Unfortunately the system is working exactly as intended. Their goal is not to sincerely & effectively treat mental health issues. It's all pretty corrupt & rotten.
The first time I was admitted to a mental hospital I was in my teens. They slacked on several things they were supposed to be providing, we didn't go outside once (and weren't allowed to, we just had an indoor gym made of fucking concrete with no windows), and they just tried to peddle drugs onto nearly every patient there. The only one-on-one interaction I had with a doctor there it was literally just a conversation for them to suggest prescriptions to me. I said no, but got subtly threatened that they'd have to "extend" my stay there if I didn't. Still declined. They only cared about making more money, longer stays = more money, manipulating/pressuring people into taking prescriptions = more money for the drugs. Not a single effort was pooled into actually treating/helping anyone there.
Apparently the entire time I was there my mom was calling everyday, multiple times a day. I never knew this until afterward. They would constantly give her excuses & lies as to why I wasn't available or she couldn't talk to me. She eventually got on their nerves enough that they let her talk to me, she asked if I wanted to stay and I said no. She spoke with them on the phone that she was going to come pick me up & she did, I don't know exactly how she managed to swing that but I'm glad she did.
All this to say, mental health care is a ginormous scam. This isn't the only story I have of how brutally it fails at helping people, I was admitted into a hospital again years later, possibly an even worse experience. But
it's not trying to help people,
it is actually very successful at what it's truly trying to do: profit. (At least this is the case in the US).
it shouldn't be something that makes you feel worse than when you went in to get "help."
I absolutely agree with you. It's a really sickening system.
