What are psychiatric hospitals like?

[ashfall]

I had a talk with my parents recently about my mental health state and I was a little bit too honest. They are now putting a lot of pressure on me to voluntarily check into a psychiatric unit. I plan to ctb when my SN arrives but it won't be here for a month. Part of me wonders if I should check-in and fake a dramatic "recovery" so they back off a bit and won't be monitoring me constantly when it's time for me to ctb. Another part of me can't help but hope that it might really help me though I've pretty much given up on getting better. However, my only knowledge of psych hospitals comes from movies so I have no idea what they're like irl or what to expect. Has anyone here stayed in an "inpatient mental health facility" as my parents put it? What was your experience? Any advice on whether I should try it or not?

 

[Intelligent_Panic99]

I have. Three times. I am in the US so that might make a difference. Each place was different, but the worst part for me was not being allowed to go outside. In one place we got 20 minutes outside, in another no outside time was given (smokers were given nicotine patches), and in the 3rd you could go out if you smoked for a smoke break. Not going outside for two weeks was awful. The other difficult thing was that it was soooo boring - generally there was only TV and coloring pages (like for five year olds) and that was it (besides group therapy in some places)- very few books or board games even. But the good part that I didn't anticipate was spending time with others who were struggling too. It was nice to make new friends even if I didn't get to see them later.

 

[senti-mental]

So, pretty much all of them will take your phone (but you can make calls from the hospital) and your shoes. they also have restrictions on certain clothing items and they wont let you shave (or you have to let them watch you shave) basically you go to groups all day, some of them can help but many are kinda pointless imo. the lack of privacy and the inability to be alone was a big issue for me every time i was hospitalized, as well as being cut off from the outside world. Ideally, youll have access to a therapist and psychiatrist during the day to talk about your meds/issues but in my experience they were rarely available.

 

[finish.me]

They take your shit and you basically just look forward to eating because everything else is boring as hell. You'll have group therapy most likely and do really boring activities until you convince your doctor you're stable enough to leave. it's straight up just annoying and boring and expensive

 

[little helpers]

maybe try something like IOP… that sounds a bit better than psych ward. and if your folks are real pressing, do yourself a favor by checking yourself into it. the voluntarily people gets treated *so much* better than the involuntary. latter has basically no right to refuse, have no say in their "treatment", no rights, no shrink who's gonna talk to them for more than five minutes, no date they know they'll be released, no nothing.

and you should ABSOLUTELY do your own research on *which* one you're gonna go. certain places are real fucked-up. very, very, fucked-up. while there could be slightly more tolerable ones.

psych ward is a bitch but you can make it fun. that's what I say to people. use your smarts. be your own advocate. keep yourself safe. and hopefully find some connection with other detainees there. and don't be completely honest with any doctors there. deal your cards right.

 

[Broken Chimera]

Pretty much a place to be babysat until you're released. They'll take anything of yours until you get out. You have groups and threw meals a day. You'll be seen as less than human most of the time until they know you're not one of the crazy ones. They'll make sure you're doped up while you're there.

If you do go just know that a psych ward isn't a place to heal. It's a place to make sure that you don't hurt yourself. Idk anyone who got real help from going there.

 

[Crazy4u]

You don't have anything to lose. I suggest doing research to find one of the "better" wards. I wish you the best

 

[maakies]

Mind-numbing place to be. I usually go to big city ones and Good lord the people in there. Majority are young foster teens (18-22), homeless or drug addicts or people who plain have no access to anything and probably needed shelter or $$$$ to survive more than a hospital. Be prepared to watch some people get booty juiced as the teens affectionately called it. Those kids who were put through the ringer told me they would try to get booty juiced on purpose to get the drugs that knock you out. Man.

