Quality of life vs Quantity of life, why is it a taboo for people with mental health issues to end their life?

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This topic has been in my mind for a while.
While people with physical health issues are allowed to stop treatment to end their life under palliative care if their life is deemed to have no more quailty in it. But i wonder why that was the case of people with mental health issues. Where professional insist people with mental health issues to stay alive regardless of what cost even when they are to spend the rest of their lives locked away or subject to treatment that will turn them into walking zombies.

Its really for the patient sake or just for the sake of not making the professionals feel guilty about losing a patient/client? The world somehow has rather a person with no future and hopes to end up begging and starving in the streets than to just let them end their life and suffering for having nothing.

I remember reading about news about people suffering from sepsis and doctors will just amputate all their hands and legs to keep them alive. And really….so what after they save them? What quailty of life will them have? If they have strong family support, yes it can be a right thing to do. But what if the person is just some who has nothing, no home, no family and no jobs. And again….i read in news that in US some hospitals will let their patient die off if they dont have insurance or able to afford treatment.

But still….just imagine living with mental health issues the same way as a person who has all their limps amputated.

Really….mental health care should start focusing on the patients quality of life and not the quantity of life, as what is life when its completely stagnant for the next 20 to 50 yrs. And what they get is more sufferings, abuse and trauma from involuntary treatments and poverty

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Hi @user1446,

You’re voicing something deeply painful and complex, and it’s valid to question how society defines “quality of life” and whose suffering gets acknowledged. Mental health struggles can feel invisible, prolonged, and isolating - especially when treatments feel more like containment than care. It’s heartbreaking when people feel trapped in systems that prioritize survival over dignity, and even more so when they lack support, resources, or hope. But it’s also important to remember that one story, or even many painful ones, don’t fully represent the entire mental health system. There are professionals who genuinely fight for their patients’ autonomy, who listen, adapt, and advocate for better care models that honor both emotional and existential suffering.

Healthcare workers, especially those on the front lines, carry immense responsibility, often under impossible conditions. Many of them enter the field because they care deeply, and while the system can be flawed, it’s not fair to demonise those trying to help.

Guilt isn’t the driving force behind their insistence on life. It’s often a belief, however imperfect, that healing is still possible. That said, your call for mental health care to focus more on quality of life is powerful and necessary. Compassionate care should never mean forcing someone to endure endless suffering - it should mean walking with them, listening, and helping them reclaim meaning, even in the darkest places.

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Hahaha….what talking you?

I am talking about quality of life of a person with mental health issues.

You come here and post to advocate on dont abuse healthcare workers.

Are you getting delusional? Stick to topic pls.

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Mann this is an incredibly hard topic to talk about.. I wonder about this before too… if everyone in this world is absolutely kind, then yeah it’s like a safe bet things will only get better. So we should always be hopeful. But I also know we do come across different ppl at different times, and unfortunately some ppl do consistently meet bad things and bad ppl in life that make life to be of no quality especially when they are also struggling internally alr. :frowning:

I guess that’s the challenge of mental health concerns - there is no universal measurement of how severe a condition is before allowing for natural death (like how it happens with terminal physical illnesses). And who’s to say who shall make the medical decision when the patient is not in a condition to make their own life and death decision >< the more I type the more I find it all so hard to comprehend… I feel like at the end of the day, whoever is in the industry doing the line of work of caring for patients (be it mental or physical health), they all come from a place of caring. Yet they are still humans and they still have flaws and we still need to keep them in check to ensure everyone is well taken care of. But this bunch of ppl, along with everyone else who cares about suicide prevention, it all comes from a place of believing that things will get better in time, with support and care and love. That there is much of that going around in the world, and sometimes it takes just a little more patience, determination and luck to come across that spark of change. Ppl who are different than normal ppl (like your example of a person with amputated limbs), they deserve good life just as much, and you and me all have the ability to adapt and make the most of what we got in life, and to live your own kind of good, no need compare with others de.

I know my reply might not be what you wanna hear >< just pouring my thoughts out on this topic bcos it is an impt topic.. I guess we really have much more to do as a society to focus on improving quality of lives, this I 100% agree!!!

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Well….the trick answer here you have is with time. So the question is how much time and when? I have been a person with mental health issues for 24 yrs now. And honestly, it just got worse as time past and not better. And people who lost their love ones to suicide keep push the gov to do more to prevent it. And in the end with have MHCTA and recently i get know that anyone arrested under MHCTA will have their basic human right removed and subject to involuntary treatment even when have a next of kin that can decide the course of treatment. And nowadays ECT is used at first of line treatment for those arrested under MHCTA as compare to being the last resort. In the past even though suicide is a crime, but no one actually is being charge for it. But now it a different story.

