Why most patients with bipolar want self-binding directives
A UK online survey finds that patients do not trust their capacity to make good decisions when they are ill
Most patients with bipolar disorder endorse the use of self-binding directives, signed when they are in remission, to allow psychiatrists to overrule their objections to treatment during severe episodes, a survey shows.
And to the surprise of the UK researchers, the main reason given by patients for being in favour of the so-called Ulysses contracts is not that they fear harm to themselves or others, but that they don’t trust their ill selves to make wise decisions.
