banger12
Former nerd; current burden
- Aug 1, 2024
- 84
Introduction: This is not a conventional resource thread but I hope it is still useful for somebody. I wrote this post in response to a thread asking about mental hospital experiences. It was probably excessively long for a comment response I was thinking about it today though, and given the subject of these forums I figured that many people here may find this information valuable for various reasons and that it justified re-posting this separately as its own thread. Keep in mind that this is only based on my own experiences and may not be representative of the average experience. I did paint a very negative picture of these facilities because I wanted to be honest with how I felt about them, however that is my opinion and bias and won't be the case for everyone checked into a facility. I suspect that many here have been to facilities like this but for those who haven't but still want an idea of it I hope this helps. Also, sorry for the dog shit formatting (Idk why I put the edits I made after posting at the start instead of at the end, for example). Feel free to comment, ask questions, share your own experiences etc.
Edit: this went on way longer than I expected and I'm so sorry but I truly hope you appreciate the detailed response and that some people can make good use of thr information provided. Some people feel they have benefited from psychiatric units and may have needed them, but overall I have a very negative impression of these place, so warning I'm biased. I've been admitted to different psych units a couple times and so I described what was generally true of most or all of them here. This is by no means comprehensive and there are things im probably forgetting to add by mistake or would only be relevant to one facility. Keep in mind though that this is based only on the personal experience of myself, patients I've talked to at these places, and observations I've made while there as a patient. I hope this helps you or someone else. Please enjoy.
Edit #2: Forgot to note that every time no matter the facility I've had my phone, wallet, etc confiscated as per usual policy, without fail. They do allow visitation times (usually a pre-scheduled hour each week) from family but have rules around it like hug/physical affection prohibitions. And you have phone call hours where you can make calls out using a shitty landlines. Also, for context, I'm an American male, in case that information sheds further light on the matter.
I've been to psychiatric units a total of 3 separate psychiatric units in my life, 4 times in my life in total, 2 weeks each (except for final one). Idk if that counts. They werent their own dedicated mental hospital and it wasn't long term so idk if it counts as a mental hospitalization. Each time I was there it was over CTB related stuff. Twice as a minor, twice as an adult. Two of these happened during covid and idk if they are at all representative of any hospital experience nowadays.
Mostly uneventful but here's a few details. Keep in mind the is representative of only my experience and its very possible quite a few other facilities are different. You have no access to therapy at all. You'll likely be talking with a psychiatrist or a number of other docs and maybe a social worker or some shit. But you won't have access to therapy or emotional comfort. Also btw the docs and staff don't care what you think, only what they want.
They will have "group therapy" if you could even call it that. There will be other group activities to, some of which are supposed to be fun and some that are supposed to teach you skills, all of which felt useful or unpleasant. Btw they track your participation on that stupid shit and it counts toward your discharge.
Depending on the unit you'll either be able to order from a list of options that they cook up in the cafeteria or you'll be escorted to the cafeteria and everybody will eat the same stuff, it's not great but not terrible.
Other patients are a mixed bag. Most are cool but obviously it's a psych unit and you don't know why they're there, what their motives are, if they're being truthful etc, so caution is valuable. However given that you're all there together you'll likely befriend some other patients and bind over shitty life experiences and being stuck in a medical facility. It's to be expected this will happen, especially with no access to therapy or other emotional support, however it's technically prohibited, so these conversations typically don't happen until the neglectful staff are out of ear shot, which is often. There will likely be a couple unhinged patients who may make you feel unsafe at times and you'll have to be around them, and I still always felt bad for them. And patients sometimes fluctuate or oscillate between being pleasant to disturbing. Some patients value their time there, but most become more jaded about the whole thing the longer they're there and the more they get to observe.
It's possible you'll need to share rooms, you're not going to get any privacy. Fuck, you can't even shut your door half the time. Your room will be so suicide-proof even down to details like the faucets and toilet paper holders.
