Apotemnophilia

Apotemnophilia

Complications

Patients living with ampotemnophilia are unable to live happily living with a limb in question, they are unable to be happy in relationships or achieve sexual arousal from anything, they can end up self-amputating a limb.

Apotemnophilia

Disorder Classification

By Adara Cox

Classification of Ampotemnophilia

Apotemnophilia is classified as a neurological and psychological disorder.

When Apotemnophilia was first mentioned

Pictures

People diagnosed with apotemnophilia are usually classified as being patients of Body integrity identity disorder(BIID). They are classified under (BIID) because patients feel discontented with their bodies and feel the need to remove a healthy limb.

Apotemnophilia was first described in the year 1977 by two men named Gregg Furth and John Money. They described this disease as an image-integrity disorder. Meaning a person who cannot picture their body with a specific limb.

Defintion of Apotemnophila

Prognosis

Apotemnophilia is characterized by the intense and longstanding desire for amputation of one specific limb.

Subject's usually live perfectly normal lives apart from his/her desires. Some patients do not submit to complete loss of sexual desire or lack of intimacy in relationships as some do. People with this disease will eventually act on their desire to remove a limb after a certain amout of time. Once they remove limb they insist that they are happy with their lives at last.

Cause of Disease

Facts

The cause of apotemnophilia is still remained unknown. Medical research has shown that ampotemnophilia is linked to abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex.

Diagnostic Tests

Treatment

• People with this disease usually have a sexual fetish or desire to be with an amputee
• Apotemnophiles usually don't seek medical help until caught in the act of self amputation
• Some apotemnophiles seek surgeons to perform an amputation or they cause an injury to a specific limb so that surgery has to be performed
• There is no age to this disease

Neurological or Psychological

Most ampotemnophiles are emotionally healthy. This disease is treated as a neurological disorder and aversion therapy is usually the treament used. Aversion therapy is exposing the patient to stimulus while they are being subjected to some form of discomfort and to their desires.

Diagnostic tests on patients with apotemnophilia is usually a challenge for health care providers because of the self inflicted medical morbidity caused by apotemnophilia.

Researchers are still unsure on whether or not apotemnophila is a neurological or psychological disorder.

Why people get this disease

Researchers have said "that inadequate activation of the right superior parietal lobe leads to the unnatural situation in which the sufferers can feel the limb in question."

Diseases Associated with Apotemnophilia

Symptoms of Apotemnophilia

• Acrotomophilia- is paraphilia in which in an indiviual expresses strog sexual interest in amputees.
• Body Integrity Image Disorder- is in which sane and rational individuals express a strong and specific desire for the amputation of a healthy limb or limbs.
• Somatoparaphrenia- is where one denies ownership of a limb or an entire side of one's body.

• Apotemnophiles become prone to high levels of depression
• They become highly confused on what they are suppose to be like physically and emotionally
• Isolate themselves from socializing

Society & Apotemnophilia

Picture of Prefrontal Cortex

There are many different opinions on whether or not apotemnopilia should be considered a disease or if people suffering from it should be allowed to express themselves.

People Who are Susceptible to Apotemnophilia

People who have suffered from severe head trauma or stroke are at risk of developing this disease. As well as people with impaired motor, sensory, langauge, spatial, and memory anatomo-functionally discrete monitory systems. This condition has been a result of any neurological disorder.

Work Cited

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.ask.com/

http://gist.org/

http://wordpress.com/