Living With BIID: I Want To Cut Off My Leg

STANDING on one leg and balancing on crutches Nick O’Hallaron gives the impression of a man who was born without a right leg. But the truth is, this scenario is just wishful thinking for the 29-year-old from Edinburgh. He is actually a fully able-bodied man who longs to be an amputee. And he’s not alone. Nick, is one of the very few people in the UK known to be suffering from BIID - Body Integrity Identity Disorder - a rare neurological condition that makes people unable to recognise certain body parts as their own.

Videographer / director: Rory Dunning
Producer: Katie Mercer, Ruby Coote
Editor: Marcus Cooper

For more of the amazing side of life:

[derpestarzt]

I have CID (class identity disorder) I was born poor, but I really feel like a rich person trapped inside a poor's person life, I need a bank transfer procedure so I can live the life I was meant to live, thank you all for your support.

[AbeAyBay]

Neurosurgeon here from the US. We classify this as Body Integrity Disorder. It's due to a disconnect in the parietal sensory S1 receptor in which normally gives a person body awareness. I.e. you can close your eyes and identify your body as your own and spatially account for all your limbs and fingers. Simply put, a person with Body Integrity disorder has a lesion in this pathway so that they do not recognize a portion of their bodies as their own. It's most common in the left arm. It's almost as if living with constant anxiety that a foreign being is growing on your body. As if a stranger is constantly touching you. This is why it was previously treated as anxiety/OCD. Amputation "completes" their body maps and they can now account for their entire bodies. Further studies are being done to understand this disease

[lorealmadonna]

This reminds me of the woman who blinded herself.

[macybowles]

Unpopular opinion- this dude looks like a sad Elton John.

[backstreetboy]

The operation’s gonna cost an arm and a leg

[stitchedtogether]

how does he bend his leg all the way back like that and have it stay there for that long? it looks really painful...

[tresfoil]

The bending his leg in his pant leg thing is killing my claustrophobia. I haaaate being restricted. I panic if I get my arm stuck in a shirt sleeve. Lol

[LadyEmjay]

I literally watched the first half of this video and thought his leg was already amputated and thought he was talking about removing the other leg 🤦🏾‍♀️. I also was trying to watch this and bobs burgers at the same time

[mkbe-powp]

I just realized after watching this 2 times that he's just bending his knee in the pant leg...omg

[KKISCRAZYFUL]

Hey, just because you don't understand a mental illness doesn't mean it's not real. Obviously this seems very fair fetched but someone is hurting and adding negativity to a bad situation won't make it better.

[Themystergamerr]

I feel so sorry for people with this illness. It’s just heartbreaking

[lorenachairez]

I think I have this I dont connect with my fatness. These rolls have to go .

[vincentxiong]

As an amputee myself, I wished I had my leg.

[gabe]

As my psychology professor describes it, it literally feels like you have a just some random object sticking in your body, like imagine if you had a pole sticking out of your stomach you would want it out, and that’s how this guy feels

[warefairsoda]

4:28 "If a choice came for an amputation I would jump at the opportunity." Oh the irony.

[orangesporanges]

This might sound strange but things like this make me question if past lives could be a reality.

[dankmemer]

I actually appreciate that he didn't actually choose to amputate his leg instead of that girl who blind herself because of the said mental disorder. I wish people are more understanding that he didn't choose to hate his leg. The ignorance in the comments makes me sad

[RowanWarren]

This man has a serious mental illness. A little empathy and understanding can go a long way. Seeing the way some commenters are making fun of him, and deriding him, it is no wonder that we have almost no dialogue when it comes to mental health.

[GamingTaylor]

I've heard that others who have this condition have found help by looking at themselves in a large mirror, and seeing their leg from another perspective.

[etiendre]

Reading the comments shows how much stigma there is around mental disorders and that there is so much work to do.