Discussion Does anyone have any Mental hospital/Psych Ward experiences?

[PerfectNothing.]

Here is my experience.

I only been to a psych ward once, voluntarily. They kept me there for 5 days, although I did get out a couple hours early cus of a heart doctor appointment I had.

My family said that the ER was going to let me go until I started saying stuff and they decided to keep me. The ER threatened to get police involved if I didn't go. I had to stay overnight at the ER so they could find me a bed at a mental hospital.

I remember when I was there that I wanted out so bad. They kept on waking me up in the middle of the night for blood work and stuff. When I first got there they took my stuff, gave me a rice krispy treat, and forgot about me. They told me to sit in an empty room in a chair and every once in a while someone would pass the door but no one ever came and got me. I had to search for the nurses myself to go to the main area where the patients stay at (idk if that normally happens or not). When I finally found a nurse they had me strip to my underwear infront of 2 female and male nurses, although the male nurse was turned around for part of it. Then they just put me in the main area, showed me my room and never explained the rules or anything. It took them about a day or so to give me my clothes. Also I have a special ear plug to prevent any water from getting in my right ear, because I have a hole in my right ear drum. they never gave me that back, and they lost it (took me 85$ to replace it).

It was nothing to do in the day other than play cards. They sometimes let us watch tv or go outside. they have Group things to learn coping skills. The actual psychologist/therapist only comes and sees you for like 5 mins max. Everything was Suicide proof so you wouldn't hurt yourself and they come and check on you every 15 mins. I also had a roommate. They had us eat hospital/school food (if I remember correctly) 3 times a day, and there were snacks in the middle. I remember the nurses telling a girl to force someone else to eat. They took away my rice krispy treat (from when I first got there) I was saving in the middle of the night, saying it was a safety hazard. I remember the first bite of food after I got out was so good.

I had to fake being better to get out of there.

I think it might of helped long term but I'm not for sure. Mental hospitals really only keep you safe when your there. Once you been admitted, they won't let you out until they say so, even if you want out.

I was curious if anyone else had a similar or different experience then me.

 

[quietwoods]

An outpatient clinic in my town, voluntarily at the request of family members.

Most miserable place I've been to. Some of the patients were unhinged to the point I feared for my own safety, and the staff was more depressed than I was.

Left before the end of the first day.

Never been to another one and never voluntarily will.

 

[GarageKarate07]

