NSFW Hospitalised

[Johnnythefox]

I'm just curious as to how many people have experienced being hospitalised either voluntary or involuntary.

 

[ChickenAndPotatoes]

-I was on an involuntary court hold for 76 days for running on the side of a highway naked while I was having a schizoaffective attack. I caused a car accident. I was also drifting at the time (no car, no home, just walking from town to town with my backpack and sleeping bag).

-I was also on a 1 month hold, at the same hospital, two months after the court hold.
I've been VOLUNTARILY committed for one week.
-I've been committed after I hung myself and had to be cut down in January 2017.

-I was admitted again for running naked at night on the side of the highway. At the time I was drifting (no home, no car, just walking from town to town with my backpack and sleeping bag) I had another schizoaffective attack. I was sitting on a log that was in a small pond. I had a big bottle of mixed pills (Seroquel, zoloft, Tylenol, sleeping pills) and some tequila that I was comtemplating when the log overturned and I fell into the pond at the bottom of a ditch. I swear something was trying to drown me. I was able, barely, to get back on the log. Then I start itching profusely. And I look and there's these bugs crawling all over me. Under my shirt, on my wrists. Weird alien looking bugs that reminded me of an experience I'd had previously. So I took off all my clothes, climbed the ditch and started running.

 

[BeHope]

I was involuntarily hospitalised when I was sixteen for depression (supposed risk of suicide) and an eating disorder. It was really sudden and frankly traumatising, especially since it was my grandparents who encouraged the doctors to forcibly admit me. I was in hospital for four weeks, which I suppose isn't that long but at the time it felt like forever. I was forced to eat meat despite being a vegetarian so I was really sick a lot of the time and I had to go to group therapy sessions everyday for my alleged depression (I deny to this day that I was depressed) which were just the worst. I left the hospital in a worse state (mentally) than when I entered. But, the experience did teach me how to lie in order to please people - a very useful life skill - so I'll give it that.

 

[concededarc]

I was hospitalized for 2 days and 3 nights after a half-attempt in 2013. I drove 5 hours away to the middle of nowhere trying to meet my best friend to help me. She abandoned me completely. Fucking bitch.

Another friend called the cops and found me sleeping in my car in the middle of nowhere. They drove me to the medical centre and had to get my car towed because not a single cop in the county could drive a stick shift lol.

Since this was buttfuck nowhere the medical centre didn't have a psych ward so I was put in the regular bedding next to a nice old lady. It took a whole day for a psychologist to be called in from the nearest city (3 hours away) to see me. When she got there she basically told me that my problems can't be helped by therapy and that I could be held for 30 days if I wanted to but it probably wouldn't help. She was right, I'm happy for how honest she was.

I decided to just say fuck it and see what happens when I go home. She cleared me to leave and I was allowed to drive 5 hours home again. It was overall a boring and pleasant experience. I got to eat warm nice sandwiches and watch CPAC on public access TV.

 

[Shewaitsforme]

Did 4 weeks in august on a section 2 so involutary. Came out for a week was readmitted under a section 2 (28days) then put on a section 3 for a week and discharged.

See the doctor tomorrow i have a feeling they will ask me to go back in voluntary but tbh if i say no they will section me anyway, mental health is declining rapidly

 

[Threads]

ok

 

[Fucking loving it]

I'm going to go ahead and copy and paste my response on another thread. I've been hospitalized 3 times, each time 'Voluntarily.' As if anyone would voluntarily put themselves into an American psych ward.


Yeah. I have never been 'Involuntarily Hospitalized.' But I've spent enough time in psych wards to know how shit rolls.

I've had the police come to my house and my wife confirm I'm having suicidal thoughts (Which I told her not too), so I was 'Forced' to be admitted. This was a result of being doxed in November of 2017 on a Discord server I was a mod of.

Here's the deal bro. If you go to the hospital and say you're having suicidal thoughts. Well. A couple things.

