 First and foremost if you are looking for some ridiculously good chocolate check this out I have been greatly enjoying a piece of day for a couple days now because that's really amazing and no I am not sponsored. I just want to share the joy with you. Hello there my beautiful internet friends. Welcome back to my channel Thanks so much for joining me here tonight I'm really excited to bring you some new information at least it was new to me on Thing that we've talked about on this channel a number of times I believe I've done three videos on it now and that's B. I. I. D. or body identity integrity disorder The reason that I'm talking about this is I guess twofold I kind of found myself learning about this world about a year and a half ago when I became an amputee myself When I started talking about this journey publicly I had a number of people who struggled with this disorder reach out to me and just want to communicate want to know what my Life was like as an amputee and as they told me what they struggled with I started looking into it and I did a Video about a year ago talking about my initial reactions because if you've never heard of B. I. D. Or you don't know what it is. It's basically in essence a disorder where someone feels like they should be disabled It's a disconnection with your body I believe it's also classified as a type of dysphoria over 50% of people who struggle with this disorder Feel like they should be amputees and generally they can point to like a specific part of their body where they feel like their Body ends and they shouldn't have an arm or they shouldn't have a leg This can also extend to things like being blind or being paralyzed. They feel like they were meant to be that way But are able bodied and to be totally honest when I first heard about this I almost wanted to be offended like are you kidding me like you you're perfectly able bodied and you want to be Disabled like why would you why would you want that? But when I looked into it further I came to understand this is obviously not something people are choosing This is an actual mental disorder and something that's agonizing to deal with when I made my first video about B. I. D. About a year ago I had a lot of people reach out to me and thank me for talking about this in a compassionate way because it's often almost exclusively discussed with shame and blame and guilt and like ridicule and making fun of them and putting them down and I don't think that's ever a helpful idea I don't think that ever helps people who are struggling or helps people, you know in general I've talked to other friends who are amputees or who use wheelchairs And it seems to be a consensus across the board that we all hear from people who have B. I. D. Looking to us for support or answers and that's not something that I am equipped to do But I do feel equipped to spread Positive information about this and hopefully reduce the stigma some and so as my journey here on YouTube has continued I've discussed it a few more times and this article came out on CNN today talking about B. I. I. D. and I wanted to share some information in it with you because it goes into some of the scientific backing behind this disorder and I really hope that more research will be put towards this better treatment will become available because it's not Super-duper well understood right now, but when we talk about things that are emotional or difficult to understand I think it's important to bring research into the conversation to bring science into the conversation Especially when people are highly opinionated or don't believe that someone could really be struggling with something like this So we found this article on CNN health and of course I will link it down below so you can check it out for yourself But it's called understanding the rare condition that makes people want to amputate their own limbs part of it reads New science is showing how specific parts of the brain may differ in those with rare But fascinating disorder known as body integrity dysphoria or B. I. I. D. The condition is believed to be driven by a mismatch between someone's mental picture of their body image and their actual physical self One way to explain it physiologically is that in B. I. D. The part of the brain associated with body image has less functional Connectivity with other parts of the brain according to a study published Thursday in the journal current biology Those with B. I. D. have less brain connectivity in specific areas So this research study was conducted of 16 men who want to remove their healthy left legs From a support group website with people with B. I. D. and compared scans of their brains to 60 men without the condition So they were actually looking at brain scans here from a physiological perspective to see what's actually happening there Those with B. I. D. have less brain connectivity in specific areas We show clear associations between a mental state and changes in brain structure and a functionality said Peter Brugger a Professor of neurology and neuropsychology at the University of Zurich Those with B. I. D. had noticeably different neural architecture in the paracentral lab you'll I'm sure I'm saying that wrong Please ridicule me kindly the part of the brain that controls how we feel and interpret feedback from lower limbs The area had reduced connectivity to other areas of the brain So what that's saying I really mirrors what people talk about when they say that they feel like this body part Doesn't belong to them or it shouldn't be there There's literally less Connection lighting up in the brain to that part of their body the right superior parietal Laviol an area used to construct one's total body image also had reduced connectivity and a reduced density of gray matter Indicating less neuron activity the feeling that a limb belongs to us relies on the extent to which the