Mine was kinda nice. Not to say that some places are wrecks & the experiences there can be horrible. I went to an overnight triage. It was a long wall around a glass box. Boys on one side girls on the other. The orderlies were inside the glass box & they had a phone inside a little cage & you could ask them to turn the tv channel if you had a majority vote. About 7 tvs facing toward the wall on the glass box. The wall was lined with couch beds. It was a chair and a couch and a bed depending on if someone knew how to work the buttons and leavers. I saw some crazy stuff from the other residents. I remember it being really dark like the windows were yellow not clear. The chairs were about 3 feet apart along the wall. Snacks and cookies and juice and coloring books and stuff so you didnt get horribly bored. The kid next to me stuffed like 5 sandwiches under his bed that he was hoarding. Max stay was 18 hours. Why steal sandwiches? Sigh. Then I went to the hospital ward across town. They put me in an ambulance. An ambulance for a taxi because it was "safe". They didnt tie me down just a ride on the bed in the back. Well, I had a ragtag buckle. The hospital had pancakes. That was my favorite part. The psyche doctor was an idiot and I wrote a complaint and a senior member came to see me the next morning. I said that doctor was a horrible welcome for someone who didn't care if they cbd'd or not. Nothing happened of course but I didn't expect them to fire anyone or something like that. Generally I think the workers at those places get jaded and the light of their life begins to fade. Did I mention the pancakes!! i stayed there for about 2 weeks and went to a detox center for booze and drugs. The only reason I got help was because of the booze. The implementation was that there was no help for wanting to cbd but they had lots of state funds for "booze". We had a pool and they took us out to get smokes and coffee if we had our own money but they didnt let us loose. About 2 months there I think. After that was a year in 2 rehabs. Like I said mine were nice but maybe thats just me. I saw people have a horrible time but a lot of that was violence and such. They will lock you up again for that. Some of the bad times was also withdrawals. That stuff looked like it hurt. My withdrawals were pretty bad too. I dont think the state or hospitals are ready for the lowest of the low myself. I think they throw money at the problem to give the public an excuse that something has been done. The people can be really stupid sometimes and the help is absolutely inaddequit. Like the help is just shit. Some people care but that only goes so far. I wish there was real help for hurt people in the "civilized" world but there isn't. Consume & obey. Pretend like everything is ok. Don't look at the flames of society. Our town has drug addicts all over the place. The police stopped doing anything about it. Most people are on drugs because they have been mentally broken for too long or just had one too many difficult problems. You can break forever from just one shitty thing. Most people dont get that. A lot of people would rather be homeless than give society another chance. Bills & work & no support network from the state if you fail. My opinion I guess. The mental and homeless and prisons are there to scare the other bastards into being "normal". Fucking "normal" is living amongst the half dead and suffering and not looking up so you dont have to help them. What a joke. I don't know if I answered the question right. I'm older I'm sure and ive seen enough of this world to tell you that NOBODY gives a damn shit. Every once in a while there are caring people that keep us afloat but the majority is hell in a basket. This world Isn't getting fixed any time soon and the fucking broken are the open wounds to show it. Everyone for themselves & self righteousness is the goal of the ones trying to "help" the mental and broken. Wasn't there actual fucking missiles flying through the sky last week? Yeah but we want you to not ctb because it will get better while we all sit on our asses. Sigh. Any fuckin way sometimes rehab and lockdown can be okay. That doesn't mean it will. People are the most unpredictable and evil things I've ever had the pleasure to watch. Don't beat yourselves up for bad experiences or bad choices. This place is fucked up and you did the best you could do. Did I mention pancakes?

Here is my experience.

I was curious if anyone else had a similar or different experience then me.

It's not your fault that those places can be far more broken than you are. These people don't know what to do with us. Snacks are nice though. I wonder what the statistics are for diabetes and mental wards giving away lots of snacks. Oreo addiction can be serious. These people try but they fail a lot. Could be worse. Could be in a country where the mental hospital has no snacks no roof and a dirt floor and beds of straw. The pain of this world can be difficult to face alone. Most days even in a crowded room with people you've known for years. None of that is your fault though. This world has been poo poo for a long long long time.

An outpatient clinic in my town, voluntarily at the request of family members.

Most miserable place I've been to. Some of the patients were unhinged to the point I feared for my own safety, and the staff was more depressed than I was.

Left before the end of the first day.

Never been to another one and never voluntarily will.

No snacks? I've heard they have snacks.... ❤

 

[housesparrow]

i went to several. first one was when i was a child but i dont remember much except that it was really bad. second one is where i met my gf so it wasnt all bad but it didnt help and they ended up kicking me out for no reason. third one was supposed to be for sh and depression but they checked my weight and started instantly talking about tube feeding (i was barely underweight) which just made my eating problems worse. i was there for three days and it was traumatizing.

 

[PlasticFace]

When I first tried to CTB as a kid, I failed. I would've had to go to the hospital anyway, my face being blown apart and all, but the entire experience was terrifying. I was placed in inpatient "care". The entire experience was just dehumanizing. I did try to talk. Nobody took the time to understand me though. I couldn't talk well at the time so I tried to write but nobody cared. Nobody wanted to take the time to learn how to communicate with me. The worst part was nursing students coming to watch me. I was the star of the show for anyone who was training. The disgustingly prying eyes looking through my window, I will never forget. I could see them turning to talk to eachother, smiling. It was traumatizing, honestly. I was just hospitalized recently as well and had a similar experience, not as long of a stay though.

TLDR; I will never trust a medical "professional". None of them truly care about how healthy you are. They either use you as entertainment or are so annoyed that will do anything to get you out. If they truly cared, I would probably still be hospitalized.

