Help Psychward questions

[LucifersIntrovert]

For anyone that's been administered to a psychiatric ward how was it? Is it really as bad as everyone says? Do the staff treat you like shit and treat you like you aren't human? What are you allowed to have and what can't you have? I went to rehab for 3 months and wonder if it'll be similar to that. Thanks!

 

[barkbark]

i personally never went to a psych ward (i've been to a hospital for an attempt but they couldn't find space in a ward before my 5150 ran out) but my methodology for finding out a psych ward experience is just looking at the psych hospitals and psych wards in your area online and seeing what people say.

i don't mean to scare you off of psych hospitals — again, please please take a look at how they are in your area, it really depends on location and in some areas it's 100% worth a shot — but near me there are stories of sexual assaults and harassment, nurses physically assaulting and breaking peoples bones, and people coming out far more traumatized than they went in. the best cases i read were basically "it was really boring, the nurses were a bit cold and uncaring, but it helped me stabilize and i got referred to better programs after getting out which helped me get on track to recovery." it's a very very mixed bag.

for things you can/can't have, i believe anything with strings or cords are out — some let you have a phone, some don't, some only give you limited time on it. obviously any sharp objects aren't allowed. there's a few other things but it's not always the same for each hospital, and you might be able to call in and ask if you research ones in your area.

don't mean to sound too pro-life-y but id say that it's worth a shot if you have doubts about ctbing, especially if you do the research and try to get into a better one. i'm even kinda 50/50 flip flopping between my plan to ctb and hospitalization myself right now, and as mentioned, the ones in my area are described as kinda terrifying.

 

[dinosavr]

Basically everything depends on the ward, on staff assigned to you, on other patients, etc. There are many awful ones, people end up even more traumatized afterwards. And there are also ones that help you get better, people are nice, etc.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Never been to one myself but I've heard from others that these wards don't let you bring your phone or any books or even video games so your only form of entertainment will be other suicidal people. If that's the case, why the need to shut down this site when it's almost the same thing?

At its best it's just a glorified timeout corner because all suicidal people are all functionally children in the eyes of the law even if you're well over the age of 18.

 

[NekiLik]

I have been to two different wards in different countries. The first one was great, the staff was nice, we were allowed to have phones, go outside (so long as it was close to the ward), and the doctors were helpful and the people were OK. In the second one, completely different, the staff was rude, treating every patient like thrash calling them names, you weren't allowed to have a pencil let alone a phone, you couldn't leave the relatively small space which had 20-something people in it, some of the doctors were nice but mine was terrible. She looked down on me and ignored my requests to talk to her when I felt bad, if I did should would just downplay it and tell me to grow up. But the people admissioned there where amazing, I heard so many stories and they were very supportive. So I guess it depends on where you end up.

 

[Raven2]

Been in 2. One was just an assessment ward not really much to do there besides watch tv or do puzzles I was allowed my phone but they wouldnt let me have the cord to my dressing down. Allowed out for smoking. Someone did actually manage to sneak in a blade ( I guess) and twice attempted ctb, the 2nd time they were successful.

2nd ward was an actually inpatient stay most of the staff didnt really care about you just a few that would sit down and talk to you. We werent allowed phone chargers, you kept having to go to the office to charge your phone. Anything that seemed harmful like a shaving blade had to be kept locked away and I would have to go ask for it and then return it when I was finished.
A bit more to do at this one.. therapy, games section, we even did a quiz and had a little party, gym room, colouring, movie nights. Had to ask permission for leave from the doctor so I was able to get fresh air and smoke otherwise I wouldve gone stir crazy being in there. Made a friend while I was in there so that helped the time pass.
I went in because I had psychosis and I still wasnt fully well when they discharged me, but the psychiatrist didnt give a fuck and kicked me out anyway.
Cant say I'd ever want to go back to a psych ward.

 

[Mirrory Me]

It still angers me that I had to be a prisoner for more than a year in an institution from which I had no freedom to leave and where I was forcibly medicated. It had a very bad effect on me mentally. At the end of this humiliation, they did not give me permission to move into my own apartment, but forced me to move to a disabled facility to live. So it took me two whole years to live on my own again.

