…and why? (Don’t vote if you already voted in the reddit poll)
I have psychiatric advance directives but I’ve never had them actually affect my treatment except once when i quit drinking and my PAD said they could give me fluids without a court order. Just once i had my parents sign me in as voluntary when otherwise i would have had to go to court, and i couldn’t sign myself out. It was a good thing at the time cuz i would’ve been committed for 30 days if they hadn’t had done that. I think PADs should be done for everyone with a psych history, they can at least let them know how you WANT to be treated.
I avoid Reddit, it’s kind of a sewer.
I don’t understand this poll
There are two proposed law changes, numbered 1 and 2
If you like them both, pick the first option
if you like 1 but not 2, pick the second option
if you like 2 but not 1, pick the third option
if you don’t like either, pick the fourth option
depending on what the laws are where you live, it may not be relevant. Where I live, you can’t make an advanced directive that can overrule your psychotic self. They can’t do anything unless you are a danger to yourself or others. If you’re a danger to yourself or others they can commit you, in which case i don’t think they have to follow your advance directive either. And commitments are for periods of time (im guessing they keep going even once you stabilize), so i would be concerned that they would continue to not follow your wishes and do what they think is best for you even if you are stable.
does the poll make more sense now?
people who are saying you like things the way they are now, could you talk about why?
why don’t you want to be able to have advance directives - for example are you afraid that they will be abused in some way?
and why not regain control of medical decisions when you have stabilized - for example do you not trust yourself or think you’ll stop getting care too soon? or do you think some people should be forced to take meds even if stable?
@krw Can you fill us in on why you’ve created this poll?
looks like the poll converged to 5 people who like the proposed law changes and 5 that don’t
this is what i messaged @Moonbeam
I favor both law changes. I want to keep the life-disrupting and life-ruining risks of psychosis to a minimum, while still maintaining control over my medical decisions.
In my first psychotic break this spring i thought that the long acting injection contained nanobots and then later that the pills were a low-dose poison (which i still think 
just for different reasons). I also am a principled person who does not take medication i “don’t need”. I was not willing to take meds unless under the physical coercion that they were going to hold me down and force me if i didn’t comply. If I had not been held involuntarily in a mental health facility following a probable cause hearing, who knows how long i would have remained insane, how much of my life i would have wasted, or what harmful things i would have done to property, finances, relationships, and health?
Regaining my sanity came at a cost though, as a long acting injection, which i complied with but did not consent to, gave me a shoulder injury and continued to dissolve medication which caused me significant reduction in quality of life for months. I also risked being committed, where as far as I know, I would have been forced to continue to take high doses of medicine, with significant ill effects on health and quality of life.
At this point, I find the medication so objectionable that I’m willing to risk relapse in order to be off it, and so far feel fortunate that my case was dismissed and that i was not committed and forced to take medication beyond what it took to stabilize me. But if I do relapse, what are the chances of hitting that sweet spot again - of having behavior just significant enough to pass a probable cause hearing and be forced to take medication to “snap me out of it”, while not significant enough to actually be committed? And what damage will be done in the meantime waiting until significant behavior to develops?
Being able to write an advance directive dictating what i want done, and under what circumstances i want it done, would allow me to get out of psychosis sooner before harm is done. And if I ever become committed, having the commitment expire once I’m stable could save me from months of med side effects.