Depending on how terrible the mental healthcare funding is you're going to go to either a terrible facility, or an absolutely terrible facility. If you're state is an R state, you're fucked. If it's a D state, you're less fucked.

Now. Once you go to the ER, the first thing that is going to happen is that you're going to have your vitals taken. If you have to go to the bathroom, do so now. After the ER doc is gonna come in. He's going to ask you the suicide hotline questions. Registration will come in ask you to sign some paperwork. Sign it. The less difficult you are, the easier and faster shit is going to be. After all of this, the nurse is going to come in and tell you to strip. Comply. After that you are going to be moved into a room with a camera always watching you, and you may have a restraint to prevent you from escaping. Depending on how you're acting, you may get an injection of Haloperiodal or some sort of tranquilizer. The effects of these drugs is not pleasant, anything in the haloperiodal family can cause permanent unpleasant effects even under limited usage. Don't give them a reason to inject you.

How you act in the hospital you admit yourself into plays a significant role in where and how far you will go. Remember. If they send you across the state and outside of county, you have to arrange your transportation home. Don't fuck with the staff in the hospital you admit yourself into.

There is a lot of variables with this next phase. You're going to have to have a drug test. Sometime during this time, you're going to have a social worker interview you and ask you the suicide hotline questions, as well some more personal questions, you're going to be waiting a while. Depending if and what insurance you have, the time of day, if the moon is full, what you tested positive for, where you are, etc, etc you're probably going to get shipped off to another facility. I've heard of patients in West Virginia actually being shipped to county jail (Absolutely terrible facility). Expect to be in this bed restrained and escorted/watched wherever you go. You gotta use the bathroom? You're going to have an escort.

Anything that could be construed as a means to harm yourself will be taken from you. Goodbye belts, shoelaces, and everything in between. You'll probably never see them again either. Cellphone? Gone. iPod? Gone. Headphones? Gone. Cigarettes? Gone. If you test positive for drugs, you're going to have to go to meetings. Meetings in psych wards fucking suck. Don't do it. Do not piss hot.

When you actually do find a facility. You're going to be transported there. This will be done by either ambulance, sheriff, or local police. You're going to be restrained the entire time. Once there, you'll meet with an intake nurse, you'll have your vitals taken. Afterwards, depending on what sort of facility you're in, either a social worker, psychologist, or LPC will meet with you. They'll ask you the suicide hotline questions. Depending how you answer these questions will help (But not ultimately) determine where you are placed in the facility. You'll ultimately be moved wherever there is a bed.

Typically, you'll be moved to a waiting area with other patients. Patients are typically separated by biological sex, if you're a woman, you're going to be with women... vice versa.

Now, I just want to make clear to you. At this point, your total bill is around $10,000. You haven't even spent a night in the mental health facility, but that is probably what your bill is with all expenses up until this point.

You will be stripped down by someone who very likely does even have an associates degree in mental healthcare, and they will determine if you have or are currently self-harming. This will be dehumanizing.

I'm going to assume you're from Ohio. Ohio is a nice state. It has mid level mental healthcare. Ohio is the most average of states, right next to Iowa. Even with the nicest of foods, you're going to be eating garbage and drinking only decaffeinated beverages. Privacy? Kek. You have none. Chances are you're going to be sharing a room with two other crazies. You will spend you day in an overcrowded room coloring shitty printed off pages, and doing 'group therapy.' You'll eat three shitty meals a day, need permission to do anything, have a shitty snack before bed, and be forced to take medication. There will only be one psychiatrist for the entire unit, so you're going to see an overworked, underpaid, and understaffed doctor who will take one look at you and throw the hardest and most powerful psychotropic drug available. Your unit social worker will be under the same duress as the unit psychiatrist, they will tell you what you want to hear and ignore you. Psychiatric wards in the United States are built around the profit model, you are a cog in a broken down and failing machine. Your experience in a psych ward will reflect my previous sentence. You will be given this medication, watched as you take it, and have your mouth checked. You'll stay for 4 - 5 days. You'll regret it. There is a chance you may be sexually assaulted by your fellow bed mates. It is a dehumanizing and traumatic experience. You will meet people who have very serious mental health problems and are likely very dangerous. The medication will make you feel like a drone.