Edit: I recommend learning about how to support your own health and medicate yourself with natural means.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Everyone's exact experience varies such that it is impossible to make any watertight predictions. But it's very likely it will be a terrible experience especially if you are in America. Here money dictates everything.

 

[GroundControl]

For anyone that's been administered to a psychiatric ward how was it? Is it really as bad as everyone says? Do the staff treat you like shit and treat you like you aren't human? What are you allowed to have and what can't you have? I went to rehab for 3 months and wonder if it'll be similar to that. Thanks!

It depends on where you go. I have been to 3 good psych wards, and one that was absolutely heinous the way they treated patients. It just completely depends on the management and staff. Look at reviews.

 

[divinemistress36]

I can't remember the times I went they did electroshock therapy so no memory of it

 

[heliophobic]

I've been to the psych wards more times than I count over the course of 25 years and honestly the conditions and the way you're treated depends on the facility. I was at one place that had bugs in the mattresses but the food was better than hospital food and you could go outside to smoke. None of the adult places I went to had a "padded room" but the children's unit did when I stayed there. I think that a state run psych ward would probably be vastly different than any local place I was in, but fortunately I haven't been in one...yet.

 

[IonicLemon69]

Been 3-4 times, definitely depends where you live. No shoelaces, no hoodie strings, no phone chargers, actually for me, no phones at all. Basically nothing you could harm yourself with in anyway shape or form. Was nice to meet people who felt similar to me & have time to reflect on my life. Therapy & activities, but still alot of the time sitting there staring at the wall doing nothing until bedtime. Went for a week or so one of the times & was allowed outside once lol. Staff were hit or miss but majority were nice. Sorry to all the people who had horrible experiences.. :( for me it was ok.

 

[throneofdispair03]

i came back from my first visit on February 15th starting on the 8th. You are not allowed to bring anything that you can use to harm yourself, so no drawstrings, shoelaces, belts etc. You are also not allowed any devices like your phone and stuff. The staff kind of baby you, like they're talking down to a toddler in a sense. I'm not joking when I say that I literally did nothing for 7 days. I was expecting some group therapy or counseling, but my entire day consisted of waking up at 7, eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating and sleeping at 10. Nobody spoke to each other there and you were on constant surveillance in your room. It was literally like prison and It did nothing for me. (btw, bathrooms don't have cameras and I used the pillow sheets to asphyxiate myself there lol). My experience doesn't reflect the more horrific ones and I'm sorry to anyone who had to go thru that.

 

[zeevo]

Been in wards/behavioral health hospitals about 5 times in the last 2 years, every time was a horrible experience. Being in those places gave me nothing to think about my attempts and feel worse about myself and life. You have no freedom, you wake up when they say wake up, you eat when they say eat, you sleep when they say sleep. I remember not being able to sleep at night as I worked a night shift job before going in to some of the stays and at some facilities I wasn't allowed to catch up on sleep during the day. If you're not hungry during meal time, too bad because you wont get another chance to eat until next meal. I remember stuffing down food when I got the chance to avoid starving between the meals. I'm about 125 lbs, very skinny and I don't have much appetite, but I still found myself frequently hungry. You can be surrounded by unpleasant people as well, my last stay I had an woman much older than me walk into my room at night, frequently and made the mistake of letting some of the other patients know that I didn't believe in god, leading to many conversations about religion and straight up conspiracy theories that I wasn't interested in. On another stay one of the patients would refuse to sleep at night and screamed into the halls every night. One of the conditions I agreed to when I signed in (involuntary commit) was the right to refuse medication, which the doctors revoked, when I asked not to take anxiety medication they gave me. I was told that if I didn't take the pill they would hold me down and inject me, and that I would be reported to the doctor for non compliance, extending my stay.

I'm going to stop now, because my list of bad experiences goes on and on, but if you have any questions feel free to ask me. I would advise against going to a psych ward or behavioral hospital unless you feel incapable of preventing yourself from harming yourself or doing something you'd regret. And if you do go, commit yourself, as if you sign yourself in you can request to be discharged after 48 hours after you ask. I seriously think that my time in those places had a significantly negative effect on my mental health overall, and I never gained any benefit from going.

 

[wait.what]

I wouldn't recommend any of the psyche wards in my area. There were never very many good ones, and the few decent ones were in hospitals that got bought out—sometimes several times—by bigger conglomerates. This is never a recipe for improvement.

