Near-suicide: A mindsponge-based investigation into the psychology of patients with serious illnesses withdrawing from treatment

Abstract

Patients with serious illnesses or injuries may decide to quit their medical treatment if they think paying the fees will put their families into destitution. Without treatment, it is likely that fatal outcomes will soon follow. We call this phenomenon “near-suicide”. Research on suicide-related psychology often faces huge difficulties in collecting and processing data due to the extreme nature of such phenomena. Employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 1042 Vietnamese patients, we found that the more serious the illnesses or injuries of patients are, the more likely they will choose to quit treatment if they perceive that paying the treatment fees heavily affect their families’ financial status. Particularly, only one in four patients with the most serious health issues who thought that continuing the treatment would push themselves and their families into destitution or bankruptcy would decide to continue the treatment. Considering the information filtering mechanism using subjective cost-benefit judgments, these patients likely choose the financial well-being and future of their family members over their individual suffering and inevitable death. Our study also demonstrates that mindsponge-based reasoning and BMF analytics can be effective in designing and processing health data for studying extreme psychosocial phenomena.

Envelope culture in the healthcare system: happy poison for the vulnerable

“…In contrast, those with good economic conditions enjoy the preferential treatment the thankyou money provides. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons driving many patients with serious health issues to choose the "near-suicide" option (59). While unlikely, we should not rule out the worst-case scenario in which the envelope culture drives the whole society to the point of "collective suicide," preventing vulnerable individuals from receiving treatment due to the failure to give extra "thank-you money" to healthcare workers (60).…”

Neural bases of suicidal ideation and depression in young college students

“…It can be considered as an indicated moment for them in which they are willing to undergo all kinds of experiences that lead them to face difficulties in a rational way. Cognitive flexibility would allow us to leave aside the beliefs of abandonment, detachment, desolation, and change them for other types of virtuous practices such as hope, forgiveness, empathy, among others proposed by positive psychology (Vuong et al, 2021(Vuong et al, , 2022a.…”

“…In the case of people with SI, it is inevitable to think that their environment seems hostile to them and consequently they cannot attribute a high value or benefit to staying alive. From the mindsponge approach, the mindset can influence people's perception, attitudes, and beliefs, creating a self-protection mechanism for their self when their self-integrity is threatened (Vuong et al, 2022a ). This may be one of the reasons why people with SI refuse or do not comply with to treatment.…”

Essential materials for Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics

“…• Near-suicide: A mindsponge-based investigation into the psychology of patients with serious illnesses withdrawing from treatment [30] • Exploring the relationship between mental distress and cognitive dissonance across transnational identities using BMF analytics [31] In conclusion, we welcome SM3D members and other researchers to contribute opinions, ideas, comments, or feedback to help the community apply, accumulate, and develop more insights and innovative content regarding BMF analytics and mindsponge theory.…”