Discussion Opinions on how we are treated in mental health hospitals?

[unfortunate.apple]

In my experience, every time I am admitted, I have never had a good experience.

I feel like a big problem is the staff not being fair enough.
For example, as I was in adolescent units (when I was under 18) the staff would verbally TELL me that "I have to take this medication or they will force me into it"
That would usually scare me enough to take the antipsychotics

However after turning 18 and needing to go to adult units, they don't ask... they just 'administer' it. I feel like this big change is a reason so many people hate the mental health hospitals. (Asuming most people go to adult)

I had a (not totally) more positive experience in adolescent units.

What do you guys think?
Agree, disagree, I'd love to hear others opinions.

 

[Sulyya]

I was only in psych ward a few months as a teenager, and I dont remember how the meds were given, but I probably just accepted them. Everyone was nice at least.

 

[DyingToDie123]

Most of my (9) hospitalizations actually weren't that bad, but they didn't help. As I've read some of the anti-psychiatry literature a lot of it does seem... cruel seems to extreme but, bad in some way. I think the biggest thing that bothers me is not being able to have access to a phone (at most places, just a shared phone that you can only be on for a limited time if you're lucky to know the phone numbers of people in your support system and they're nice enough to pick up). It seems completely counterproductive to recovery to force you to isolate from most of your support.

Also annoying: being denied comfort items like street clothes.

 

[arnxxx]

I've been to the same hospital in the Netherlands twice. They were nice and all but I wished there was more therapy. i.e. there was 'gardening therapy' which just meant doing garden work. Some days there was only 1 therapy session and the rest of the day I was being depressed and often alone.

So I wished there was more therapy. There were only nurses and 1 psychiatrist you can only talk to twice (arriving and leaving). And a psychologist once a week for 15 mins. I didn't feel like they helped me that much.

 

[LunarLight]

My experiences were terrible. Psychiatrists telling me it's all my fault and shit. I'll never go back to such places.

 

[gorexzxz]

My experiences were just boring. They taught basic stuff. They didn't help my situation. I was there for three months and say doctors less than 5 times.

 

[Jorms_McGander]

In my experience, every time I am admitted, I have never had a good experience.

I feel like a big problem is the staff not being fair enough.
For example, as I was in adolescent units (when I was under 18) the staff would verbally TELL me that "I have to take this medication or they will force me into it"
That would usually scare me enough to take the antipsychotics

However after turning 18 and needing to go to adult units, they don't ask... they just 'administer' it. I feel like this big change is a reason so many people hate the mental health hospitals. (Asuming most people go to adult)

I had a (not totally) more positive experience in adolescent units.

What do you guys think?
Agree, disagree, I'd love to hear others opinions.

Medication treats my symptoms and stabilises me and furthermore medicine is what is practiced at a hospital so I would be remiss to go to a hospital where they practice medicine and then to be irritated that I am being administered medication which is an efficacious treatment for all sorts of things...

My complaint isn't that I receive medical care while I am a doctor's charge but rather that many times I was not allocated the resources necessary for diagnosis. I would be taken in and given short term medications like benzodiazepines, left to stabilise without enough human contact and then discharged to have another mental breakdown.

If left to my own devices I will literally never look at another human face. I don't like it. It's stressful and there's too much nonverbal communication seeping into my identity all at once. I spend too much energy defending my identity against their unconscious assertions... Because we don't have personal identities, it's all an illusion and my brain's ability to create that illusion is broken.

So anyway how did they think they should discharge a patient who spends days at a time reading all the books and then when they're done just looking out a window, no human contact

Or shorter holds in a padded room with no contact and then a morning interview by which time I have activated Jorms the Manipulator and I present to them all the bits of other peoples' personalities that got stuck in my head and I know that those pieces will look like someone who can cope and I'm BORED because I came in for stitches and I don't have any books or anything to do and the room is empty except for a vinyl mattress on the floor and a cardboard takeout container containing the crusts of a tuna salad sandwich on brown and an empty container of orange juice.

I'm not mad at any of the treatments that have been tried with me. I am grateful that people have seen fit to try what they know how to do in order to help me. I'm kinda like on a fundamental existential level at this point, goddamn furious at the twenty years I was in and out of hospitals at least once a year, and all I ever got was "stabilised", no diagnosis, no evaluation, just stabilised and sent on my way and now I carry an additional twenty years of horseshit on my back because for some reason I was not diagnosable until my thirties and now I have a half dozen as if doctors just finally realised I've been in the medical system -- but fuck treating me now underneath all this trauma!

If you are being treated in a hospital, take the validation I say. I know I am bordering on a social faux pas if I continue so I'll stop with one final thought: it incenses me to see people complaining that doctors noticed them.

 

[Kwasi]

All the hospitals did to me was make me worse. Most of my friends who have been can also agree on that.

 

[Meteora]

Not well. A lot of emotional violence, ironically.

 

[Mirrory Me]

Well, it doesn't necessarily fix the problems you have. You would probably benefit equally from therapy and taking care of yourself. A good side is that you don't have to do everything yourself, but then there is less room for choice or complaints.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Horrible and horrific. That's all I can say about it.

I think when I went I just got VERY lucky, at least based on other people's experiences. Everyone was really kind and I made friends with other patients, we got to have snacks whenever we want, the food was really good and everyone had their own room with comfy bed, desk and bathroom. I really miss it lol, I wish I could have lived there forever. At the end of my stay I made drawings for a lot of the other patients and they appreciated them. We also had movie nights where we all gathered around in the common area and watched stuff, although because of my severe social anxiety I only went once. One of the other patients gave me $80, a journal and some merch from Toy Story ;w; ♡ you could also use iPads as long as you're in the common area, and there was a really nice "calm room" where you could be alone and it was completely silent, and you could change the lighting in the room to any color

The group therapy was actually really helpful and taught good skills. The staff also made hot chocolate/tea for us every night. The only thing I didn't like is you were very pressured to go to the group therapy, and there was 3-4 sessions a day which was kind of intense. But if you told them you really didn't feel good you could skip some of them. Also it was very scheduled, you kind of had to follow a schedule they set out for you, although there was still a good amount of free time. I wish every mental health hospital was like that one, I hate all of the abuse and horrible things other people have had to experience, it's very disgusting

That sounds like a private, boutique hospital.

 

[nonentity]

I had a very good experience with my hospital stay - though the ward was incredibly small. One floor, not allowed to leave the building at all (felt a little suffocating and disorienting) but other than that, had a great experience. If I ever had to go back, I would.

The nurses and doctors were really nice. They listened to my concerns and would even take walks around the ward with me if I was having a stressful time. We were on a strict routine - vitals at 6, breakfast at 8, lunch at 11, dinner at 6, vitals at 6:30 then free time, with final snack ending at 9 PM. There was no mandated bedtime or waketime so some patients I didn't even get to see. We also had group every day and had the choice to go or not. It was highly encouraged, though.

Art therapy was my favorite since I'm an artist myself. Learned a lot from that group, sad that I didn't get the chance to go more because I was too anxious to try it out. Was convinced by the other ward patients. Made a good handful of friends, though, we don't talk now because we're all so busy.

No electronics, only books and paper, no plastic utensils, we had sporks (didn't know how lucky i was to have an actual fork and spoons.)

I really wish everyone had the same experience I did. It's good to see some positives, but sad to see so many horrid experiences. I was terrified to go to wards because I knew the abuse that happened behind the scenes. I hope that if anyone needs to go to one, that they have a great experience.

Also, it actually helped me. I got on a medication that I didn't know I needed, and now I'm able to actually function (most) days.