what actually happens in a psych ward

[wildflowers1996]

how is it supposed to help

 

[Darkover]

you take it in the ass via forced medication

 

[Pikmin]

In terms of us all here, it would mostly be used to act as a safe place for people in a crisis situation to get through it. You're watched, fed, and forced to go to therapy. There are bad places of course, but this is what it's supposed to be.

For other people struggling with mental illness, it's kind of used as a prison or a forced-treatment center.

 

[Iris Blue]

To be honest it doesn't. It's just a place you go to give everyone else around you a break. The group sessions don't do anything, for the most part everyone is on their own and do their own thing. It can also be very cliquey with the patients depending on why they are there. But you do make friends there but end up never keeping touch once you are discharged. The psychiatrist don't do much just give you medications left and right to try to find a way to make you somewhat ok to leave. The staff it depends some are good others are just there for the money. It definitely depends on locations but that's what it was like for me when I went multiple times in the US.

 

[goblin99]

It's different for everyone. Some people get a great amount of help from them. There's a lot of helpful wards out there that actually prioritize your mental health and making sure you heal. My personal experience wasn't a good one but there are plenty of positive stories out there. You might just need to do research on the ones in your area to see if you have a good one. Pikmin had a pretty solid description of what they're like

 

[Darkover]

In terms of us all here, it would mostly be used to act as a safe place for people in a crisis situation to get through it

safe space my ass I've seen people have their laptops, clothes, phones, mp3 players stolen
I've seen people have chairs thrown at them resulting in a black eye
I've seen staff twist up people for just wanting to get off the ward

 

[bunny_brownie9]

I'm not sure what country you're from, but in the UK they are horrible

 

[willitpass]

It's hell on earth. All of your privacy and rights are taken from you. I was severely verbally abused by staff and called everything from attention seeking to a burden on my family. I have been physically restrained 5 times and only 2 of them were because I was truly a danger to myself, the other 3 were as a means of showing their authority over me. 4/5 of those restraints involved chemically sedating me so strongly I slept for days after. One of the restraints involved large male security staff tearing my clothes off me. I watch staff throw and hit other patients. I watched other patients self harm to the extent that blood pools were left on the floor while staff pretended they didn't see. I would rather be tortured by my worst enemy than ever end up back in one. Those places have me 10x worse trauma than I ever went in with. Everyone says you should reach out for help, but that would land me back in one of them, so I will never ever be fully honest with another person in my life. That is how helpful they are.

 

[doomer843]

how is it supposed to help

It doesn't really, I got forcefully committed and just had to sit in there and do nothing for a week

 

[why am i alive?]

Well originally Psych Wards are supposed to keep patients from hurting themselves and/or others.
It supposed to give time to calm down, and in some cases, stabilise enough to meet the basic human requirements.

As someone who has been sent to the psych ward 7 times (by force and on my own accord once) I can say that, for me, they are far from reaching that goal. Most psychwards represent a traumatising experient, with staff that has lost all empathie for patients. They are dull and only follow orders of the people who command it. I don't find it helpful but rather traumatising and awfull.

But that's perspective

 

[fleetingnight]

My experience was weirdly neutral, but I'm really grateful it wasn't bad. There was a lot of sitting around trying to pass the time. Besides that, group therapy sessions, a bit of physical exercise (nothing intense), and some stuff like art therapy ("draw three things you're grateful for" some bullshit like that) I tried out a new med, which helped for a little while. Seriously, a lot of sitting around while nothing happened.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

Psych ward experiences seem to differ a lot from one another, usually ranging from okay to traumatizing. I've only been in a psych ward (if you can even call it that) once before back when I was 15. It was a part of this program thing for youths in acute mental health situations (suicide, psychotic breaks, etc) and I stayed there for a week, though the psychiatrist supposedly wanted me to stay for longer (my mom wouldn't let that happen though, lol). It was a pretty meh experience. I wouldn't describe it as good nor would I describe it as bad. It was pretty boring over all and I barely remember anything from my time there. I also got misdiagnosed while there. Overall my time there wasn't really that "helpful" but then again, I'm not mentally ill so it makes sense that I wouldn't benefit from it.

