[thedustbustr]

Inspired by bkholdem's post in ED's thread on prescription drugs.
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rapid or abrupt withdrawl from heroin and it's cousin's will not kill you (although you will proably feel like your dying or wish you were).

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Suppose you are in a circumstance such that you have a choice to endure excruciating pain for a temporary period (say, a week), but then will be free of any side effects, forever. Perhaps this circumstance is a strong physical addiction to heroin, and you have the choice to stop cold turkey. Or, a sadistic billionaire will give you a billion dollars to endure two weeks worth of torture, but you will be physically and mentally healthy when the period ends (save the memory, and any psychological effects, of enduring such pain)

You have the option to self admit to a medical facility which will physically restrain you (padded arm or full body restraints, or whatever). You are aware that you will endure excruciating pain, which has been described to you as pain so unbearable, that you would prefer death. But when its over, its gone, completely. You will not be permitted to take medication, nor will you be permitted to commit suicide - once you commit to this facility, you are forcefully held until the pain ends. You are guaranteed to emerge in the same physical condition as you started, besides any specific positive consequences which you acknowledge and accept, such as the heroin addiction gone.

Would you do it? Could you do it? I imagine it would be psychologically similar to a nightmare. My first instinct is to say that enduring such a torture would be a positive life experience, to strengthen our minds against pain, and very applicable to the training of soldiers.

It is also interesting to suppose that suicide were permitted, and easily accessible (say, through a Kevorkian euthanasia machine, which allows you to press a button to administer a lethal drug).