 

[zeroangel]

I was put on a 72 hour hold at the mental hospital after an attempt at the age of 14. Half of the people there were similar to me but the other half were very violent. My roommate (for 1 day) would stand at other people's doors at night and would go inside to loom over them while they were sleeping. When people got violent, the nurses would drag them into the padded cell and lock them in there until they calmed down. If they didnt calm down, they would get tranquilized. I never saw my assigned therapist once and because of that they tried to hold me for longer than the legal required amount of time. Quite traumatizing. It taught me to never tell anyone about my real issues bc I would just get locked up with no actual help.

 

[sundown12]

i was in like 6 psych wards in 2 countries, the ones in canada were okay and i even met some friends there, but the ones in my home country were literal hell

 

[ChinUp]

LISTEN YOU NEVER WANT TO GO THERE! IT IS HORRIBLE. I WENT ONE TIME AND I SAID ID RATHER DIE BEFORE EVER GOING BACK. THEY TREATED ME BAD. TOOK EVERYTHING! IRRITATE YOU.

 

[Wolf Girl]

The only time I want to live is when I'm inpatient. :/

 

[kitkat9234]

In an out throughout my life. Would not reccomend. Left traumatized.

 

[k1m]

In hindsight it was a pretty calming experience, I caught up on some reading and got to see some wacky, interesting personalities. The attempt that led to me being hospitalized came from extreme stress, not from depression, so the hospital was a safe space for me to deflate and recover without hearing daily lectures about how people who commit suicide go to hell.

I will say in the US it's expensive if you don't have good insurance. I had employee coverage in that same hospital, so it cost me like $20 in total. I think going into debt over something involuntary would have actually pushed me over the edge.

 

[Cauliflour]

God the thought of being chucked into a mental hospital/psych ward makes me feel suicidal. I can't survive for over 3 days without my computer (unless I'm on like a trip where I'm doing stuff all day every day but like if there's quite a lot of free time at where I'm staying) because that's where most of my hobbies are so combining that with doctors treating me like a retarted toddler and making it so I have to stop my self harming tenancies and other shit just to leave, no. no no no no no no no. If someone close to me tries pulling that shit I'll never forgive them.

People who have been to British ones, what are they like? I imagine they're pretty crap considering the NHS is a mess right now.

 

[ConfettiSpaghetti]

no but i want to avoid it if i can. given my countries treatment of people like me, i dont trust them to not be anything other than just medical bullying/manipulation

 

[asparagusonnines]

its got its ups and downs, currently inpatient(have been for the past 3 months) and some of the most caring people there are the other patients and sometimes the student nurses, however there have been many violent and unstable patients coming and going so it unsettles the ward a bit. they gave me no information about my leave, my rights, my obs levels, incidents ive had, fucking nothing. im fully convinced that the nurses and psychs cannot read from how little they know how to deal with me and my (albeit very complicated) condition. i have felt unheard, ignored and even dehumanised because of this. some of the nurse assistants have been way more helpful than any of the other nurses, probably because they spend more time on the floor and can get to know patients better. i have attempted, been found then left alone and attempted again and they acted surprised like they didnt help in the slightest. every time ive attempted here they havent helped even though we went through safety planning together they never use it, its just paperwork to them. we're just paperwork to them. although i will say this is a much nicer environment than where i was living before tho lol (according to other patients this is one of the better inpatients around my area)

 

[tsumihoroboshi]

i've been twice, once in 2012 and again in 2015.

the FIRST hospitalisation was a good experience. i admitted myself willingly and had to wait for a bed to be free. i met some incredible people and heard stories that stick with me today. idk if any of those people are still even alive today. a lot of them were elderly. i met a drag queen there and they were the only one that really respected my dumb gender shit. eventually i needed to get out because all my fave people were leaving and newer, younger people was getting admitted (i was the youngest one there for a while), so i lied and manipulated my way out of getting out early.
it really was such a good experience and i cant recall any real negative things. i really feel nostalgic about my time there.

