Has anyone been in a psych ward here? How long can one be in there? What is it like? I've never been.
DarknessInMe
Member
- Jun 19, 2023
- 93
It's necessary to differentiate between being voluntarily and involuntary inpatient and the psych ward itself (open or closed). If you are voluntarily in the psych ward, you are entitled to interrupt your stay even though your doctor may want you to stay longer. In an acute, closed station, stays are typically way shorter.
If you are involuntarily inpatient in a closed psych ward, the maximum duration of your stay there depends on your state's law. In Germany for example, you can either be sectioned by the law of your federal state or the one of your country; while your stay is limited to a few days with the first law, you can be forced to stay up to six weeks (with the possibility of a renewal) with the second law. I've experienced stays up to six weeks involuntarily twice but never an extension of that period of time.
Being there, especially in an acute, closed station, was never a "good" experience to me, but it extremely depends on the personnel working on that station.
If you think it might be helpful to get inpatient, I highly recommend visiting an open station before and try everything not to get inpatient in a closed station since there is a possibility of you being forced to stay there against your will.
If you are involuntarily inpatient in a closed psych ward, the maximum duration of your stay there depends on your state's law. In Germany for example, you can either be sectioned by the law of your federal state or the one of your country; while your stay is limited to a few days with the first law, you can be forced to stay up to six weeks (with the possibility of a renewal) with the second law. I've experienced stays up to six weeks involuntarily twice but never an extension of that period of time.
Being there, especially in an acute, closed station, was never a "good" experience to me, but it extremely depends on the personnel working on that station.
If you think it might be helpful to get inpatient, I highly recommend visiting an open station before and try everything not to get inpatient in a closed station since there is a possibility of you being forced to stay there against your will.
Damn thanks for this. Never been to one. I was just curious. Sounds like they're ran like a prison.
willitpass
Don’t try to offer me help, I’ve tried everything
- Mar 10, 2020
- 2,941
I was in and out of psych wards for years. My longest stay on a regular ward was four months. I was also in a residential facility for 8 months. I will say that isn't the norm, here in the US most people will stay for a week or two, sometimes even a few days, and be gone. In my experience they often are run like a prison, but with the cover up of lots of coloring, crafts, and meditation groups to fill time. I have never experienced more trauma in my life than in psych wards. I would genuinely do whatever it took to off myself right then if I ever know I was going back to one, that's how's awful it was.
However, some people have had good experiences with them. There isn't any knowing what situation you may end up in unless you're in one. You can typically get some sense of what you're in for by looking at reviews on google. Overall I would recommend exhausting outpatient options before considering going to an inpatient if you ever decide to.
However, some people have had good experiences with them. There isn't any knowing what situation you may end up in unless you're in one. You can typically get some sense of what you're in for by looking at reviews on google. Overall I would recommend exhausting outpatient options before considering going to an inpatient if you ever decide to.
godbody
Member
- Apr 21, 2024
- 22
I get that you're curious but I actually fucken hate the morbid curiosity of people who have never been to a psych ward/of the less outwardly-crazy crazies to the crazy crazies who have been in wards. Also you're asking a really vague, general question that is based on individual experience — you won't receive a universal answer.
you see it all the time in eating disorder circles, ppl who have never been hospitalised fantasising about being locked up for the ~validity~ of it all. not saying that's what you're doing but I also don't get why people who have milder or less obvious or luckier cases obsess over what the more severe cases go through. it's obsessive & almost like people want to experience it or unduly think they "need" to be locked up, main character syndrome style, as with ED patients, even when they know that people mostly only tell horror stories from the ward — when on this website alone you can find heaps of people talking about their time in the psych ward, I just don't see the point in asking except for trying to put yourself there mentally for some weird escapist fantasy of being looked after or abused, either end of the spectrum.
you see it all the time in eating disorder circles, ppl who have never been hospitalised fantasising about being locked up for the ~validity~ of it all. not saying that's what you're doing but I also don't get why people who have milder or less obvious or luckier cases obsess over what the more severe cases go through. it's obsessive & almost like people want to experience it or unduly think they "need" to be locked up, main character syndrome style, as with ED patients, even when they know that people mostly only tell horror stories from the ward — when on this website alone you can find heaps of people talking about their time in the psych ward, I just don't see the point in asking except for trying to put yourself there mentally for some weird escapist fantasy of being looked after or abused, either end of the spectrum.
willitpass
Don’t try to offer me help, I’ve tried everything
- Mar 10, 2020
- 2,941
Considering you're on a suicide website where almost everyone here is at risk of being thrown in one with one wrong move, I think it's a very valid thing to be curious about. If you're on this site, you're at risk for going to one. And they're a scary thing to thing about, whether you've been in one before or not. People ask questions to ease their anxiety. Asking about it on, I don't know, a gaming server or something might be morbid curiosity, but here it is fully valid. Asking about things isn't fetishising it?