 

[I-can-only-imagine]

Depends on where you are based. I've been in 4 over the last 6 months, voluntary and involuntary. Two were good, one was ok and one was horrendous where the staff ignored you or screamed and threatened you for having a meltdown having asked for meds 49 minutes prior to prevent said meltdown but them just telling me to wait. They really do help some people, especially if it is a good unit. Unfortunately it has done nothing to help me. My last intake was at the ok one and staff were nice but they did 0 activities or anything to keep patients occupied, and it was a dark unit with a fenced concrete yard so had a big prison feel to it. At least they started therapy there but it hasn't helped at all. I always think you should try and be open about giving it a go once but also be aware it may be a shit unit or a good unit - often it is luck of the draw. I mean, my thoughts were - why not give it a go? If it really helps, great. If not, ctb option is always there after But no point in going if you aren't going to be open to really trying to see if it helps.

 

[noaccount]

Hi friend. I'm sorry you're in this situation. I share this with a content warning, but in my experience and research it is quite accurate: US TOO: Sexual Violence Against Those Labeled Mentally Ill. I'm sorry people are putting pressure on you. Can I ask, ideally, if you could talk to people without having them pressure you in any way, what would you most like from people in talking about your health? Listening

 

[Itsbeenalongtime]

My personal experience was of a children's psych ward in the UK, though I was only just young enough at the time for the kid's ward. I went in 'voluntarily' after I put myself in a coma but in reality, the doctors told me I went or they would section me and I'd be taken by force. You werent allowed anything sharp, or that could be used to self harm in with you. I wasnt allowed my nail varnish, paint brushes ect. We werent allowed any phones and the only way to access the internet was via the slow monitored PC in the school room that could basically only access educational websites. The daily routine was heavily controlled. You woke up in the morning in your shared dorm for breakfast (I always argued to sleep in and skip breakfast bc I was perma sleep deprived). After breakfast we were escorted to the school room for 1 or 2hrs to do work. No one actually did work, I went in partly about exam stress and fear I was getting behind on work and they actively tried to prevent me from doing much ("youre in a hospital you need to rest" no ma'am youre actively making me worse). Then we went to the common room till lunch. There were 10 or so kids ages 12-17 and the TV always had a music channel on with pop music constantly. Then lunch, then back to the common room till dinner till common room till bed. During the day bedrooms were locked. Sometimes the dining room was also locked. Some days there were other things on like an anger management class or youd have a therapy session where they tried to figure out what was wrong with you and there was also the weekly review. You were interviewed by the doctors in a panel type thing about your progress. The food was terrible, I am incredibly food fussy and I would have starved if my mum didnt cook me food every day and drive 1hr each way to take me a meal every evening in visiting hour. In visiting hour I could go to a room in the 'air lock' outside the main ward but still in secure rooms to do what I wanted with my phone, do my nails, eat some actual food. Im so grateful that my mum made that journey every day I don't know what I would have done without it. In the ward there were 3 levels of security, level 1 was for the real nutters who went in the padded room and needed 24hr surveillance, that was never me thank god. When I first went in I was on level 2, which meant I could not be left alone for more than 10 minutes, even at night they come and watch you. I hated this as I would read till late and used to hide in the bathroom to get some light. Level 3 meant you could have 30 mins between them checking on you. You were always with the other kids anyways, if you wanted a break from them you could ask to go to the 'quiet room' which was just a padded room with a beanbag in it. They would still come check on you there ofc.

Im a solitary person who spends a lot of time online and being in that place just gave me panic attacks (something I dont normally suffer from) the only thing I got out of it was an ASD diagnosis which helped me get help from school. It also had the effect of making me terrified of ever being sectioned again so I will never be honest with any mental health professional I see out of fear.

 

[Konjac]

Been to CAMHS units a few times in the past, always 'voluntarily' but they said that if I didn't go then they'd just section me and force me to go against my will.