However, you're there to be "stabilized" which is some kind of HR/PR Newspeak for "forced onto medication that likely won't help" which for the sake of comedy I'll refer to as "pharma slop". The staff for the most part don't give a fuck about you or other patients, with some exceptions, and quite a few actively resent the patients, sometimes openly so and express it. Some staff will be regulars. Patients will pick favorites out of the very few kind staffers. It's not universally true for every patient (although certainly true for the majority) and it's never stated explicitly, but there's an unwritten rule that if you want out you have to agree to start some pharma slop, which conveniently they're ready to send a prescription out to your pharmacy as soon as you're discharged. In fact it feels almost like a war of attrition to get you to fold and just submit to having the pharma slop shoved down your throat and whatever else they want you to do. It happened to me and I was on tons of meds for 2 years after the fact. There are some other criteria for discharge, some better and reasonable and some that are really bad, but the medication/pharma slop shit is obviously noteworthy. However, I suspect it may be possible to run out the clock with insurance at these places based on some remarks docs there made to me at the time, however I'm not sure so don't quote me on that.
I want to clarify btw that I think some people do need these places and that I'm not necessarily anti-medication. But it feels like over-prescription is endemic on these units and it feels very corrupt regardless. Plus, rarely do patients feel helped. I'd wager there is a financial motive involved, if not with the individual staff or facilities (which is possible) than in how the whole system is designed in the first place. It's also noteworthy that people who are depressed, anxious and suicidal are placed in the same facility among patients with very different, much more extreme/severe mental illnesses.
They will hand out notebooks and suicide-proof pens. They claim to respect your privacy. Don't believe them. From what I understand those are routinely checked and I've had other patients tell me about incidents in which staff has used journal entries against them.
In terms of episodes of abuse or SA I'm unaware of any committed by either staff or patients at any of the facilities I've been admitted to, other than one patient who would expose himself to female patients, as well as the odd attempted unit hookup or relationship. This stuff is pretty bad and concerning, but these were rare incidents and not full blown SA, although it certainly is enough to make one worry for their safety, especially since among the patients plenty had stories from other facilities of worse being perpetrated by both employees and other patients. It's not impossible that at some point some really bad incident occurred at the facilities I was at. Small note, when I get admitted to these places, typically they force you to strip in front of a staffer and then change into the shitty hospital clothes, ig because they worry about elastic wastelands becoming makeshift nooses or that you may hide razor blades in your box cutters. From what I understand this is standard procedure at most places but it's incredibly invasive and it's easy to see how a predator could take advantage of that. And given all the paperwork you're forced to sign god knows what rights you're signing away or how legally protected these facilities are.
I think these facilities also demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of suicide prevention as an action, idea and motivation. A pretty decent chunk of patients were repeat admissions and never experienced any long term benefit from them. But many people report having suffered as a result of their basically forced admission. Many end up committing suicide eventually anyway. So these institutions seemingly generate harm more than they reduce it.
I was very cooperative and honest while I was at these places. I didn't benefit. Some do but I git discharged the honest and productive way during most of my stays and I basically submitted and gave in to everything they wanted. Never benefitted. Ofc I can't speak for everyone but I hate these damn places.
Edit: this went on way longer than I expected and I'm so sorry but I truly hope you appreciate the detailed response and that some people can make good use of thr information provided. Some people feel they have benefited from psychiatric units and may have needed them, but overall I have a very negative impression of these place, so warning I'm biased. I've been admitted to different psych units a couple times and so I described what was generally true of most or all of them here. This is by no means comprehensive and there are things im probably forgetting to add by mistake or would only be relevant to one facility. Keep in mind though that this is based only on the personal experience of myself, patients I've talked to at these places, and observations I've made while there as a patient. I hope this helps you or someone else. Please enjoy.
Edit #2: Forgot to note that every time no matter the facility I've had my phone, wallet, etc confiscated as per usual policy, without fail. They do allow visitation times (usually a pre-scheduled hour each week) from family but have rules around it like hug/physical affection prohibitions. And you have phone call hours where you can make calls out using a shitty landlines. Also, for context, I'm an American male, in case that information sheds further light on the matter.
I've been to psychiatric units a total of 3 separate psychiatric units in my life, 4 times in my life in total, 2 weeks each (except for final one). Idk if that counts. They werent their own dedicated mental hospital and it wasn't long term so idk if it counts as a mental hospitalization. Each time I was there it was over CTB related stuff. Twice as a minor, twice as an adult. Two of these happened during covid and idk if they are at all representative of any hospital experience nowadays.
Mostly uneventful but here's a few details. Keep in mind the is representative of only my experience and its very possible quite a few other facilities are different. You have no access to therapy at all. You'll likely be talking with a psychiatrist or a number of other docs and maybe a social worker or some shit. But you won't have access to therapy or emotional comfort. Also btw the docs and staff don't care what you think, only what they want.
