TheRottingContinues
Low consciousness
- Aug 23, 2023
- 85
Hello s/s,
I was recently put under the California 5150 system. The exact heading of the law is, "Detention of Mentally Disordered Persons for Evaluation and Treatment," but if you want to look up the program, then just "5150" is good. For those of you who live in California, we are subject to an involuntary 72-hour hold when we are deemed as a danger to ourselves, a danger to others, or gravely disabled because of our mental disorders. According to the law, whether or not you meet any one of these criteria can be determined by the following people:
I had the police called on me after a suicide attempt. They took me to a hospital, where i was held for about 23 hours (the 5150 72-hour period didn't start until the end of these 23 hours). During that time, multiple crisis workers came to me to determine if I had the 5150 criteria. They evaluated me and told me that they would put me under a 5150. At about 2:40 AM I was transferred to a "mental hospital" (it was a psyche ward). I stayed there for 72 hours and at the end of that period, they put me under the 5250 program, which is basically the same as a 5150 but instead of 72 hours, it was 14 days. After writing a legal notice, submitting it to the administration and threatening to sue, the released me after 4 days in the psyche ward.
First of all,
The "evaluation" process to determine whether or not you will go into a 5150 is total bullshit. It is done by an outside person who has no prior knowledge about you. I don't even think the "crisis workers" got a professional education or therapist licence. I told the "crisis workers" multiple times that I strictly did not want to kill myself and I made it clear that my mental health was sound and strong. However, simply by looking at my history of 2 total suicide attempts they put me into a 5150 anyways. I asked if that was legal, and that they could put me in a 5150 based on my history alone, to which they could not give a clear answer. They kept buttering up the 5150 program and told me that the psyche ward was such a good place which would help me. Throughout the entire hospital stay I was adamant about resisting and making it clear that I shouldn't go to the 5150. They did it anyways.
Second of all,
The actual conditions of the hospital stay were already pretty bad. We all know by now about the outrageous hospital bills of America. Well, that is in full effect here as well. You are locked in a square room with somebody watching you at all times. You cannot sleep because there is light shining at you at all times. They do not give you options to let you know what is happening to your or what is going on with your records. I asked time and time again about the details of my stay, when am I getting released, what am I held for and am I legally allowed to be held here, etc. The staff just kept dodging the question. If I pressed too much, I would just end up in the room again.
Third of all,
I shouldn't really have to say this, but the treatment and conditions at the psyche ward were really terrible. I was sent to a place that had already been sued multiple times for violation of mental health patient's rights. They do give us a patient's rights handbook, but they don't explain it. They don't explain their schedule or their laundry routines or any system. You are only allowed two cups of water per day (I thought humans were supposed to have 8 cups?). There are no locks on the bathrooms, and you can't close the door, so there is nothing stopping a person from just walking in while you are taking a shower. They wake you up every night. Like with the hospital, the lights don't turn off, so you can't sleep anyways. "Therapy" given there is more like indoctrination. They claim to do rehabilitation, yet I estimate there was only a maximum of 15 minutes of therapy per day; most of it was just us filling out worksheets. The contraband list is so tight and effective, including outright dumb bans like floss, pencils, and pillows. Coercion and violence is rampant (there was at least two fights every day, between patient vs patient, staff vs patient, and even staff vs staff). The worst offense by far was their rule of extending your sentence. Whenever you did something slightly out of line, they would extend your sentence by around 2-3 days (they claimed it was for your own good). By the end of the first two days I already had a week's worth of sentence, and I followed all the rules. I ended up taking a huge risk by smuggling out a marker and some paper from the nurse's station and writing a legal notice using the patient's rights handbook they gave me. I submitted it to the administration, threatened to sue, and they let me out.
Fourth of all,
After the ordeal was over, they weren't done. They sent me to an "intensive outpatient program": I need to spend 3 hours every day at a hospital like that psyche ward. Or at least I would have, if I didn't threaten legal action over it again. They also contacted my school, and that's a whole issue that is sorting itself out. I might make an update on that situation later.
My grades are ruined. My social life is ruined. My day-to-day activities are ruined. My interpersonal relationships are ruined. Nearly everything I know about my own life is now ruined. FFS I swear "mental health care" makes me want to kill myself more than anything.
FUCK mental health care and all it's aspects. NEVER tell your therapist the truth. NEVER tell anybody about your feelings for risk of this happening. They claim to want to support you, but just ruin you instead.