THE SECOND TIME THOUGH WAS MISERABLEEEEE. it was a different town, a different place, this one was forced inpatient because i had self-harmed hours before my psych appointment and didn't hide it well. i had to go or else they said they'd make a court decide for me. my hands was chained but they left my feet alone and the experienced was extremely dehumanising. i met some cool people there but my overall experience was miserable. i'm realising a decade later that i was assaulted there because what happened didn't register at first, the people was terrible. only some of the staff were nice. i liked the night time staff better. a staff member told me "u ain't bipolar u just possessed" like ok. maybe that's true. all the people i liked were leaving so i once again had to lie and say YES! i am getting better haha! everyday just to get out early. i was so convinced i was gonna die there and they would keep me there forever because i never met the doctor until my last few days there and they've had people that had been there for months and months.

i HAD to get out early because my last socmed messages were Just before that initial psych appointment and my friends all probably thought i was really dead (i came back and a few of them did and others immediately knew it had to have been an institiontionalisation).

that last experience was so bad that i've tried to never end up in a place like that ever again. i've had to lie about my suicidal ideations and lie abt self-harm because where i am you can't be honest about these things without forced hospitalisation. you can't trust anyone in the psychiatric field.

this isn't a problem anymore now that i'm no longer a patient anywhere.

 

[Depressed&Stressed]

Here is my experience.

I was curious if anyone else had a similar or different experience then me.

Man I am so fucking sorry that was your experience. I was voluntarily hospitalized when I was 17 and involuntarily hospitalized when I was 19 and both experiences were so fucking traumatic for me. Doctors not listening to me, not hearing my physical health needs (I have type one diabetes), when I was involuntarily hospitalized I had to wait for a psychiatrist to say giving my clothes back would be good for my recovery. The systems are so fucked. Sometimes it sounds like a good idea and then I remember the number of times I've woken up in the night freaking out from the nightmares about returning.

 

[EternalSkies]

I was forced to be there for 4 weeks in march after 2 suicide attempts using yew. When I finally got them to understand the psychiatrist wasn't good for me. They let me out but it coincided with me following their rules and showing "good signs"

After that they now avoid admitting me at all costs. Not sure why. If it was just the psychiatrist or what. I can even tell them I'll attempt again. And they'll be like you're ready to go home. Or in worst case one can simply lie. Its enough to say I won't kill myself today, but likely tomorrow to be let out or not admitted again

Maybe it's because they understood admitting me for weeks by force harmed me more than did me good.
Although, they kind of forced me to continue treatment at a personality disorder psychiatry place regularly. After my last admission at psychward.

They didn't said I have to go there. But they conditioned other healthcare so I literally am forced to continue going there if I want help with some others stuff.
The other stuff is the only thing I live or would live for. So they know I am likely to have to continue seeing them. But seems kind of like playing chicken with me

 

[Bootleg Astolfo]

They fed me so poorly that i fainted, then accused me of purposefully having not eaten enough as a self harm tactict and yelled at me. They never increased the rations even when they actually noticed/agreed that i was indeed getting nowhere near enough food.

 

[finalgoodbye:(]

They fed me so poorly that i fainted, then accused me of purposefully having not eaten enough as a self harm tactict and yelled at me. They never increased the rations even when they actually noticed/agreed that i was indeed getting nowhere near enough food.

Oh damn that's horrible I'm sorry you had to go through this. When I was in the psych ward the only thing they gave to us so much that it felt like they had infinite supply of was food

 

[Bootleg Astolfo]

Oh damn that's horrible I'm sorry you had to go through this. When I was in the psych ward the only thing they gave to us so much that it felt like they had infinite supply of was food

They expected us to have friends/family kinda just deliver snacks and stuff, i was like the only one with no one. Some dude kinda just... had a constant steady stream of doritos imported in by his gf lol.

 

[finalgoodbye:(]

They expected us to have friends/family kinda just deliver snacks and stuff, i was like the only one with no one. Some dude kinda just... had a constant steady stream of doritos imported in by his gf lol.

Yeah my parents did sent me stuff but as you said it was mostly snacks not whole meals you know.