One unit I've been to 3 times was miserable even for psych ward standards- everyone was completely drained and 90% of the staff were incredibly rude and didn't care in the slightest. There weren't really any activities other than education and the occasional accompanied walk around hospital grounds, there was a TV which someone else was always using so the only way you could occupy yourself was by either reading or trying to use your phone, but the wifi was terrible so the phones didn't do much. There wasn't much support other than a short one to one with a psychiatrist every week. People would be left with ligatures for long amounts of time on a regular basis and a few ended up having to go to A&E. I'd purge multiple times a day at an already underweight BMI and they never did anything other than complain about the smell of puke haha. They kicked me out on my second admission for having blades on the ward and sent me home with cuts that required stitches lol. Massive complaint was put in about that one as they'd seen the cuts but just blown me off without even giving me a plaster or a clean.

The other one wasn't as bad, the staff were a little better and the building was more modern. More activities and the patients were mostly really nice, I'm still in close contact with a couple to this day. It still wasn't a pleasant experience and the psychiatrists/management especially were absolutely useless. Had my bipolar diagnosis briefly replaced with depression caused by trauma after a couple weeks of assessment then had it immediately put back the moment I was discharged. Went in with the goal of increasing my antipsychotics and came out completely unmedicated. Also it was insanely easy to sneak things in although it'd usually just be vapes as everyone on there, myself included, used nicotine as a crutch. Purged quite regularly there too, which they didn't do much about, but when I didn't eat much they were quite on top. Still couldn't do shit to stop me though. Had a near death experience after being left with a ligature for an hour and a half despite being on 10 min obvs, would've 100% died if the knot hadn't loosened itself when I passed out.

Wouldn't recommend, don't plan on going back to any kind of psych ward.

 

[UpandDownPrincess]

If you haven't been in a hospital before, I'd try to get into an outpatient program, just like a previous poster suggested. I did that a couple of times before I needed to be admitted to an inpatient program.

An outpatient program has you there during the day and home every night. It's like daycare for crazies.

You'll likely open and close your day with some goals - setting daily ones and then checking your progress - and then have class-type group activities that might include learning about CBT and DBT, recreation therapy which may include coloring or crafting and possibly some art or music therapy. Doctor visits take place throughout the day and you'll be escorted to and from his/her office. Lunch bisects the day nicely.

It's not so bad. The other patients may be there just as outpatients or they may be coming off an inpatient stay. There are often more locations that offer outpatient programs so you may have more choices.

I have always had better luck with programs - both outpatient and inpatient - that are a ward in a general hospital rather than just a psychiatric facilty. The food tends to be better, too, unless your parents are shelling out for one of those country-club places with the spas and private chefs.

Edited to add: always sign in voluntarily if you can. You'll have much more control over your treatment and stay.

 

[noaccount]

My personal experience was of a children's psych ward in the UK, though I was only just young enough at the time for the kid's ward. I went in 'voluntarily' after I put myself in a coma but in reality, the doctors told me I went or they would section me and I'd be taken by force. You werent allowed anything sharp, or that could be used to self harm in with you. I wasnt allowed my nail varnish, paint brushes ect. We werent allowed any phones and the only way to access the internet was via the slow monitored PC in the school room that could basically only access educational websites. The daily routine was heavily controlled. You woke up in the morning in your shared dorm for breakfast (I always argued to sleep in and skip breakfast bc I was perma sleep deprived). After breakfast we were escorted to the school room for 1 or 2hrs to do work. No one actually did work, I went in partly about exam stress and fear I was getting behind on work and they actively tried to prevent me from doing much ("youre in a hospital you need to rest" no ma'am youre actively making me worse). Then we went to the common room till lunch. There were 10 or so kids ages 12-17 and the TV always had a music channel on with pop music constantly. Then lunch, then back to the common room till dinner till common room till bed. During the day bedrooms were locked. Sometimes the dining room was also locked. Some days there were other things on like an anger management class or youd have a therapy session where they tried to figure out what was wrong with you and there was also the weekly review. You were interviewed by the doctors in a panel type thing about your progress. The food was terrible, I am incredibly food fussy and I would have starved if my mum didnt cook me food every day and drive 1hr each way to take me a meal every evening in visiting hour. In visiting hour I could go to a room in the 'air lock' outside the main ward but still in secure rooms to do what I wanted with my phone, do my nails, eat some actual food. Im so grateful that my mum made that journey every day I don't know what I would have done without it. In the ward there were 3 levels of security, level 1 was for the real nutters who went in the padded room and needed 24hr surveillance, that was never me thank god. When I first went in I was on level 2, which meant I could not be left alone for more than 10 minutes, even at night they come and watch you. I hated this as I would read till late and used to hide in the bathroom to get some light. Level 3 meant you could have 30 mins between them checking on you. You were always with the other kids anyways, if you wanted a break from them you could ask to go to the 'quiet room' which was just a padded room with a beanbag in it. They would still come check on you there ofc.

