DISABLING FACTORS AND LIMITED CONTROL

Those with refractory mental illness who wish to put an end to their lives through euthanasia are usually troubled by how limiting their lives become with the burden of their mental illnesses, and how difficult it thus becomes to move forward with their lives in such a way that it is reasonably worth living. These individuals are often troubled by the many disabling factors that often come with living with mental illness, most of which are outside of their control and hinder their ability to advance through life smoothly. The following is a list of some of the most common of such factors, and they are either internal or external:

Internal Factors

l Mood Disturbances: Those with refractory mental illness are usually afflicted by strong, uncomfortable emotions. In their particular case, these uncomfortable, painful emotions are hardly manageable even with the most current treatment methods at their disposal, and have persevered for unreasonable long periods of time. These refractory emotions become a form of chronic pain that the chronic sufferers must endure on a regular bases, almost constantly stalling growth in their other dimensions of wellness and making their sentient experience become significantly less bearable.

l Unpleasant Medication Sideffects: As if the torment of having a mental illness wasn’t bad enough, many of the pharmaceuticals available come with sideffects that cause a host of additional issues, such as weight gain, a foggy brain, uncomfortable brain sensations, vomiting, severe sedation, fainting, among others. Many individuals with refractory mental illness have to deal with the tough task of living with unpleasant medication sideffects just to see a glimpse of relief from the disabling symptoms of their mental illnesses.         

l  Emotional Dysregulation: many individuals with refractory mental illness who are victims of trauma often struggle to regulate their temper so that they can live in harmony with everyone around them. Many such individuals know better than to lash out or otherwise act in ways that can be perceived as hostile to others, yet they cannot control their outbursts as much as they wish they could. This, in turn, causes the further-hindering phenomenon of social thinning.

External Factors

l Social Thinning and Stigma: Many with refractory mental illness have either been stigmatized for having the serious mental health struggles that consume them, or have been blacklisted, deserted, and blocked out of the life of a person or group of people because of their persistent difficulty in coping with the symptoms of their mental illnesses, thus creating feelings of guilt on the mentally ill individual, and thus increasing their agony and suicidal urges.

l Punishment: Those with refractory mental illness who struggle with Emotional Dysregulation often find themselves losing control over their temper and violating codes of ethics in a wide variety of arenas, often finding themselves facing sanctions, reprimand, or arrest for their actions.

l Occupational Dysfunction: Many individuals with refractory mental illness face a persistent struggle to function at the very minimum in order to achieve important tasks such as learning for academic success, or working with efficacy to succeed in a job position. It is no wonder that there are many individuals with mental illness who live on the streets, unable to care for themselves. It is also quite common for those with refractory mental illness to be hardly capable of completing a degree and/or sustaining a reputable job, often times settling for lower-income type jobs and facing chronic financial concerns.

l Lack of Access to Resources: For many individuals with refractory mental illness, getting to see a therapist or access to medications are not affordable options due to money concerns or a lack of insurance, which can be rather difficult to get in some jurisdictions. It is quite common for providers to refuse to take insurance and to charge exorbitant fees per one session, as can be seen in the provider directory of websites like www.psychologytoday.com. Also, for those with refractory mental illness who need more specialized care, such as ECT or therapy geared toward healing trauma, such options may be either unaffordable (for the reasons mentioned earlier) or unavailable- it is not uncommon for facilities that provide these services to be at capacity and unable to take in new patients.  

The list of disabling factors goes on. However, as different and as diverse as these factors may be, they all involve one serious predicament in common- in the vast majority of cases, they are outside of the control of the mentally ill who endure them. Since those with refractory mental illness are subject to these disabling factors on a regular basis because of their recurrent struggle to cope with their mental illnesses, the level of control that they have over their life’s path declines significantly, while their level of suffering soars. Therefore, it holds that the less control you have over your mind and body, the less control you have over your life, and it is this lack of control over mental illness and its outcomes which snowball into a mixture of disabling factors that altogether crush those with refractory mental illness like an avalanche. It is no wonder, then, that a self-directed death would become a tempting option for them as it would allow what little control they have in the outcome of their lives. Euthanasia= total control over the continuing or not of a life in which they have little or no control over the disabling factors that consume their whole being, including the mental illnesses that heavily contribute to many of those factors. An oppressive, abusive government would not only deny the mentally ill such control, but would also manipulate the mentally ill in thinking they “lack the clarity of thought” to make the choice to end their lives. It doesn’t take “clarity of thought” for someone to know that they are in pain and that nothing at their disposal has proven effective to reduce that pain enough to allow for a life worth living.

It’s time to give those with refractory mental illness control over their lives, including the choice of whether or not they will continue living it. No government or entity has the legal or ethical right to strip those with refractory mental illness of the right to choose to cease to live if they do not wish to do so. Not only are such governments or entities oppressive when they deny those rights, but they are yet another major disabling factor that those with refractory mental illness must contend with- one that  strips them of their freedom to end their pain through death (thus perpetuating their misery), and downgrades and discredits their ability to make the best possible decisions about their dire and complex situation. No such entity could ever be considered “supportive” of those with refractory mental illness.