My one experience being in a psych ward was six years ago. I went to the ER with extreme anxiety, depression and just a feeling of total hopelessness and like I was having a nervous breakdown. Never mentioned suicide whatsoever and was actually not actively considering it at the time, but the doctor/s and social worker I talked to in the ER suggested going inpatient (voluntarily) and I was desperate for help and relief from the physical symptoms of my anxiety & depression. I also (mistakenly, naively) thought that a few of my physical problems that my useless medical doctors attributed to 'just anxiety' would HAVE to be addressed while in the hospital, but no...in the psych ward, at least at the hospital I was at, they pretty much don't care about what physical issues you're experiencing unless you're about ready to die on the floor in front of their face OR the physical symptoms affect them/your mental health treatment...i.e. insomnia, etc - THEN they *might* address those. But anyway, I found the three-day psych ward experience, for me, to be unpleasant (not so nice nurses, esp at night; some day nurses were very kind and compassionate though); inconvenient (they take away EVERYTHING: your own clothes until you're "cleared" to wear your own stuff but then of course nothing with ties, like on sweatpants, as already mentioned by others no phone (I'm in US, I know in UK you are often allowed to keep your phone though). I have very very dry eyes and I couldn't even keep my OTC plain old eye lubricant drops, they had to keep them up behind the desk and I had to ASK whenever I wanted them and if the not very nice nurses were on duty they'd pretty much ignore me until they had to 'notice' me standing there calling to them and then they acted like I was bothering them. It was frustrating and humiliating. And yes, hygiene there is minimal -- no razors for obvious reasons allowed, so hairy legs and pits, no mouthwash allowed, not even dental floss! They did let me have headphones that they'd give out if you asked for a pair, which was good because then I could listen to music but up in that building reception wasn't great so not many stations came in and the ones that did were static-y and would fade in and out, but at least it was something. The of course the usual like art therapy classes, exercise classes, they had TVs around during the day and would play movies on them if people asked. Only one tv with regular reception in the common room and this one guy hogged it ALL DAY LONG, literally. I was so very physically exhausted and wanted to sleep and rest more but they'd nag me to leave my room and go to these dumb classes which kind of made me mad - I needed rest more than anything and they wouldn't allow it. The entire time there I never once saw an actual psychiatrist/therapist...just med students who'd ask a bunch of questions and then leave. What was the point of that? They'd push drugs at me and I'd refuse, they'd get annoyed with me but never FORCED the drugs on me, thankfully. No phones in any rooms, only in the common area and those would be unplugged and disconnected at 9 p.m. and not reconnected again until around 7 a.m. or something. VERY restricted visiting hours but in my case I had no family or friends where I live so no visitors were going to be coming to see me anyway -- my only connection at that time was my mom who would call during the day. Finally I just lied enough to get myself out of there. I consider the experience a huge waste of time and I hated how much like prison it was with how much was not allowed, how monitored I was, and how everything was locked down and how I was treated by some of the staff.
ALLLLL that said, though, I know some people have had VERY positive experiences while inpatient, and going in really helped them in terms of setting up a treatment plan and getting on a path towards recovery or at least, relief. So even though I just wrote a long post that was negative and my end result of my experience was no help, I would never DIScourage someone from looking into an inpatient stay if they felt they needed/wanted to do it. Everyone and every hospital and staff is different -- for someone else, an inpatient stay could be the best thing they ever did and is worth a try if you're wanting help and a chance at getting better. Just, like someone already said, check the place out a bit before you go to a particular place, see if you can find reviews or ask people about the facility (I know one place in my town has a TERRIBLE REPUTATION and has for years and years and I'd never go there just based on that and what I know from word of mouth and a couple people who have worked there).
If you decide to check yourself in, I wish you all the best in finding what you need right now from such a place and a good experience overall. Just be prepared that going into a ward isn't a relaxing, good time, unfortunately, and you lose many freedoms of daily life you might take for granted until you get in there and they're not up to you anymore.:( It's kind of a crapshoot as to how the experience might turn out. Hugs and peace to you <3