Im a solitary person who spends a lot of time online and being in that place just gave me panic attacks (something I dont normally suffer from) the only thing I got out of it was an ASD diagnosis which helped me get help from school. It also had the effect of making me terrified of ever being sectioned again so I will never be honest with any mental health professional I see out of fear.

No person, in fact, has ever brought "padded rooms and 24/7 surveillance" upon themselves - it happens to people because someone with power decides to do it to them. It is victim blaming to say this needed to happen to anyone. You and others are not better than "real nutters" and it's not more ok to do to them than it is to you.

 

[Aboutblue]

I've done inpatient and outpatient. Both were not terrible although I was very distraught about being there involuntarily for inpatient. The first time around I made things way harder than they had to be. Outpatient I liked and would recommend.

If you're planning to ctb why not give it a shot? Might as well exhaust all options.

 

[Nightmare Painting]

Just replace the word "hospital" with jail, prison, or concentration camp and you'll have your answer.

 

[Salkak]

You should try going to the hospital if it helps you. What's the worst that could happen? May be you'd still be at the same place mentally you were before going to the hospital. But there is also a possibility that it might help you. That is just my opinion. You do whatever is right for you at the moment.

 

[ColorlessTrees]

I suppose my answer will be similar to the others, redundant, but I felt I'd add my experience, anyway.

This was years ago, on the adolescent(?) floor. Ours was split by gender.

Mind-numbingly boring, mostly. All personal belongings are confiscated, and any strings on your clothes are as well. I felt stripped of all freedom, and, honestly, dignity. You are watched at all times, sent outside, to meals, activies, and to bed at specific times. I'm not sure if this applies to all facilities, but there were scheduled bathroom breaks, and you couldn't go without supervision. If we asked at an off time, the staff would complain about having to take us. (And I have about a thousand other unpleasant things to say about the staff! This would be facility dependent, though.)

We had daily therapy sessions, both individual and group. Neither was particularly helpful.
Medication was heavily pushed, although I managed to deny it; my therapist let me off the hook.

And I will say the only redeeming thing was the people I connected with. Staying in contact beyond the hospitalization can be tricky, though.

Overall, not a pleasant experience. From what I've heard, a lot, perhaps even the majority, have anywhere from mediocre to even abusive experiences in these facilities. But in the end, you are an adult, and after a certain amount of time, you can discharge yourself and move on with your life. (Not sure if this differs with voluntary admission.) Everyone's experience is going to be different, but I think these cause more harm than good sometimes.

I wish you the best, whatever you decide is right.

 

[tabletop]

As others have said inpatient psych ward is typically rather boring. If you will be expected to pay the hospital stay I would say do not do it's. Definitely not worth it. But if you don't have to financially pay for it and don't mind much being bored....then go for it. If you don't have to pay for it then it can't hurt really.

There is nothing that they can do inpatient vs outpatient other that supervise you. All they do really is put you on meds and do some therapy. All of this can be done outpatient for far less money.