The above paragraph describes if you behave. If you're like me and I am essentially an asshole, you're going to get it.

I was last warded for upwards of 16 days. Had I behaved and manipulated the staff, I would have done 4 - 5 days. I physically assaulted all male staff members I came in contact with and spit in the face of my doctor. I was shot up with drugs, and restrained. I spent hours in restraints. I wasn't as big as I am now (And I wasn't small either) but I was tackled and 'humanely' brought down. I don't care if you are Chuck Norris with the body of John Cena, you will lose in a fight against the staff. You may be able to fight off two staff members, but you cannot fight off the all of them. In jail, those behaviors may earn you respect from your fellow inmates, in the psych ward it makes you a target. Every time you fight with the staff, you disrupt the 'safe zone' for other psychiatric patients, they don't like that, and you have to sleep in a room with them. Don't fight with the staff unless you're prepared to be fighting with the patients too. Psychiatric patients are dangerous and do not have limits.

I did not want to be in the psych ward and I made that shit clear off the bat. I was not going to be dehumanized and I was not going to be treated like shit. Don't do what I did. Take what you have coming to you and keep your head down.

On the day of your discharge, you'll be handed a pamphlet of resources. Most will be for outpatient therapy and outpatient treatment through the hospital, you can't afford this. The rest will be phone numbers (suicide hotline), local AA, etc, etc. None of these you will truly ever use. If you need resources for mental healthcare, get on Google at home, everything the hospital gives you is just another way to overcharge you for more understaffed and underfunded activities.

TL:DR

Don't voluntary admit yourself. Don't fucking do it. If you're truly suicidal and do not want to die, talk with us and we will talk you down. Come to discord and DM me. If you are having that bad of a day/week/month/year/decade/life and feel like killing yourself and feel the need to admit yourself, I will talk you down. There are other ways to get mental healthcare. Do not voluntary admit yourself!

The state I live in isn't quite that terrible.
I will definitely message you next time I'm in crisis.

 

[EndofMyRope]

I've truly voluntarily admitted myself once and was there for approx 3 weeks. The place was reputable and although things didn't work out the way I wish they had, I don't regret it.

Another time was also a "voluntary" admission (I agreeed and signed the papers) but it was clear that it would have been coart ordered if I didn't agree to it. I'd ended up in the ER after my first acetominopen (paracetomol) OD and after about three days there getting the acetaminophen out of my system, I agreed to go to a mental health facility. This place was a hell-hole and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

 

[Smilla]

Never.

My Mom worked as a psychiatric nurse in a public hospital for years—she told me never to go no matter what.

 

[Smilla]

I'm going to go ahead and copy and paste my response on another thread. I've been hospitalized 3 times, each time 'Voluntarily.' As if anyone would voluntarily put themselves into an American psych ward.


Yeah. I have never been 'Involuntarily Hospitalized.' But I've spent enough time in psych wards to know how shit rolls.

I've had the police come to my house and my wife confirm I'm having suicidal thoughts (Which I told her not too), so I was 'Forced' to be admitted. This was a result of being doxed in November of 2017 on a Discord server I was a mod of.

Here's the deal bro. If you go to the hospital and say you're having suicidal thoughts. Well. A couple things.

Depending on how terrible the mental healthcare funding is you're going to go to either a terrible facility, or an absolutely terrible facility. If you're state is an R state, you're fucked. If it's a D state, you're less fucked.

