First Log

As a mental health resource consumer, I feel enraged to see that there is a stubborn, recurrent attitude of taboo and aversion in the mental health community in the United States (among many other places) towards the idea of letting a person with severe mental illness choose the time of his own death while struggling to cope with it under great strenuous pain, little social support, and for long periods of time.

I’m also surprised to see, even among fellow consumers, that I am, at this point, the only person I know who is in full support of the legalization of Dr. Assisted suicide for the mentally ill.

Why is it that so many consumers who have felt the long-lasting, unbearable emotional and psychological pain associated with mental illness refuse to support the idea of other fellow consumers choosing the time of their own death? There are many reasons that help explain this, and each depends on each individual person. I know that some consumers simply fear death as a chaotic outcome, and fear hurting their loved ones as well. Other consumers have family and conjugal support that help them reinforce their self-worth and strengthen their self-confidence. Others also have well-rounded support systems with the support of therapists, psychiatrists, insurance, and sound medication combinations that also help them overcome their mental illness. Lastly, I know that plenty of consumers are Christian, or otherwise religious, and their religious figure or faith are strictly opposed to the idea of Dr. Assisted Suicide, deeming it as a form or murder. Religious inclinations can also be a source of hope and spiritual healing to help these consumers make sense of their struggles, and give them faith in a better future. No matter how abundant and diverse these causes may be, they all have one thing in common- a strong attachment to a solid ground of support. This solid ground of support can be many things- it can be love for family, devotion to a god, undying faith in a better end, or the longing for life experiences that foster spiritual growth. This main factor usually drives many mental health consumers and providers alike to oppose to Dr. assisted suicide for the mentally ill.

Respectively, there is also a large group of consumers who do not, in fact, have any attachment to any solid, effective ground of support amid a distressful mental illness. Many lack grounds of support for their mental illness to begin with, and thus have lost attachment to the prospect of being alive, and have very reduced fear of any consequence resulting from their death.

Because of their lack of faith in life, in the mental health system, and in the people around them, these consumers may be considered to be the nihilist type. It is usually their long-lived lack of effective and stable grounds of support and social ties which lead them to detach themselves from family, their life, their self-worth, and their motivation to pursue rewarding goals.

Nihilist consumers could, for example, lack the peer, conjugal, and family relationships that could help them grow spiritually and believe that they, and not just their life, do have value to others; Nihilists may also be subject to neglectful treatment at public mental-health institutions (as is often the case due to lack of funding) which fail to provide them professional attention from adequately-educated providers, or to connect them to community resources as well; lastly, Nihilists seldom have a religion, faith, or deity that they look up to for meaning in their lives. They can either be agnostic or atheist, hence lack a spiritual point of reference. Or they might believe in a god, and yet detest him because of his utter neglect and lack of helpfulness towards them in their recurrent, pain-stricken circumstances.

In conclusion, what separates us nihilist consumers from non-nihilist ones is the fact that, unlike them, us nihilists have no attachment to any possible grounds of support or source of strength that is strong enough to give us any desire and motivation to trust and believe in life.

I, a nihilist consumer, have decided to begin this blog to inspire a Movement for the Legalization of Dr. Assisted Suicide for the Mentally Ill. I want to speak for all other nihilist consumers who feel the same way about their own life, and who would like to see the legalization of Dr. Assisted Suicide as an alternative for the ending of their own ongoing psychological pain. I believe that all humans whose lives are in ruins because of their serious mental illnesses, among other reasons, should be given the legal right to end their life to end all pain and suffering associated with their illness. No mental health consumer should be forced to stay alive against their will, nor should they be subject to traumatic, coercive methods of treatment by force. No code of ethics justifies the previous, specially at the expense of a mentally ill person's unalienable right to be loved and respected, nor their choice to dignity and inner peace.