 

[*Psyche*]

Inpatient care facilities can be helpful in that they #1 can keep you safe, #2 give you hope of recovery, #3 put you in touch with resources (e.g., therapist, doctors, groups, and etc.) to help aid in recovery, #4 facilitate the meeting of others like yourself (& others who are worse or better than you for perspective), #5 hopefully get you on the right track medication wise. With this being said, inpatient facilities can also suck. I've never wanted to stay in any one (I've been in 3) longer than the required 72 hours required for voluntary admission.
A lot of the reasons I don't like them & try to stay away from inpatient have already been stated in this thread. They're boring, you have no privacy, you can have issues with staff, or issues with other patients (which can be scary at times), no outside time, and on, and on. My issues, specifically this last time (about 2 years ago), I didn't feel like anyone was listening to my needs. They kept messing up on my current medications & the new medication prescribed by the doctor there was a HUGE dose to start at - which I found out later. Not to mention, the doctor wasn't on site. He was only available via Skype every couple of days, so I got no intake diagnosis the day I got there. I had to wait. The doctor was difficult to understand, not only because of a heavy accent, but the teleconference took place in a loud room where the HVAC system was located. There wasn't ANY one-on-one counseling. It was all group sessions & the facilitator wasn't available before or after to talk to.
I had to put on a pretty good show to get out of there after 4 days, instead of 3. By then I couldn't stand being there. I did make a friend or two. I got insight into other people's illnesses & current situations. And I did learn a few things from group sessions. I left with a sense of hope for the future, although that stopped when I began having complications with my new medication.
Every hospital/inpatient facility is different & it's really a crap shoot as to what kind you'll get. You don't know what it's like until you get there - unless you know people who've been there & can get their opinion. But it's NOT a bad idea to try it out to see if it will help you. At worst, you're really bored for a few days & have to deal with some unpleasant people. However, it may help you a lot. You may get very lucky! Two of the three places I stayed weren't horrible. I just wanted to go home.
I wish you the very best & I hope I've helped you in making your decision. Please feel free to message me if you have any questions. ❤

 

[DunnoWhyButYeah]

It depends on where you live and why you go to the hospital, whether you are there voluntarily or not. I have been to the ward in Finland due to an eating disorder. My experience was good, I got to take my laptop there so the days were spent resting and playing ... I took part in the activities that had been arranged for us (relaxation moments, handicrafts, outdoor activities, etc.). I was able to walk freely outside. I was not allowed to keep the light on myself and nothing burning or sharp. Sure, in my case, the meals were controlled, they watched if I went for a run or anything else after the meal etc. but it was a good experience. If I went for self-destruction or they knowing I'm actively suicidal, the outdoor activities would be with the caregiver and they would look after me more closely. For example, I shouldn't go to the balcony alone.

 

[Yiyo123]

I went to three inpatient and the last two were awful. I was constantly monitored because everyone was in suicide watch. A nurse came to every room every 5 to 10 minutes. They monitored everything I did… including showers. I had to get dress in front of a nurse. They also check my body for self injuries everyday while I was naked. The therapies were all day long and free time was only one hour a week. They kept changing my medications and I literally have to act in order to convince the assigned therapists that I was better. After 15 days I was released to a partial hospitalization for an additional 7 days.

I received electroshock therapies in one of them and for me they were painful.

Now I receive therapy sessions 2 times a month with a psychologist and once a month with a psychiatrist.

It's depressing and frustrating, Even worse when nobody supports you.

 

[Feeding Pigeons]

I was in once. My therapist told me it was one of the better ones in the state. I made friends inside, people will talk to each other because there ain't nothing else to do, but once you leave, nobody will remember you. It was dangerous. I slept in the same room as a guy who was speaking to the devil. Just miserable, miserable time. I have a suspicion the food was drugged, though I am unsure. When I was picked up by my mother, she later told me I was very feeble, I had to be directed and guided. I do not remember clearly enough to confirm or deny that. Its a bit of a blur.

Like others have said, you don't have anything to do, you don't go outside on a regular basis, group therapy is worthless, you're in danger being around the extremely ill people.