sensory motor and sorry mortar I can't say that word the sensory motor limb area is functionally connected to all other brain regions Said the study's main author having enough gray matter in the right parietal region of the brain is necessary to create a healthy Perception of the body in space something else that this article points out is that this disorder is very rare It's not something that commonly occurs. There are about 200 cases that are cited in medical literature Of course, there are more people who are dealing with this, but it's not a very common thing to experience Those with B. I. D. commonly stay silent and outside of people who join online forms Self-identifying as sufferers it's been difficult for researchers to get a read on how many people may have the condition these researchers hope to find non-surgical ways to treat those with B. I. D. such as Transcranial magnetic stimulation or deep brain stimulation with implanted electrodes This kind of treatment has shown some mild success in people dealing with depression at the Mayo Clinic So there could be some potential there basically what this treatment does is activate parts of the brain that don't have as much Activity as was referenced earlier in this study I think that this is really important to discuss in these communities and also When you see social media videos going viral of people who are choosing to be paralyzed or choosing to live as someone With an amputation because on the surface. Yeah, that does seem incredibly insensitive That seems like it's making little of disability like like you're choosing it because you could be perfectly fine But the reality is that mental conditions mental disorders are just as serious and real as physical ones Oftentimes we treat mental conditions as secondary to physical I have a lot of experience with this because I had diagnosed depression anxiety in PTSD and It is not taken nearly as seriously as things that people can physically see in the last video that I did talking about B. I. D. I invited people to share their opinions respectfully in the comment section and a lot of people did say that they felt offended if they were disabled themselves a lot of other people said that they recognized that it was a mental illness and That that can't really be controlled those who do feel like it's diminishing actual suffering or actual disability I would really encourage you to read through this whole article to take a look at some of the studies behind it And maybe gain a little bit of a deeper understanding the stories that I've heard from people suffering with this condition are truly heartbreaking Most of them want to stay completely anonymous They're usually linked accounts that don't have anything else behind them because the verbal abuse that they have suffered for dealing with this condition is Significant some of the big reasons why as the article mentions Not a lot of people talk about it not a lot of people bring it up And if you can't talk about something it's really difficult to find to help I think this is a really heartbreaking condition as most conditions are I really hope that they are able to find effective treatment for this if you are someone who is dealing with these kinds of feelings or Has b.i.i.d as someone who deals with a disability as someone who is amputee I just want to say that I don't judge you from conversations. I've had maybe you don't hear that enough I am so sorry for what you are suffering with for what you are going through that has to be incredibly confusing on so many different levels and I just wanted to remind you that not everyone thinks Little of you none of us get to choose our mental illnesses or our struggles Sometimes these things just happen and it can be really difficult to deal with and it's important to find help in safe places I hope that you have someone in your life that you can talk to about this I hope that you're able to find communities online or in person that can support you as you find your way through this I'm gonna link down below the other videos that I have done dealing with this topic If you're interested in it check them out and of course the original article is also linked down below I'm honestly really glad that more research is being done on this because I think the more knowledge we have Hopefully the less judgment and ignorance we will carry around on different issues So I'm really glad that CNN released this article I'm really glad that there are researchers who are looking into this and trying to understand what's happening in the brain And why that's disconnected from the body and like I said, I really hope that continues And I hope that effective safe treatment methods are found really soon I would love to hear what you think about this in the comment section down below It does does hearing research and studies change your mind at all if you are someone who's sort of on the fence about this or who has Felt that it was offensive if someone's struggling with that. Have you ever heard about this condition before? I would love to hear your thoughts down below I read all comments though I do not have a chance to respond to all of them and I really appreciate your words Thank you to my patrons who make this possible who support my channel and support me in so many different ways Thank you for being a member of my community Everyone's names is listed at the end of every video who is a patron of mine There are some other tiers and perks involved in joining my patreon community So if you want to check that out I'll put the link up on the screen if you feel like it Thanks so much for spending a few minutes every day here with me today You could be anywhere in the world doing anything and you chose to watch this video with me and hang out And I really appreciate that I love you guys. I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video