A total of 13 psychiatric patients in The Netherlands were helped to end their life last year, compared with just two in 2010, according to euthanasia monitoring groups, the DutchNews reported.

Euthanasia among people in the early stages of dementia also rose last year to 49 cases, double that in 2010.

Assisted suicide now accounts for 2.8 percent of all deaths in the Netherlands, researchers from four Dutch teaching hospitals and the national statistics office CBS reported earlier this year.

Euthanasia is strictly controlled in The Netherlands. A patient has to be "suffering unbearably" and doctors must be convinced the patient is making an informed choice.