Don't do it. You won't gain anything.

 

[BittersweetSymphony]

I live in California. I got sent to a public health facility here in 2010 after telling the cops that I was suicidal. It was a standard 72 hour hold.

What was it like? From what I remember, mostly boring. We would get up in the morning and pace around the hallways for an hour or so. I talked to a psychiatrist twice in 3 days. Once on the first day where he diagnosed me as depressive and prescribed Lexapro, and again on the third day where he checked in to see how I was responding to the medication and tell me how to keep getting it after I was discharged. Occasionally, we would watch a movie or play a game.

All in all, pretty useless. The doctors and most of the staff obviously didn't give a shit. There was one orderly who was pretty kind and seemed like he actually wanted to cheer us up. Your mileage may vary.

 

[little helpers]

No person, in fact, has ever brought "padded rooms and 24/7 surveillance" upon themselves - it happens to people because someone with power decides to do it to them. It is victim blaming to say this needed to happen to anyone. You and others are not better than "real nutters" and it's not more ok to do to them than it is to you.

^ this.

I definitely feel the pain bite me every inch deeper when I read @Itsbeenalongtime 's comment. children's ward is the worst IMO. nightmare. never been there but I've heard plenty about it. to put kids in barracks, deprived of a life to live, barred from attachement and education, also a lot of violence, life-threatening physical restraint, and psychological abuse going on if kid got into sensory overload and/or start protesting 'bout the utterly inhumane conditions. children's ward is a horrendous crime. a crime against humanity.

but keep in mind the "level 1" kids didn't ask for any bit of this either. the more sectioning going on, the worse one's condition. feeling as though we're no longer human cuz we been treated that way. every psych prison has its coded words for those places it seems. for a few wards I've been at it's "second floor". I always got a feeling I was gonna snap soon. and I'd be moved up the floors. and up, and up, the longer I been trapped.

for some individuals I've seen, it do be that way.

so yeah, ableism doesn't serve any one of us.

 

[Tapir]

I'm not sure I have a lot to add here and this question is kind of old, but as I would like to use the search function and I suspect other people sometimes have this question, I will contribute from the peanut gallery.

As other's have said - it really depends and it's really boring.
1) it's a place to be safe. i'm sure a truly driven person could hurt or kill themselves on a psych ward but they make it pretty hard.
2) it's a place to hopefully relate with people dealing with similar issues.
3) there is very little/no privacy. someone checks to see what you are doing every 15 minutes. you generally can't have much stuff - a few clothes, books, papers, that's about it.
4) the places I have been, there was not the possibility to go outside, unless special arrangements were made.
Fortunately, I have not ever regretted going to the hospital. It was helpful for me in a lot of ways but I'm unsure that it has fixed anything for me in the long term (as evidenced by the fact that I am on this forum?)

The TL;DR:
I think I have been hospitalized multiple times when I have felt myself very close to trying to kill myself. I was hospitalized in a rural area of the US voluntarily with the help of my doctor when I was suicidal. The advantage of having a doctor help, I think, is that they can make reasonably sure there is an inpatient place for you when you go and you do not end up being held in an ER hallway for 72 hours.
Once I had to be admitted through the general ER . This was the worst part. It was very stressful and I felt embarrassed that I was just another nut coming through the ER. I went alone. The nurses were quite rude and dismissive at a time when I was incredibly fragile and it sucked. I had to give them my clothes, shoes, phone, etc and wear paper hospital scrubs, get a blood draw. A psych doctor came and spoke to me and asked if I wanted to be admitted and I said yes.
At one hospital I spoke to the admitting doctor on the phone and was then asked to come to the general waiting area and someone from the psych ward came down and got me. This was the nicest and least stressful way to be admitted, I think. At this hospital I was allowed to keep my phone and after my boyfriend met my doctor he could come most days and we could go for a scheduled walk together outside. This hospital was a research hospital connected to a university. I'm not sure if that mattered or not, but it was the least "rigid" hospital.
Most recently, I was hospitalized in a larger hospital in an urban area. I had to be admitted through the ER there, but it was a psych ER in the early morning and it was really fine and a non-event. My friend who came with me could stay with me the whole time until I went to the unit.

