General News Woman Intentionally Blinds Herself, Says She's Happier This Way

I guess? Kind of speechless at this...

Also the psychiatrist should have their license revoked.

 

I would not be terrified or consider it the end of the world if I ever end up blind, but good grief I would not blind myself!

Ultimately, it's her decision, but what kind of psychologist would actually help her do it?

 

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBPqksG9nbA[/YOUTUBE]

 

There happen to be people who have disorders like this, and body identity disorder is one that I've heard of, where people feel that a part of their bodies doesn't really belong so the only treatment that works is amputation. The human body and mind is a very interesting thing.

 

Wow, weird...

Well, the main thing is that she's happy!

Personally, I think I would consider it the end of the world if I went blind... How would I look at cuteness that way!?

 

I just can't comprehend why someone would want to intentionally blind themselves. How strange! I also don't see how a Psychologist would agree to help someone blind themselves by dropping drain cleaner in their eye. Whatever makes her happy...

 

This is a difficult one ethically.

On one hand there is the obvious comparison to transgender people, it may be that these people are indeed hard-wired to want to be a certain way (i.e. missing an arm) or interact with the world in a different way (perhaps in cases like this lady's they may have a condition where they find visual stimuli overwhelming).

I think the problem with that is unlike gender for transgender people, disability is a lot less mapped in the brain, it does seem something more picked up through learning rather than innate.

Also, whilst sexual reassignment surgery is very permanent (for MTF at least) and quite physically damaging (it is a serious procedure and can have complications) the aftermath if the surgery is successful and goes as planned will not be disabling. There isn't the long-term harm as seen in cases like this.

Additionally I think there's a lot more going on psychologically speaking in these cases. With trans people, they simply want to transition into how they feel they should be. That's generally it. In cases of amputation and disability there is always the questionable element of whether they are doing it for some want of attention or desire to be cared for (consciously or subconsciously).

All in all I think the psychologist has done wrong here. Whilst I sympathise with the individual, there are other factors to consider here, like the long term affects to the patient. Yes she may be happy now, but having a sight disability at an older age can be dilapidating. She may require carers or additional support either from friends/relatives or the state, that is an unfair burden considering this is an "elective" disability. Plus with guide/seeing eye dogs being in real short supply her decision may have knock-on effects on others with non-chosen disabilities.

 

Well, at least she's happy, I guess. I'm not sure how I feel about the psychologist putting drain cleaner in her eyes. I mean, the role of the psychologist is to help people with psychological issues. This seems to have gone beyond that, an should have at least been overseen by a medical doctor, assuming it should have been done at all.

BIID is not in the DSM-V. So, my feeling is that this psychologist should be investigated to make sure that he/she was not in some way harming this woman. This seems like an odd ethical boundary to cross, and it is just screaming out to be investigated. (For example, does this particular psychologist have an emotional investment in seeing BIID be officially recognized by the DSM? Was the psychologist (intentionally or unintentionally) furthering an agenda in some way?)

---------- Post added 4th Oct 2015 at 05:56 PM ----------

I found a video of her talking about it.

[YOUTUBE]WdRihAJ3H9Q[/YOUTUBE]

While I am glad she is happy, I am shocked that the psychiatrist she was seeing took such a drastic action after only two weeks!

 

Ouch! Why would anybody ever want to put drain cleaner into their eyes? To other people perhaps, but not to yourself! That's weird, but whatever you're most comfortable with I guess...

 

The psychologist should be fired and arrested.

I'm all for people being/doing whatever they want EXCEPT when they are a danger to themselves or others, and pouring drain cleaner into your eyes that's a danger to yourself. We can't just let people do stuff like that to themselves. She's lucky that she only went blind.

Also are taxpayers going to have to pay her disability? If she intentionally blinded herself are my tax dollars going to this woman? I would be against that because she literally chose to have that disability and as such doesn't deserve the benefits.

 

Welp...

This is the strangest thing I have heard for a while.

But if she's happy, she's happy, I guess.

 

I'm not sure that I believe the psychologist acted ethically.

The correct action was to convince the patient that being able to see is good. Even failing that, I think that it would have been much better to work with a surgeon or eye care specialist to come up with a safer way to blind the patient. (Like, drain cleaner, really?? That shit is super basic, and like, eyes are very close to the brain, so if something had gone wrong, the patient could have died...)

I'm not going to say I think that medical professionals can never harm patients. After all, I deeply in my heart support assisted dying, because I hate the thought of someone with a terminal condition being forced to suffer.

But in this instance, I think the psychologist should have been a little more creative and diligent in supporting the patient.

~ Adrienne

 

Exactly. This is my problem with the situation as well. Even setting aside the ethics of should it have been done or not, it should have been done by a doctor or surgeon, not the psychologist.

Things get even more disturbing when you realize that he did this to her after only seeing her for two weeks! I am assuming she wasn't in a mental hospital when it happened, because she talked about how she basically went shopping around for a doctor to do it. This means she had two visits with her psychologist before he blinded her! There was the initial visit to meet her, and then another visit where he literally poured drain cleaner in her eyes.

I mean, just thinking about this, there is some serious unethical shit going down with that psychologist and he (or she) needs to be investigated. I don't doubt for one moment that this woman feels the way that she feels, or that she's happy with the outcome. I could even be sympathetic to the psychologist if he (or she) had been seeing her for years and years, they had sought treatment, and this was some method of last resort. However, after only TWO visits, and you pour drain cleaner in her eyes?! WTF? Something is not right here, and honestly, this screams out for a full investigation of what happened.

I am not necessarily calling for criminal charges to be filed, since it was consensual, and she is happy with the outcome. However, there should be a full investigation and potentially he or she should lose her license depending on what is turned up.

 

Dumb.

 

Only because of a mental disorder that she didn't choose

 

That's interesting. I would never do that but I'm sure that disorder exist. I would never do that as I've got many things I would like to see. Oh well that's her problem not mine.

 

Lots of these comments reminds me of what people says about transgender people...

Anyway,

For transgender people to get their transition, they had to go through serious mental and physical evaluation for years under the watch of therapists. The real life experience period is mandatory for many places before a transgender person can even get their first HRT. Going ahead with this within 2 weeks does make me feel like this psychologist is a bit sketchy.

Certainly, they are not qualified to make such an invasive procedure too, even with consent. The same reason you don't get an eye doctor to examine your lungs cancer.

 

Exactly. It's the reason I've been very measured, and put the focus on the sketchy psychologist. It is too easy to make the comparison, even though they are in no way the same.

Exactly. That was my line of thinking as well. Just knowing the hoops transgender people have to jump through, and this psychologist is pouring drain cleaner in her eyes on what is presumably her second visit?!

Everyone seems to be focusing on the woman, obviously because it is shocking. However, she is not the real story here. It's the sketchy psychologist. That is where the focus needs to be.

 

Maybe, but are you really suggesting anytime someone wants to cut their own legs off the taxpayers should fit the bill on that person for life?