My onetime go-to hospital got bought out 4 times in a dozen or so years. Each time a new company took over, the psyche unit got worse. The most recent multi-megacorp to buy the place just shut the psyche ward down.

There are a small number of free-standing psyche hospitals in my state. They are 2-3 hours away and finicky about insurance—if they even accept it at all. I've recently had more luck getting actual treatment at these sorts of places. Going there trashed my already-crummy credit rating and forced me to turn to family for financial help, but at least I got decent care.

This is the U.S.'s "two tier" healthcare system, and I hate that it's that way.

As for forbidden items, there are no:

Cell phones
Chargers
Tobacco products or vapes
Cords, belts, shoelaces, dental floss, razors (including electric), electronic devices of any kind, cords and hoses for CPAP machines
Non-approved disability accommodations (they like taking my cane/walking stick and insisting I use a hospital-issue aluminum walker with tennis balls/"skis" on the bottom. Sometimes I get a hospital wheelchair—with no one to push it. Those things are deliberately designed to thwart patients' attempts to push themselves—it's a legal liability if you fall out or something.)

I could go on and on about forbidden disability aids, since I'm rather bitter about the whole thing. Instead I'll shut up and acknowledge that tobacco products are sometimes permitted at places that are ONLY psyche hospitals, that is, not a unit in a regular hospital where you'd go to have your appendix out, etc.

Edit: I notice many other places permit things that my area doesn't. Maybe it's just particularly easy to sue hospitals here.

 

[Tommen Baratheon]

Depends on which country I guess. I've been admitted to a PAAZ (Psychiatrische Afdeling Algemeen Ziekenhuis; a psychiatric ward in a regular hospital) twice and a mental institution.

First PAAZ gave me so much antipsychotics (Clopixol) that my jaws clenched. Therapy was OK though.

Second PAAZ was a disaster. I volunteered to be admitted which (in theory) gives the patient certain rights, for instance the right to refuse meds, to be informed about meds, the right to leave, .... They put me in an isolation room right away, claiming there were no other rooms available. At first, the doors stayed open, but later I was locked in. They also gave me meds (sedation) without informing me or asking me if I wanted to take them. The meds created a black hole in my memory and I was told I was locked in the isolation room for some time.

Lucky for me my family got me out of there (can you believe they made them sign some sort of form so the hospital wouldn't be responsible!?) and they transferred me to a mental hospital, locked/closed ward. There was f*ck all to do there and therapy was a joke, but I did my time and got out of there.

I should also mention that I witnessed psychiatric nurses using isolation as a threat when patients stood up to them. They should be helping people, not make things worse. But that's a consequence if you give people power: some of them will abuse it.

Labeling a person as a 'psychiatric patient' gives people in "care" the power to do with you as they see fit, all in the name of 'it's for your own good'.

 

[Final_Choice]

I went voluntarily because I wanted to try everything. Lots of psych wards are different, additionally, there are different levels to them depending on how stable you see to them. From my experience, they first checked me and had me wait a few hours and I was put on the lightest level. We had group sessions, got to use our phones sometimes, and the staff were helpful and nice. It was a good experience, but like I said, every psych ward is different. The one I went to was part of my university's medical center so a lot of the staff were previous students from the university and people who actually care. I did feel like I lost my freedom and was a subhuman prisoner, but I played along and went with everything they did and showed them I was better. If you don't like it, just convince them that you're stable for an extended period of time and they'll try to get you out as soon as possible, then again, it depends on history and why you're in there in the first place. I only stayed there for a week.

 

[Itssoover]

They are Hell ON Earth basicly they treat you Like shit and poisen you with psychotropic poisens.

 

[cold_severance]

i got coerced into admitting myself 'voluntarily'. ward staff treats like you like shit even if you do everything they say and never argue with them. the only thing that compliance will get you is the faster way out, like some people who got way less problems than me stayed longer, cause they argued about their treatment. thankfully i was allowed to keep my phone, but the rules about that depend on the place youre at. though sharp objects and stuff like that was forbidden or only allowed to be used under supervision like razors. wards wont help you with anything, since any treatment they have is available without locking you up in what is essentially a prison.