The general experience I had was very similar no matter where I was:
I got a shared room. I can sleep through anything, so this was not an issue, but I can see that it could be hard if you are disturbed by sharing a room with other people. The bathroom had a curtain and not a door, which was hard to get used to. There was a laundry and a nurse could go with me while I washed my clothes.
There are groups and activities throughout the day. Goal setting, arts and crafts, CBT or DBT thinking/worksheets, group therapy, coping strategies, relaxation/meditation exercises, time to walk laps in the hallway. Occasionally some are good, but mostly they are boring. Short term psych hospitalization is serving a lot of different people with a lot of different issues , I think. Nowhere I have been required groups and instead I could sleep or read or write or do crossword puzzles with a crayola marker. Usually a doctor would talk to me once a day and a nurse would talk to me once a shift. Sometimes it has been helpful but sometimes I felt they were too busy or distracted to really listen. The people caring for you are humans with their own issues, for better or worse. I had a get weighed on the unit in front of other patients once and when I objected due to past eating disorder issues, the nurse seemed as though she could not possibly understand why anyone under an incredible amount of stress wouldn't want to be weighed in front of a bunch of other people they didn't really know. I wanted to scream at her.
There is a strong push for meds in my experience, but when I have not wanted them, I did not feel forced to take or start anything. Through hospitalization I have been able to try medicines that are not "standard" treatment for depression (ritalin and ketamine). I did have a hospital psychiatrist change the meds a GP had started me on when I was just too spun out to question the GP. Looking back, I feel like the meds from the psychiatrist made more sense.

Each time I stayed between 5-7 days. There is a social worker there to try and help set up some supports for when I left. Making sure I had a safety plan, knew about my doctor's appointments, perscriptions, etc. These are things I generally already had a grip on. But it seemed to me that if you don't already have these things, they will help you set them up before you leave.

Good luck with everything.

 

[Hollowman]

When I was in the psych ward a staff member allowed something in my room that I used to attempt with.The next morning a different staff member came in my room and was shocked that it was in there.

 

[GentleJerk]

Where I live, there's only one main psychiatric hospital outside of the private health sector, and I've visited a friend who spent time there. It is a cross between prison and hospital, closer to prison for the dangerous patients, and closer to hospital for the others.

All in all, not somewhere I would ever want to be. Sadly, there are people in there who have such tragic lives that it's a preferable place for them.

 

[Kristicide]

I kinda thought it'd be like that movie Girl Interrupted. And it kinda was. The whole check in process was long - like 2 days with initial hospital then a transfer to another one with lots of meetings with different doctors. They take all your stuff (even shoelaces). I was immediately taken off some of my prescribed meds (full cold turkey without my personal psychiatrists knowledge) and went through withdrawal. The first 4 days or so were rough cause I was so panicky I needed to escape. I sat in my room crying. The bed was small and uncomfortable and someone checked in on me every 15min the whole time. I had daily meetings with my assigned doctors who kept pushing me to take a drug I didn't want. I didn't socialize. Once I realized I wouldn't get out unless I took the meds they wanted I just did it. They did give us 1 hour in a recreation room that had tablets (with restricted access) and books. Patients who followed rules would sometimes be allowed outside as a group with supervision for about 45min. I got to go once or twice. They allowed a visitor 1 time a day for a short time period in the afternoon. We also had group therapy sessions. The food was relatively decent. By the end I opened up to the other patients who were pretty cool.

 

[Ethereal Knight]

IMO they are deeply traumatizing and inhumane. I don't like them.
90 days was enough to traumatize me forever. I wish I could go back in time and found a way to change that event. it's so heart-breaking sad.