I was recently put under the California 5150 system. The exact heading of the law is, "Detention of Mentally Disordered Persons for Evaluation and Treatment," but if you want to look up the program, then just "5150" is good. For those of you who live in California, we are subject to an involuntary 72-hour hold when we are deemed as a danger to ourselves, a danger to others, or gravely disabled because of our mental disorders. According to the law, whether or not you meet any one of these criteria can be determined by the following people:
- a peace officer
- professional person in charge of a facility designated by the county for evaluation and treatment
- member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of a facility designated by the county for evaluation and treatment
- designated member of a mobile crisis team
- professional person designated by the county
I had the police called on me after a suicide attempt. They took me to a hospital, where i was held for about 23 hours (the 5150 72-hour period didn't start until the end of these 23 hours). During that time, multiple crisis workers came to me to determine if I had the 5150 criteria. They evaluated me and told me that they would put me under a 5150. At about 2:40 AM I was transferred to a "mental hospital" (it was a psyche ward). I stayed there for 72 hours and at the end of that period, they put me under the 5250 program, which is basically the same as a 5150 but instead of 72 hours, it was 14 days. After writing a legal notice, submitting it to the administration and threatening to sue, the released me after 4 days in the psyche ward.
First of all,
The "evaluation" process to determine whether or not you will go into a 5150 is total bullshit. It is done by an outside person who has no prior knowledge about you. I don't even think the "crisis workers" got a professional education or therapist licence. I told the "crisis workers" multiple times that I strictly did not want to kill myself and I made it clear that my mental health was sound and strong. However, simply by looking at my history of 2 total suicide attempts they put me into a 5150 anyways. I asked if that was legal, and that they could put me in a 5150 based on my history alone, to which they could not give a clear answer. They kept buttering up the 5150 program and told me that the psyche ward was such a good place which would help me. Throughout the entire hospital stay I was adamant about resisting and making it clear that I shouldn't go to the 5150. They did it anyways.
Second of all,
The actual conditions of the hospital stay were already pretty bad. We all know by now about the outrageous hospital bills of America. Well, that is in full effect here as well. You are locked in a square room with somebody watching you at all times. You cannot sleep because there is light shining at you at all times. They do not give you options to let you know what is happening to your or what is going on with your records. I asked time and time again about the details of my stay, when am I getting released, what am I held for and am I legally allowed to be held here, etc. The staff just kept dodging the question. If I pressed too much, I would just end up in the room again.
Third of all,
I shouldn't really have to say this, but the treatment and conditions at the psyche ward were really terrible. I was sent to a place that had already been sued multiple times for violation of mental health patient's rights. They do give us a patient's rights handbook, but they don't explain it. They don't explain their schedule or their laundry routines or any system. You are only allowed two cups of water per day (I thought humans were supposed to have 8 cups?). There are no locks on the bathrooms, and you can't close the door, so there is nothing stopping a person from just walking in while you are taking a shower. They wake you up every night. Like with the hospital, the lights don't turn off, so you can't sleep anyways. "Therapy" given there is more like indoctrination. They claim to do rehabilitation, yet I estimate there was only a maximum of 15 minutes of therapy per day; most of it was just us filling out worksheets. The contraband list is so tight and effective, including outright dumb bans like floss, pencils, and pillows. Coercion and violence is rampant (there was at least two fights every day, between patient vs patient, staff vs patient, and even staff vs staff). The worst offense by far was their rule of extending your sentence. Whenever you did something slightly out of line, they would extend your sentence by around 2-3 days (they claimed it was for your own good). By the end of the first two days I already had a week's worth of sentence, and I followed all the rules. I ended up taking a huge risk by smuggling out a marker and some paper from the nurse's station and writing a legal notice using the patient's rights handbook they gave me. I submitted it to the administration, threatened to sue, and they let me out.
Fourth of all,
After the ordeal was over, they weren't done. They sent me to an "intensive outpatient program": I need to spend 3 hours every day at a hospital like that psyche ward. Or at least I would have, if I didn't threaten legal action over it again. They also contacted my school, and that's a whole issue that is sorting itself out. I might make an update on that situation later.
My grades are ruined. My social life is ruined. My day-to-day activities are ruined. My interpersonal relationships are ruined. Nearly everything I know about my own life is now ruined. FFS I swear "mental health care" makes me want to kill myself more than anything.
FUCK mental health care and all it's aspects. NEVER tell your therapist the truth. NEVER tell anybody about your feelings for risk of this happening. They claim to want to support you, but just ruin you instead.
