Story Mental ward experiences

[Kfoe!12]

I've heard so many different experiences with mental wards. I've had a few experiences with them, the nurses are wonderful and it truly makes me feel safe and lax, it's a nice place with wonderful people, but it's not like it cures you. It really does feel like some force themselves to deal with you.

I've heard of some rather interesting experiences, both negative and positive from a couple of friends, so I'm wondering if anybody wanted to share any funny, sad or just general opinions on your time at the ward.

Also feel free to ask questions if you're thinking about checking in to one, just mind that all wards can differ like night and day.

 

[406metallicblue]

I've heard so many different experiences with mental wards. I've had a few experiences with them, the nurses are wonderful and it truly makes me feel safe and lax, it's a nice place with wonderful people, but it's not like it cures you. It really does feel like some force themselves to deal with you.

I've heard of some rather interesting experiences, both negative and positive from a couple of friends, so I'm wondering if anybody wanted to share any funny, sad or just general opinions on your time at the ward.

Also feel free to ask questions if you're thinking about checking in to one, just mind that all wards can differ like night and day.

My experience in the ward, twice over several months, was very positive. The nurses on the whole were very supportive. There was an element of 'take this and don't ask why, but if you did they would explain. One sunday a few of us were allowed to make a meal for the rest and put flowers on the tables for dinner and the nurses played table football or pingpong at times with patients. We tried a sunday afternoon cinema evening but that was banned but if i had inststed it might have got through.

In the end you're bound to become institutionalised and the staff treat you with less humanity, if you return often enough. I exchanged many gifts and paintings from other patients, i have to say, in context, it was a cool place indeed and i genuinely felt they were trying to help me as much as they could.

 

[Letmego. Please]

I was locked up first in 1992 (way before a lot of you were even born lol)
To say i have been in a few would be an understatement, but by god do they vary. Back in 92 there were still 'proper' asylums, set away from all the good sane folk in your own self sufficient hospital, even had it's own farm, massive grounds, was a crazy place of the like that doesn't exist anymore. But it was a place of safety and as such helped.

That all closed down & got sold off for posh housing yrs ago, in it's place is now 10 bed unit meant to cover a population of 50,000 or more.
The last few times i have been there have been hell, I'm a full time wheelchair user but their 'disabled' room, the one that thinks having a rail by the loo counts as adapted has been allocated to someones pet punter cause it has more space so i get left stuck in a room where i have to shuffle along on my arse to try to get to the freaking loo, then i get a couple of other punters who think its fun to wander up behind me & punch me in the head, the staff's reaction was to just suggest i phone the fucking police, they would watch it happening & do nothing. And the staff were arseholes, used to do a weekly 'health' check, Bp, pulse & weight, every week they would ask me to stand on the flipping scales, tell me i was just being awkward & if i really wanted to i could...Wtf...What part of i cant stand without you holding me up do you not get, yet every week for 2 mths you do the same...

I have also had some of the best laughs, and met some of the nicest people while we have been in hell.

We did a mass escape once, 8 of us went down the pub while one punter stayed behind to keep us updated on the chaos, the landlord knew where we had done a bunk from & thought it was amusing, even told a copper that came in asking that he hadn't seen anyone. At the end of the night he happily called us our lift home, which was a number of police paddy wagons..
For some reason they always pegged me as the ringleader/troublemaker, but it's not my fault i like a laugh...

 

[Soon4me]

I haven't been there yet but it's good to read some info on it here just in case i do end up there

 

[Walilamdzi]

I wrote about my experiences in another thread, they were totally negative really.

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/thre...ward-whats-your-experience.12919/#post-269007

 

[406metallicblue]

My experience in france was relatively good. There were several units each consisting of a square building with a garden in the middle for smoking (which was pretty much everyone. I heard some of the other units were not so great but i didn't see them. There was breakfast, lunch and dinner which was civilised and decent and the nurses were in the main caring and thoughtful, as long as you didn't abuse the rules too severely. we took our meds at regular intervals and had a consultation with a psych once every couple of weeks. There was a park outside and a cafe and various activity therapies like art and woodwork and a psychologist and someone who handled social services issues. The cameraderie was good with most of the patients and some of the nurses once you got to know them and vice versa.

The worst part of it was sharing a room with someone and them snoring all night, i ended up putting my bedding in the toilet at night and wearing earplugs. During the night someone would stick their head in with a torch as a check, they saw my bedding removed and came in and found me in the toilet and ordered me back into bed, which i refused saying it was impossible to sleep otherwise and i would discharge myself. In the end they let me do it, the bloke snoring left soon after anyway and was replaced with another even louder one, so that i ended up back in the toilet. There were single sooms but they were reserved for special cases, mostly female.


I also met some great people in there and to tell you the truth sometimes i miss it, partly the routines and partly just not having to think and deal with shit. But after a while there's nothing they can do for me so out i go again when i;m a bit more stable and by then it's become boring. If i could choose i would go back for a week once a month. I expect i'll be going back soon as it's not going so well anyway.

 

[Pickles79]

I had 4 stays in 2017. I only remember about half of my time there, if that. They had me doing ECT so my memories are foggy. From what I recall it was a good experience. I remember the nurses being nice and the other people there were amazing...having so many things in common made it that way. Makes you feel that you really aren't alone. I made some good friends while there but didn't keep in contact with all of them. The ECT was the worst part. Losing memories is not fun. I was very paranoid that I wasn't remembering something important and that they were lying to me about stuff. I've decided now that I will never do it again. I have loads of papers and drawings from my stays and cards that other people made me which is cool to look back on. So I guess overall it was a good experience.

 

[406metallicblue]

I had 4 stays in 2017. I only remember about half of my time there, if that. They had me doing ECT so my memories are foggy. From what I recall it was a good experience. I remember the nurses being nice and the other people there were amazing...having so many things in common made it that way. Makes you feel that you really aren't alone. I made some good friends while there but didn't keep in contact with all of them. The ECT was the worst part. Losing memories is not fun. I was very paranoid that I wasn't remembering something important and that they were lying to me about stuff. I've decided now that I will never do it again. I have loads of papers and drawings from my stays and cards that other people made me which is cool to look back on. So I guess overall it was a good experience.

Yes, the paintings people gave me are a great reminder of the sense of solidarity i found there.

 

[Livinginhell]

Horrible, horrible place, makes you sure you ain't going to end up in one ever again!
The "nursing" staff didn't care, if you were on 10 minute obs you were lucky to be checked in an hour, we were just left in our rooms to rot, no therepies or general things to do, the only thing the staff liked to do was tell us when we could smoke, which was never as they were "far to busy", usually chatting between themselves in the staff room.

 

[Crimsonskye]

The nurses were lovely I spent 2 months in a psychiatric ward and at times it did feel like a prison especially when they took away my headphones.

 

[Walilamdzi]

@Crimsonskye Honestly, having music was the only thing that stopped me completely losing my mind due to the boredom and stagnant environment.