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by NumberlessMan 1280 days ago
If you think this is a good idea, [I think] you need to understand the discipline of psychiatry better.

My impression is that anything about you that is non-functional to you as a rational, self-interested agent in the world is a disorder, example [1].

Read about how they characterize delusions [2]. Essentially, if you don't preface everything you say with the words "I think", you are deluded.

It's an interesting field, but [I think] it's dangerous to put too much power in the hands of this field. [I think] it blunts a lot of normal humanity.

[I think] having suicidal thoughts is a normal part of an open-minded human life. [I think] going through a very bad near suicidal crises should be able to happen without the state labeling you in a fashion that can absolutely ruin your life should you decide to return to it. [I think] allowing people the privacy of their own minds is an essential human freedom, that we abandon at our peril.

In addition [I think] forcing people to state "I think" at the beginning of every sentence they say is a way to limit their persuasive power. Which is an interesting norm, but [I think] it needs to be universally applied as otherwise [I think] it can be used as a way to detooth opposition to authority.

That said, I wish all people tormented by their own minds the best possible future. I think therapy can help, as can reaching out to people who love you, if you have any in your life. But I think if you don't want to tell your therapist about your suicidal tendancies because you're worried about how a nervous bureaucracy will respond, I think that's your right.

Involuntary psychiatric care is no picnic. Having your freedoms taken away from you because of things you said, and finding you can't find the right sequence of magic words to leave is about as frustrating a position as a person can be in. What you might view as a serious bump in the road is viewed from the outside as a whole new social trajectory for you.

The people I met in there told me everything would get better once I just accepted I would never leave. That this was my life now. To stay calm, I did have to imagine a life where I never left, and figure out a way to be okay with that. It's a very hard mental exercise if you've ever wanted good things for your own life, and it doesn't surprise me not everyone can manage it without acting out.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrupulosity

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3016695/