Methods: This is a narrative review of about 20 years of research about Body Integrity Dysphoria by the author. Results: Overall, no psychopathological deviations were found, none of the affected persons examined by us were actually delusional or schizophrenic, which underlines that there is a neurological malfunction in the brain that has existed since birth. However, psychological mechanisms intensify the symptoms. There are clear parallels to other forms of interference between the external body and mental body representation. Different types of therapies have been able to provide help to better deal with BID, but there has been little to bring about a real cure. In contrast, BID-affected persons who achieved amputation (or other desired forms of disability) were satisfied and able to return to work. Conclusions: BID remains an enigmatic disorder. We have learned a lot over the past 20 years that the mental and physical bodies do not have to match. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Body Misperceptions: When the Brain and Body Don’t Match)
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