Now. Once you go to the ER, the first thing that is going to happen is that you're going to have your vitals taken. If you have to go to the bathroom, do so now. After the ER doc is gonna come in. He's going to ask you the suicide hotline questions. Registration will come in ask you to sign some paperwork. Sign it. The less difficult you are, the easier and faster shit is going to be. After all of this, the nurse is going to come in and tell you to strip. Comply. After that you are going to be moved into a room with a camera always watching you, and you may have a restraint to prevent you from escaping. Depending on how you're acting, you may get an injection of Haloperiodal or some sort of tranquilizer. The effects of these drugs is not pleasant, anything in the haloperiodal family can cause permanent unpleasant effects even under limited usage. Don't give them a reason to inject you.

How you act in the hospital you admit yourself into plays a significant role in where and how far you will go. Remember. If they send you across the state and outside of county, you have to arrange your transportation home. Don't fuck with the staff in the hospital you admit yourself into.

There is a lot of variables with this next phase. You're going to have to have a drug test. Sometime during this time, you're going to have a social worker interview you and ask you the suicide hotline questions, as well some more personal questions, you're going to be waiting a while. Depending if and what insurance you have, the time of day, if the moon is full, what you tested positive for, where you are, etc, etc you're probably going to get shipped off to another facility. I've heard of patients in West Virginia actually being shipped to county jail (Absolutely terrible facility). Expect to be in this bed restrained and escorted/watched wherever you go. You gotta use the bathroom? You're going to have an escort.

Anything that could be construed as a means to harm yourself will be taken from you. Goodbye belts, shoelaces, and everything in between. You'll probably never see them again either. Cellphone? Gone. iPod? Gone. Headphones? Gone. Cigarettes? Gone. If you test positive for drugs, you're going to have to go to meetings. Meetings in psych wards fucking suck. Don't do it. Do not piss hot.

When you actually do find a facility. You're going to be transported there. This will be done by either ambulance, sheriff, or local police. You're going to be restrained the entire time. Once there, you'll meet with an intake nurse, you'll have your vitals taken. Afterwards, depending on what sort of facility you're in, either a social worker, psychologist, or LPC will meet with you. They'll ask you the suicide hotline questions. Depending how you answer these questions will help (But not ultimately) determine where you are placed in the facility. You'll ultimately be moved wherever there is a bed.

Typically, you'll be moved to a waiting area with other patients. Patients are typically separated by biological sex, if you're a woman, you're going to be with women... vice versa.

Now, I just want to make clear to you. At this point, your total bill is around $10,000. You haven't even spent a night in the mental health facility, but that is probably what your bill is with all expenses up until this point.

You will be stripped down by someone who very likely does even have an associates degree in mental healthcare, and they will determine if you have or are currently self-harming. This will be dehumanizing.

I'm going to assume you're from Ohio. Ohio is a nice state. It has mid level mental healthcare. Ohio is the most average of states, right next to Iowa. Even with the nicest of foods, you're going to be eating garbage and drinking only decaffeinated beverages. Privacy? Kek. You have none. Chances are you're going to be sharing a room with two other crazies. You will spend you day in an overcrowded room coloring shitty printed off pages, and doing 'group therapy.' You'll eat three shitty meals a day, need permission to do anything, have a shitty snack before bed, and be forced to take medication. There will only be one psychiatrist for the entire unit, so you're going to see an overworked, underpaid, and understaffed doctor who will take one look at you and throw the hardest and most powerful psychotropic drug available. Your unit social worker will be under the same duress as the unit psychiatrist, they will tell you what you want to hear and ignore you. Psychiatric wards in the United States are built around the profit model, you are a cog in a broken down and failing machine. Your experience in a psych ward will reflect my previous sentence. You will be given this medication, watched as you take it, and have your mouth checked. You'll stay for 4 - 5 days. You'll regret it. There is a chance you may be sexually assaulted by your fellow bed mates. It is a dehumanizing and traumatic experience. You will meet people who have very serious mental health problems and are likely very dangerous. The medication will make you feel like a drone.

The above paragraph describes if you behave. If you're like me and I am essentially an asshole, you're going to get it.