 

[endlessmelancholy]

Yeah I have gone there more than a dozen times. Almost has become a holiday that I take when I'm bored. Sometimes it's just too boring then comes a patient who's too entertaining. I have laughed and cried there. Made friends and fell in love there. Improved and regressed there. Argued and fought there. Had my first cigarette there. I spent so much of my 20s there. My mom was there with me as caretaker. Overall 3 out of 5. Decide for yourself kinda place

 

[RadiantNumber]

Kind of, once I took drug and have mental breakdown, after a night of humiliation and pumping stomach I went to mental hospital to see psychiatrist. That's all, I won't return there, I saw people there were like zombies

 

[purplesky9]

Here is my experience.

I was curious if anyone else had a similar or different experience then me.

I got put on involuntary hold when I had psychosis. I was paranoid and thought everything was a big conspiracy and thought the doctors and nurses were in on it at it. Sometimes it was a bit scary there because people would yell and make a fuss but overall I didn't really mind it. The food was good and they had activities you could do like cooking.

 

[popcorn1234]

I have been hospitalized 6 times for schizophrenia and depressive disorder. The hospital staff treats you with no empathy and care and it's pretty traumatizing. I find that care has made me worse off than I was before and I still feel angry. powerless, and frustrated thinking about those experiences.

 

[collapsing_lungs]

I have been hospitalize several times including as a minor. The worst part is when they injected me with benzos ageist my will so many times my butt was numb.(learned very quickly why it's called booty juice.) problem is that benzos have the opposite(?) affect on me. I get manic on them and crash out, then they give me more until I pass out cause of it. I've known about my reactions to benzos for a bit before this because of being prescribed them. Was in my charts but the people there don't care. had to have my mom tell the psychiatrist to stop giving me benzos because it actively makes me worse. In my chart now it lists them as an allergy so it's taken more seriously. Almost got institutionalize because of that... luckily the case was dropped quickly after my mom hired a lawyer. Father still wants me institutionalized, or in some home where they can keep me a zombie and clip my wings. If my next attempt fails I believe he'll succeed.
sorry I ramble a lot, I type faster than I think and words come out

 

[Slark]

Here is my experience.

I was curious if anyone else had a similar or different experience then me.

I spent 30 days in a psychiatric hospital after taking a massive amount of benzodiazepines. The experience was positive, but in the country where I live, almost all psychiatric facilities are geared toward treating chemical dependency, and therefore, cases like depression often don't receive the proper care. The best part about my hospitalization was the food. Unfortunately, my health insurance only covered 30 days of my stay, as I think I would have preferred to stay longer, given my horrible home environment. Where I live, public psychiatric hospitals aren't an option; they feel more like an extension of the prison.

 

[Kadaver]

Mine. I hated it and the bill is outrageous. It maybe be helpful for some people but it wasn't for me. I want to attempt again but I'm afraid of failing or getting locked up again. I'm also afraid of spending the money on SN and then not being able to do it and wasting my money. I plan to do it on my birthday which is in less than two months. Maybe going off my meds would help give me the push I need to just end this terrible life.

Edit: link was broken

 

[deepocean]

Here is my experience.

I was curious if anyone else had a similar or different experience then me.

In short, IT'S NOT A PLACE YOU'LL WANT TO BE. UNLESS YOU'RE PRETTY MUCH INSANE.

I was put on a 72 hour hold at the mental hospital after an attempt at the age of 14. Half of the people there were similar to me but the other half were very violent. My roommate (for 1 day) would stand at other people's doors at night and would go inside to loom over them while they were sleeping. When people got violent, the nurses would drag them into the padded cell and lock them in there until they calmed down. If they didnt calm down, they would get tranquilized. I never saw my assigned therapist once and because of that they tried to hold me for longer than the legal required amount of time. Quite traumatizing. It taught me to never tell anyone about my real issues bc I would just get locked up with no actual help.

So true, FAKING IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET OUT THAT PLACE OTHERWISE YOU'RE TRAPPED

 

[Eriktf]

many times, usely its okey but i never want to go