My take on Euthanasia for mentally ill adults

DX'd - Other
21

This is a VERY major idea, my friend.

Most of the old-school CBTs (very much including REBT as it was originally formulated, but is no longer) asserted that one could control their thoughts. The modern mindfulness-based cognitive therapies do NOT do that, however.

They take the position that thoughts are like railroad box cars rolling by at a railroad crossing while you sit there in your car. All you have to do is observe to notice to recognize that they are Just Thoughts (and nothing more; just ideas, just ā€œmental eventsā€) and that they will come and then go away, just like emotions do.

That is precisely how I was able to dis-engage from my Voices. The f-----s are still there (when they are), but I just see them as in FACT what they are, listen to what they assert, tell them ā€œThank you for sharing,ā€ and move on what what I was doing.

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22

Why thank them when itā€™s you? Arenā€™t you thanking yourself? That is what I am beginning to realize. If every thought we hear is our subconscious thoughts, then why thank your thought? It is our subconscious after all, and its something I am trying to control. I feel like my subconscious knows more than me. Sometimes it will predict the future. Has been happening lately. But I donā€™t want to say you shouldnā€™t say thank you to your thoughts. Itā€™s actually a good idea. I just wanted to point out that it may be our subconscious thoughts. I will thank mine too, and I have.

23

I used it as a metaphorical figure of speech. (I have noticed, btw, that many sz pts cannot see metaphors as metaphors. They are often patent literalists. When I began to encounter their parents, I figured out why.)

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24

I didnā€™t realize. But do you think that itā€™s our subconscious? Could I be right about that?

25

Virtually every ā€œbig nameā€ in the field of sz treatment thinks that; yes.

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26

Wow nice. How cool I didnā€™t know that it was that much of a subject to have big names involved. By that you mean the best researchers and doctors on the disease. Thanks. :slight_smile: I wonder who these big names are and if I can read any work by them.

27

Start with

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28

You know what Iā€™ll buy it. Right now. Itā€™s not expensive. thanks I have searched schizophrenia books before after you told me about this and it was the main one that popped up on Google. Seems informative. Ok fantastic.

29

This is an interesting topic. There have been many times I wanted to die. There were a couple of times I made half assed attempts. When I was 26 and the sz was just starting I felt God was commanding me to choose whether I would live or die. If I chose to die it would be a real attempt. I than asked my mom to just let me go. She said she couldnā€™t do that and that she wanted to take me to the hospital. I agreed. While there I made a real attempt for the first time and tried to take an officerā€™s gun. I quietly approached him from behind with every intention of shooting myself. Today I am glad Iā€™m still alive. I have so much going for me. Yes I still have my bad days, but my good days are so much better.

I donā€™t think that the mentally ill should be euthanized but some states have a law on the books where if you have a severe physical illness for which there is no cure and will only lead to a painful death the doctor can prescribe a pill where you drift off to sleep and your heart stops. We allow this for our pets why not have it for us. Iā€™ve watched people close to me die of cancer. No one should go through that. Yes people go into remission but when the doctors say there is nothing more they can do it should be an option. :sunny:

30

There was a time in my life when euthanasia might have been a rational choice for me. Except that as bad as I was at one point, it turned out that my prognosis was much better than anyone dared hope. In fact, my life is pretty sweet now. So itā€™s a pretty good thing ā€“ especially for the kid I had since and who is doing fine ā€“ that I was unable to act on suicidal urges.

I am certain there are situations where euthanasia makes sense for the mentally ill, but Iā€™ve encountered them in my real life as often as I have a multi-million dollar winning lottery ticket. Which is to say NEVER.

Pixel.

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31

I would prefer physician assisted suicide to euthanasia. You donā€™t have to inject me doc. Just make a special adjustment to one of my teeth so there is a hidden cyanide capsule in place (for emergency situations only).

32

Itā€™s the one Iā€™ve seen on everyoneā€™s desks or on their bookshelves for years.

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33

In case youā€™re captured by the enemy?

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34

Time for a rant.

Itā€™s absolutely disgusting how everybody here would deprive somebody suffering from severe treatment-resistant psychiatric illness who has been and sought treatment for many years to multiple decades the right to a dig ified death.

Just because you do not want the option or you are scared you would have chosen it during the time that you were ā€œvulnerableā€ does not mean that you should forcibly deprive others of the right. Please read how assisted-suicide for psychiatric illnesses actually work in countries like the Netherlands or Belgium. You have to be judged competent by doctors, have exhausted all reasonable attempts at treatment, be in an immense amount of suffering for a significant amount of time, and then and only then will the option of euthanasia be available on the table. After a mandatory waiting period of course. Itā€™s a decision you cannot request on a whim.

I myself have suffered from schizoaffective for three and a half decades. I am not happy nor content. Not a single day goes by where I do not wish to die and eagerly yearn for the day that death will finally free me from this hellish existence.

I have been through 40 different antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anti anxiety meds. The meds I take make me apathetic and tired. They do not relieve my suffering to the point where I am able to function normally without assistance. I am not able to live a happy life. I am sick of bouncing in and out of wards my entire life.

Take this girl in Norway who has spent 10 years locked up in a hospital for being constantly suicidal: vgDOTno/spesial/2016/lenket/

People on here would have her suffer her entire life like this instead of being allowed a dignified end.

Nobody should ever have to be forced to live a life like this. Spout your happy-endings all you want, your useless platitudes, and how you got ā€œbetter and are glad to be alive.ā€ Just remember that many do not get better. You do not hear their stories on forums like this because it goes against the narrative.

Even if I did improve to the point where I am able to live a happy life and no longer wish to die, I will always remain pro-choice. I will never deprive a person who has been in immense suffering who has been through treatment for such a long time and constantly failed the right to a dignified and peaceful end. Nobody should ever be forced to live a life like that, or be forced to spend the rest of your life locked up in a ward or bouncing in and out of one.

Regarding the ā€œbut there is always a chance it can better with timeā€ objection. You can apply this same logic to people suffering from conditions like locked-in-syndrome or ALS. There might come a time during the patients lifetime where a cure or a wonder drug is found that will allievate their suffering or cure their condition, no matter how small the chance. But until then you have to live a life of unbearable suffering according to the people in this thread!

Let me tell you something folks. If you have gambled for 30 years, and continously lose every time, itā€™s perfectly rational and acceptable to quit. To fold your hand and go ā€œenoughā€. To simply stop playing. You do not continue gambling in the hopes of ā€œwinningā€.

The same logic applies here. If you have spent say 35 years suffering from a psychiatric illness, seeking treatment and kept failing to get better, it is perfectly acceptable and rational to choose suicide. It should be up to the patient at that point whether to fold their hand or continue living while suffering greatly in the hopes that one day a new drug or treatment comes out that allievates their condition. But you shouldnā€™t be forced to continue living when you already have spent so much time in constant agony to the point where you have sought help for so long to no avail. The option of assisted-suicide should be available to you.

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