They will have "group therapy" if you could even call it that. There will be other group activities to, some of which are supposed to be fun and some that are supposed to teach you skills, all of which felt useful or unpleasant. Btw they track your participation on that stupid shit and it counts toward your discharge.
Depending on the unit you'll either be able to order from a list of options that they cook up in the cafeteria or you'll be escorted to the cafeteria and everybody will eat the same stuff, it's not great but not terrible.
Other patients are a mixed bag. Most are cool but obviously it's a psych unit and you don't know why they're there, what their motives are, if they're being truthful etc, so caution is valuable. However given that you're all there together you'll likely befriend some other patients and bind over shitty life experiences and being stuck in a medical facility. It's to be expected this will happen, especially with no access to therapy or other emotional support, however it's technically prohibited, so these conversations typically don't happen until the neglectful staff are out of ear shot, which is often. There will likely be a couple unhinged patients who may make you feel unsafe at times and you'll have to be around them, and I still always felt bad for them. And patients sometimes fluctuate or oscillate between being pleasant to disturbing. Some patients value their time there, but most become more jaded about the whole thing the longer they're there and the more they get to observe.
It's possible you'll need to share rooms, you're not going to get any privacy. Fuck, you can't even shut your door half the time. Your room will be so suicide-proof even down to details like the faucets and toilet paper holders.
However, you're there to be "stabilized" which is some kind of HR/PR Newspeak for "forced onto medication that likely won't help" which for the sake of comedy I'll refer to as "pharma slop". The staff for the most part don't give a fuck about you or other patients, with some exceptions, and quite a few actively resent the patients, sometimes openly so and express it. Some staff will be regulars. Patients will pick favorites out of the very few kind staffers. It's not universally true for every patient (although certainly true for the majority) and it's never stated explicitly, but there's an unwritten rule that if you want out you have to agree to start some pharma slop, which conveniently they're ready to send a prescription out to your pharmacy as soon as you're discharged. In fact it feels almost like a war of attrition to get you to fold and just submit to having the pharma slop shoved down your throat and whatever else they want you to do. It happened to me and I was on tons of meds for 2 years after the fact. There are some other criteria for discharge, some better and reasonable and some that are really bad, but the medication/pharma slop shit is obviously noteworthy. However, I suspect it may be possible to run out the clock with insurance at these places based on some remarks docs there made to me at the time, however I'm not sure so don't quote me on that.
I want to clarify btw that I think some people do need these places and that I'm not necessarily anti-medication. But it feels like over-prescription is endemic on these units and it feels very corrupt regardless. Plus, rarely do patients feel helped. I'd wager there is a financial motive involved, if not with the individual staff or facilities (which is possible) than in how the whole system is designed in the first place. It's also noteworthy that people who are depressed, anxious and suicidal are placed in the same facility among patients with very different, much more extreme/severe mental illnesses.
They will hand out notebooks and suicide-proof pens. They claim to respect your privacy. Don't believe them. From what I understand those are routinely checked and I've had other patients tell me about incidents in which staff has used journal entries against them.
In terms of episodes of abuse or SA I'm unaware of any committed by either staff or patients at any of the facilities I've been admitted to, other than one patient who would expose himself to female patients, as well as the odd attempted unit hookup or relationship. This stuff is pretty bad and concerning, but these were rare incidents and not full blown SA, although it certainly is enough to make one worry for their safety, especially since among the patients plenty had stories from other facilities of worse being perpetrated by both employees and other patients. It's not impossible that at some point some really bad incident occurred at the facilities I was at. Small note, when I get admitted to these places, typically they force you to strip in front of a staffer and then change into the shitty hospital clothes, ig because they worry about elastic wastelands becoming makeshift nooses or that you may hide razor blades in your box cutters. From what I understand this is standard procedure at most places but it's incredibly invasive and it's easy to see how a predator could take advantage of that. And given all the paperwork you're forced to sign god knows what rights you're signing away or how legally protected these facilities are.
I think these facilities also demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of suicide prevention as an action, idea and motivation. A pretty decent chunk of patients were repeat admissions and never experienced any long term benefit from them. But many people report having suffered as a result of their basically forced admission. Many end up committing suicide eventually anyway. So these institutions seemingly generate harm more than they reduce it.
I was very cooperative and honest while I was at these places. I didn't benefit. Some do but I git discharged the honest and productive way during most of my stays and I basically submitted and gave in to everything they wanted. Never benefitted. Ofc I can't speak for everyone but I hate these damn places.