I was last warded for upwards of 16 days. Had I behaved and manipulated the staff, I would have done 4 - 5 days. I physically assaulted all male staff members I came in contact with and spit in the face of my doctor. I was shot up with drugs, and restrained. I spent hours in restraints. I wasn't as big as I am now (And I wasn't small either) but I was tackled and 'humanely' brought down. I don't care if you are Chuck Norris with the body of John Cena, you will lose in a fight against the staff. You may be able to fight off two staff members, but you cannot fight off the all of them. In jail, those behaviors may earn you respect from your fellow inmates, in the psych ward it makes you a target. Every time you fight with the staff, you disrupt the 'safe zone' for other psychiatric patients, they don't like that, and you have to sleep in a room with them. Don't fight with the staff unless you're prepared to be fighting with the patients too. Psychiatric patients are dangerous and do not have limits.

I did not want to be in the psych ward and I made that shit clear off the bat. I was not going to be dehumanized and I was not going to be treated like shit. Don't do what I did. Take what you have coming to you and keep your head down.

On the day of your discharge, you'll be handed a pamphlet of resources. Most will be for outpatient therapy and outpatient treatment through the hospital, you can't afford this. The rest will be phone numbers (suicide hotline), local AA, etc, etc. None of these you will truly ever use. If you need resources for mental healthcare, get on Google at home, everything the hospital gives you is just another way to overcharge you for more understaffed and underfunded activities.

TL:DR

Don't voluntary admit yourself. Don't fucking do it. If you're truly suicidal and do not want to die, talk with us and we will talk you down. Come to discord and DM me. If you are having that bad of a day/week/month/year/decade/life and feel like killing yourself and feel the need to admit yourself, I will talk you down. There are other ways to get mental healthcare. Do not voluntary admit yourself!

From what I have heard from my Mom of her experience as a nurse in a state funded hospital (which later turned into a for profit money making machine ), I am sorry for what you went through.

For what it's worth she cared deeply about her "patients" but couldn't change the system, although she tried in her own little ways.

Hugs to you, and thank you for sharing your horrific experiences in such detail.

 

[Amira]

Yes i have once when i was 8 , i felt really sick and my mom called the ambulance. I really didnt want to go to the hospital. I remember acting like a lunactic when the paramedics were trying to get me on the bed. I was crying and screaming because i was really scared of the hospital. I had nightmares about it. The docter had to calm me down.I just hope that will be the only time i will be in hospital alive.

 

[Made4TV]

I need an option for both.

 

[Jodes]

Voluntary 4 times, but once they refused to let me out. The other times I guess I was happy to stay.

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

Just once (voluntarily) for a month, on an outpatient basis. This was in 2015. I had drank myself into a stupor one night and started losing my memory and freaking out. I was crazy suicidal. At the time I was experiencing really bad anxiety and I wasn't ready to ctb even though I really wanted to. I didn't know what to do so I drove to the ER and told them I wanted to jump from a building. They told me of this behavioral care place I could go to. So I did that for a month and that's where they got me started on meds to at least keep some of the anxiety at bay. It sort of worked out. I mean, I'm still here.

 

[TAW122]

Just once (voluntarily) for a month, on an outpatient basis. This was in 2015. I had drank myself into a stupor one night and started losing my memory and freaking out. I was crazy suicidal. At the time I was experiencing really bad anxiety and I wasn't ready to ctb even though I really wanted to. I didn't know what to do so I drove to the ER and told them I wanted to jump from a building. They told me of this behavioral care place I could go to. So I did that for a month and that's where they got me started on meds to at least keep some of the anxiety at bay. It sort of worked out. I mean, I'm still here.

Wow, that's really risky and scary. I could never imagine myself going through this with all the civil rights violations, invasive treatment, violation of dignity and freedom, and of course, all the medical and hospital bills that come after.