Honestly….life will be so much easier when MHCTA is revoked. And everyone is able to openly share about their suicide ideations without fearing of being subject to involuntary admission or treatment. Sometimes many people who actually act on it, might actually not act on it if they are allow to vent their thoughts without fear and get proper help and support.

And honestly….if people with mental health issues is allow to go into palliative care mode. Maybe many will just decide not to end their life.

As very often i find myself at the peak of suicide planning and once all the plan has been draft out and i did everything i wanted to do. I actually find my mind at peace and feeling very relax. End up i just gave up. Which somehow, yes….i love to plan suicide for this reason.

Still….some countries actually has allow people with chronic mental health issues to get euthanasia. And of course they will need doctor’s approval. And when approval is needed means there is an assessment. So actually its not really that tricky. And in fact it might end up be a way for people to seek help. And yes….a few people choose this path actually ended their life, and there is that heated debate on why are they allow to do so.

still….quality of life is always a tricky topic for those with physical health issues or mental health issues. And most of the time, quality of life is closely linked to the support do they have. And to say, Singapore support system for people with mental health issues is just crap, so how to get quality? Most people with mental health issues cannot even find a job, stuck with drugging themselves for life and living on a few hundred dollar in financial assistance every month, some dont have any friends or family members, and never had a chance to travel out of Singapore. So how you call that quality of life?

Yes….we can adapt, but for how long? Last time a counsellor once say to me that people can step on your foot but you can choose to react or not and how to react. But for that, how many times can you tolerate people stepping on your foot before you say enough?

Like you say….we can adapt and stand back up whenever we fall. But how many times you think one person can do that? And like you mentioned, some people just always have a chain of bad things happening to them. And i was one of them, when at the peak of my life for once i found a decent job and 3 months later my 2nd hospital mistreatment happened. And in between i have all kinds of crap in my life that to me death is nothing, so i pretty much daring enough to go into the frontline when there is a virus outbreak. And somehow, the virus avoided me. I was always joking, now that how I’m unvax, i only catch covid once, while people who are vaxed catch covid like 3 times a yr.

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Frankly speaking, based on personal experience, I agree with this part. A little bit of background, I used to seek help in a public healthcare setting and I realised that every time I mentioned that there was the slightest suicidal ideation and I might act upon them, they would tell me to go to the emergency room (and I realised it was also a common recurring theme within my friends too)….

I am very blessed that I managed to switch and seek help in a private setting (I know not everyone can afford this luxury) and it was different seeing her, she wasn’t reactive, whenever I shared my ideations with her, her responses weren’t immediately ok you need to seek help but rather she would be curious to know why I’m feeling this way and she will “sit” with me through these feelings and allow me to express my thoughts and feelings. Like you said, sometimes people just need to have that safe space to express their thoughts and feelings rather than bottling it up…

Honestly I always joke that if I had to go to the emergency every time I was suicidal and had thoughts of acting upon them, I’ll be in and out of hospital on almost a weekly basis… sometimes these feelings and thoughts are fleeting so honestly professionals need to assess…

yeah my hope is that healthcare professionals will be less reactive and provide the care that is beneficial and to the needs of the client

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yeah….somehow that is the issue, i am not sure if its the doctor issue or due to MHCTA requirement for them to report all such cases same as like vaping.

Since….most doctors are pretty chill before MHCTA is enforced. If that is the case i only can blame those who lost their love ones, since the always say gov not doing enough to prevent and keep push for more.

Even what the revamp MHCTA is out, they pretty still say not enough.

Last time before MHCTA was a thing, i pretty much just go to A&E to get my self harm wound treated. But now if i even do that again, i rather let it rot and die of infect that deal with those doctors.

Just feel like we are getting punished for seeking help and not actually trying to help us.

Its sad that private consult is damn ex, i see most private psy is about $250/hr the cheapest and can go up to $370/hr. As much as i wanted to see them, but i keep asking myself, i am unemployed drawing $520/mth financial assistance from the gov. So…should i spend $250 out of my $520 FA to feed these doctors. I am pretty sure they earn what i get every month is just 2 hrs. And honestly….my public hospital consult is all FOC.

I guess in SG, our gov and also doctor and or professional just dont get it when comes to mental health. Emotion is not something they seems to know even if the score full marks in their medical exams.

I wonder when people will get it, we need a place to vent out instead of having so much enforcement that make us just keep everything to ourselves.