 

[tsumihoroboshi]

yeah, it definitely varies from person to person. i've been 2 different psych wards, my first experience was pretty wonderful, my second and hopefully last experience was very traumatising.

things they do is take your vitals in the morning, line you up for meds (that you're not even prescribed, just meds based on what they think will help you.) there's usually mandatory group sessions/activities. refusing to go just makes them try to keep you longer because you're not progressing if you refuse "help". they let you outside for fresh air, heavily monitored. you're allowed to smoke in those instances. sometimes they'll let you have a journal to write or draw.

my first stay really did help me. i met some amazing people that had incredible stories to tell. i've thought about them everyday since then (over a decade ago by this point. who knows if any of them are still alive since we were all there for failing to ctb/drug abuse). it was a good 2 weeks. one of the nurses put my preferred name on a pencil and saved it for me to use since i only ever wandered the halls and drew in my journal. we weren't allowed to take pencils or anything we could kill ourselves with to our rooms. it was that reason that i just wandered around. i didn't wanna break the rules.

my second experience was the complete opposite, so much of a downgrade, i didn't care about breaking rules. i think i've gone over my experiences in a different thread, i don't remember. it was awful.

either way, experiences may vary. until things like white rooms/quiet rooms are abolished, i will never fully trust these places as anything other than providing a different form of psychological torture than if you just sat in your room in the dark and self-harmed all day.

 

[ijustwishtodie]

I have never been to one but, from what I've heard, it's basically no different than a prison

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Never been to one but from what I've heard from friends and family that have been to one, it's basically kindergarten for the suicidal. In worse cases it's like a timeout corner for grownups.

 

[lefi]

It's different for everyone I suppose, but I only heard awful stories from people around me. Not only that, but when I studied medicine I've seen a few psych wards and I've heard everything that the nurses and doctors were talking about and... It wasn't good. As long as it's not a luxury private psych wards I advise everyone to stay away from them if they have the choice.

 

[DefinitelyReady]

how is it supposed to help

It doesnt. It's to babysit you by law, record your reasons as to why you got there, and maybe get you a pill. It's just mandated. They're not interested if you get better by the time you walk out the door imo. They wish you the best, but that's about it.

 

[divinemistress36]

I cant remember i got commited for a few weeks and talked into electro shock therapy which wiped a lot of memories out of my life

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I was beaten by staff for how I covered my ear with the blanket while I was trying to sleep. left the hospital more traumatized than before going in. I will not be asking for help again.

 

[DefinitelyReady]

Never been to one but from what I've heard from friends and family that have been to one, it's basically kindergarten for the suicidal. In worse cases it's like a timeout corner for grownups.

Ha! I chose the word "babysit" having never saw your comment. That's pathetic...

 

[tychai]

my brother was sent to one due to all sorts of issues relating to potential bipolar and substance induced psychosis and it messed him up more beyond belief, made me 10x more paranoid of the idea of ever ending up in one because the resulting effects of that are a pit he hasn't gotten out of for like about a decade now.

 

[Ww42]

Vitals every hour or so. Set scheduled lunch and medication times. And if u miss ur scheduled meals, you just go hungry. Group therapy/ group activities like in a lobby where everyone is at for maybe an hour or 2 a day. Then other times it's just everyone standing/sitting or pacing around. I paced a lot at mine. I like to think of it as a sort of limbo. Youre kept alive, but theres nothing to do, just meandering around, still wanting to kill yourself too, you just cant now. The other patients are really cool though. Made some cool friends there

 

[Bishop2]

In my experience it's the worst place you can be in. I was there twice once last year and once 5 years ago. The first time we weren't allowed to have cell phones on the unit. They force medication on you. If you don't cooperate with them they put you in isolation. Patient steal from each other I had stuff stolen from me. It's both genders in the unit. We had one guy who used to be in prison before who was in the psych ward. When a lady had seizures they didn't do anything to help her. The best thing is there's always food available. I did enjoy the music therapy. The second time I was there I was there for 2 months.