 

[aejisready]

many times involuntarily, longest stay being about 20-21 months total. a little over 14 mos in one place, immediately after which i was in relocated to a "step-down" facility for around 6 mos (not a step-down for most other residents--the place i was in before was just such a high lockdown facility that the new place was only a step-down in comparison)

 

[aejisready]

definitely worse for the wear after all of that. if nothing else it's led to an extreme and pervasive terror of seeking help when i need it

 

[Jodes]

many times involuntarily, longest stay being about 20-21 months total. a little over 14 mos in one place, immediately after which i was in relocated to a "step-down" facility for around 6 mos (not a step-down for most other residents--the place i was in before was just such a high lockdown facility that the new place was only a step-down in comparison)

H o l y f u c k Where in the world??

I am going to have nightmares now. That is the scariest fucking thing I have heard in my life. Only one country is rich enough, and institutionally obsessed enough... but still, this is a joke, right?

 

[aejisready]

H o l y f u c k Where in the world??

I am going to have nightmares now. That is the scariest fucking thing I gave heard in my life. Only one country is rich enough, and crazy enough....

i was in my teens when this took place. i turned 16 and 17 in facilities

 

[Jodes]

i was in my teens when this took place. i turned 16 and 17 in facilities

Ah well that's OK then! Lol! Much better. I hope evidence says it "helps kids' futures"

 

[aejisready]

they fucked me up, bad

 

[Tyuiop]

I have been hospitalized a bunch of times both as minor and as an adult.
When i was a minor i was put in the children's hospital for depression, self harm and suicide attempt. I dont remember much except we never went outside, phones were not allowed, and we had treatments for other diseases we had. I got back massages, went to an excersize group and got salt baths for my psoriasis. Overall it wasn't so bad, no one was really crazy when i was there, and there wasn't much monitoring.

As an adult, i was taken to a large psychiatric hospital in the countryside. First time voluntary for voices in my head(i just wanted them to stop and coudn't wait for my appointment), next time i went by myself for suicidal thoughts, the third time i made an attempt. The adult hospital had two large rooms that were monitored 24 hours, but the nurses would sleep at night. The rest of the rooms werent monitored. There were a lot more crazy people and stealing was rampant. There were also fights over the television and cigarettes. We had a smoking room, lots of funny conversations in there. The nurses took people out for walks sometimes. Also, after some time i was allowed to go out by myself to buy food and cigs. I met interesting people and most didnt hate being there - and mostly noone was kept for longer than a month or two. But everyone said the experience in other hospitals was much worse. Also, as psychiatric care is free in my country, some would just be there for free food and a place to sleep. And everything was allowed, except sharp objects and medications.

 

[Jodes]

-I was on an involuntary court hold for 76 days for running on the side of a highway naked while I was having a schizoaffective attack. I caused a car accident. I was also drifting at the time (no car, no home, just walking from town to town with my backpack and sleeping bag).

-I was also on a 1 month hold, at the same hospital, two months after the court hold.
I've been VOLUNTARILY committed for one week.
-I've been committed after I hung myself and had to be cut down in January 2017.

-I was admitted again for running naked at night on the side of the highway. At the time I was drifting (no home, no car, just walking from town to town with my backpack and sleeping bag) I had another schizoaffective attack. I was sitting on a log that was in a small pond. I had a big bottle of mixed pills (Seroquel, zoloft, Tylenol, sleeping pills) and some tequila that I was comtemplating when the log overturned and I fell into the pond at the bottom of a ditch. I swear something was trying to drown me. I was able, barely, to get back on the log. Then I start itching profusely. And I look and there's these bugs crawling all over me. Under my shirt, on my wrists. Weird alien looking bugs that reminded me of an experience I'd had previously. So I took off all my clothes, climbed the ditch and started running.

Sorry to hear. Makes me want to CTB

 

[Jodes]

WTF, stealing. Nice therapeutic setting.

 

[Skathon]

As I have already mentioned in another thread...
"I was given a consent form to sign while being unable to read at that moment (blurred vision, diplopia)."
...therefore it was partially involuntary and partially illegal.