{"id":862,"date":"2015-07-28T08:26:33","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T08:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/?p=862"},"modified":"2015-07-29T11:14:49","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T11:14:49","slug":"depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/","title":{"rendered":"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Most common diagnoses among those requesting help to die, due to unbearable suffering<\/em><\/p>\n

Depression and personality disorders are the most common diagnoses among Belgian psychiatric patients requesting help to die, on the grounds of unbearable suffering, finds research published in\u00a0BMJ Open\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Drugs, given either by mouth or administered intravenously, are used to perform euthanasia<\/span> in Belgium, where the practice has been legal since 2002.<\/p>\n

The researchers wanted to find out if there were any discernible patterns in requests for euthanasia<\/span> among mentally ill patients in Belgium in a bid to inform recommendations for future research.<\/p>\n

So they tracked requests for help to die, made by patients receiving treatment for psychiatric problems in outpatient clinics in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium between 2007 and 2011, and followed up to the end of 2012.<\/p>\n

During this period, 77 women and 23 men asked for euthanasia<\/span> on the grounds of unbearable suffering associated with mental illness. Their average age was 47, but this ranged from 21 to 80.<\/p>\n

Most (91) of the patients had been referred for counselling. Seventy three had been deemed medically unfit to work, and 59 were living alone.<\/p>\n

Ninety had more than one mental health issue, with depression (58 patients) the most frequent diagnosis, followed by personality disorder (50).<\/p>\n

Thirty eight patients required further tests and\/or treatment, 13 of whom were specifically tested for autistic spectrum disorders. Twelve were subsequently diagnosed with Asperger\u2019s syndrome, a form of high functioning autism.<\/p>\n

In all, 48 of the requests were accepted, and 35 carried out. Among the remaining 13, eight cancelled or delayed the procedure on the grounds that simply having the option gave them enough peace of mind to continue living.<\/p>\n

By December 2012, 43 of the patients had died, including six who had taken their own lives. Among this group, one patient committed suicide because she found the approvals process too long, while another did so because her family had objected to euthanasia<\/span>. A third woman killed herself after a spell in a psychiatric ward.<\/p>\n

Another had died as a result of palliative sedation by the end of 2012, and one had died of the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa.<\/p>\n

Thirty patients died surrounded by family\/friends, and in a serene and positive atmosphere, \u201cwhich would have been impossible to attain in the case of unassisted traumatic suicide,\u201d note the authors.<\/p>\n

In 2010 and 2011, 2086 patients died by euthanasia<\/span> in Belgium, accounting for 1% of all deaths during that period, with those who were not terminally ill making up less than 10% of the total.<\/p>\n

But as yet, there is no consensus on what constitutes \u2018unbearable suffering,\u2019 nor are there any guidelines in Belgium on how best to deal with requests for help to die from those who are mentally ill, say the researchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking into account the ongoing fierce ethical debates, it is essential to develop such guidelines, and translate them into clear and detailed protocols that can be applied in practice,\u201d they conclude.<\/p>\n

A video abstract for this manuscript is available to view here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jd1V3DQ_xKE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Most common diagnoses among those requesting help to die, due to unbearable suffering Depression and personality disorders are the most common diagnoses among Belgian psychiatric patients requesting help to die, on the grounds of unbearable suffering, finds research published in\u00a0BMJ Open\u00a0today. Drugs, given either by mouth or administered intravenously, are used to perform euthanasia […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDepression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia - BMJ Open<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia - BMJ Open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Most common diagnoses among those requesting help to die, due to unbearable suffering Depression and personality disorders are the most common diagnoses among Belgian psychiatric patients requesting help to die, on the grounds of unbearable suffering, finds research published in\u00a0BMJ Open\u00a0today. Drugs, given either by mouth or administered intravenously, are used to perform euthanasia [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BMJ Open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-28T08:26:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-29T11:14:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-28T08:26:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-29T11:14:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":509,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"In the news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/\",\"name\":\"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia - BMJ Open\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-28T08:26:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-29T11:14:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/28\\\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/\",\"name\":\"BMJ Open\",\"description\":\"The official blog BMJ Open; a place to discuss medical research and discover the Editor's monthly top picks.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BMJ Open\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png\",\"width\":183,\"height\":34,\"caption\":\"BMJ Open\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia - BMJ Open","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia - BMJ Open","og_description":"  Most common diagnoses among those requesting help to die, due to unbearable suffering Depression and personality disorders are the most common diagnoses among Belgian psychiatric patients requesting help to die, on the grounds of unbearable suffering, finds research published in\u00a0BMJ Open\u00a0today. Drugs, given either by mouth or administered intravenously, are used to perform euthanasia [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/","og_site_name":"BMJ Open","article_published_time":"2015-07-28T08:26:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-29T11:14:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia","datePublished":"2015-07-28T08:26:33+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-29T11:14:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/"},"wordCount":509,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#organization"},"articleSection":["In the news"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/","name":"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia - BMJ Open","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-07-28T08:26:33+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-29T11:14:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2015\/07\/28\/depression-and-personality-disorders-most-common-diagnoses-in-psychiatric-patients-requesting-euthanasia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Depression and personality disorders most common diagnoses in psychiatric patients requesting euthanasia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/","name":"BMJ Open","description":"The official blog BMJ Open; a place to discuss medical research and discover the Editor's monthly top picks.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#organization","name":"BMJ Open","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png","width":183,"height":34,"caption":"BMJ Open"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}