Well, consider the patients. You've got people with severe behavioural dysfunction in society somewhere, they are struggling and they need help. They can do better but they don't have the skills to cope for whatever reason-- there are several and it's important to acknowledge the specifics but there's no patient ATM so just any reason.
You've got people who will hurt themselves, although they do not want to. You've got people who could hurt others in the wrong scenario. People are delusional in the psych ward. They're there because their thoughts, beliefs and behaviours are causing serious harm to their lives.
So yeah, it's not a picnic. But it's not supposed to be. They don't torture you in there but if you're a danger to yourself or others you may be stabilised against your will, yes. Doctors are restricted from release at that point by their professional oaths and by legal repercussions.
This all makes sense. But consider a neighbour of mine. He thought he was dating Kim Kardashian and he gave all his money to a stranger on Instagram. Every day I'd tell him that's not Kim. He'd say he got a new picture of her. I'd google that exact same picture from her public insta, but he'd counter that she always posts the pics she shares. He couldn't function in society: the others apes were destroying him and the doctors were rotating medication and talking and talking and talking but if you send this man out while he's still totally delusional you might as well buy him a sleeping bag because he's insta-homeless. And he doesn't understand, yet. His delusions are reality.
So, it is a complicated situation. If you feel you could benefit, you should try medical treatment. How do you plan to CTB guilt free without trying to solve the problem other ways, first? Or are you going to approach the guilt as a facet of your survival instinct? Do as you wish, but don't slander hospital workers who are out there saving lives while we all commiserate on a suicide forum.
straydog
Member
- Aug 27, 2023
- 51
My longest stay was about three months and was involuntary. It was miserable, but I did actually come out of it better? For a while, living didn't hurt. I haven't been back since. I've fucked my life up completely though and am back at rock bottom, I'm just good at hiding it now.
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PS: it's also not hard to be discharged. Just get a BPD diagnosis lol. Suicide rates are disgusting high in BPD, and hospitalisation is counter-indicated post stabilisation.
Or y'know build a safety plan and say you're gonna call if you feel suicidal and you have 1, 2, 3 names to write down on a paper. It's like that in Canada.
PPS: I was six weeks, the doctor wanted one more week with me but I was sexually assaulted in the psych ward and the police said they couldn't do anything for me so I told them that they might as well discharge if that's the level of care available. Maybe it's my diagnosis but I really think anybody who's not actively delusional can finesse a discharge.
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godbody
Member
- Apr 21, 2024
- 22
I don't think being on this site actually does mean anyone is at risk of being locked away at any time, just like I don't think having an eating disorder makes you at risk of the same, which is why I compare the two — it's the same mentality. Obsessing over & wanting to put yourself in the shoes of people that are currently sicker than you is What bothers me, under the guise of "just to be prepared" or "it's a possibility" idk more often then not leads to ppl fantasising about it in some way. 2014 b&w tumblr ring a bell? it was like 6000 girls with moderate depression wishing they were mentally ill enough to be Effy Stoneam or Cassie from skins, literally wishing to be locked in psych wards for the character development & the validation of their very real, but still moderate, mental anguish.
it's just something I've noticed. The fascination with the ward from people who have never been there, & how it turns to fantasies of being fixed or cared for, or the opposite, a death/abuse/downward spiral fantasy.
painoflife
Arcanist
- Jul 27, 2019
- 491
I went in for 1 week voluntarily, after the 7 days I asked to be discharged and was told if I tried to discharge myself they would section me. Several times I asked and got told the same thing so it was a catch 22 of stay voluntarily and not have it on my medical records I was sectioned or risk pushing for it and them section me.
Being there did not help at all, I maintained my self harm and suicide attempts and exactly 3 months after being admitted I was released because they didn't want the risk of me dying whilst there under their care. During my time there another woman successfully ctb via hanging, therefore all the doors were locked open for weeks while they investigated why the pressure sensor failed to trigger on the top of the bathroom door. Having to shower with no doors for such a long time was absolutely soul crushing, especially with a history of SA, being given no privacy really caused me a lot of trauma.
Being there did not help at all, I maintained my self harm and suicide attempts and exactly 3 months after being admitted I was released because they didn't want the risk of me dying whilst there under their care. During my time there another woman successfully ctb via hanging, therefore all the doors were locked open for weeks while they investigated why the pressure sensor failed to trigger on the top of the bathroom door. Having to shower with no doors for such a long time was absolutely soul crushing, especially with a history of SA, being given no privacy really caused me a lot of trauma.
willitpass
Don’t try to offer me help, I’ve tried everything
- Mar 10, 2020
- 2,941
Having depression doesn't immediately mean you're at risk for hospitalization, but you're gonna have a hell of a time convincing a therapist that you're not going to kill yourself if they find out you're spending your time on here. This post wasn't some girl on TikTok joking about how she thinks she needs a grippy sock vacay, it's someone asking genuine questions. Context is important. That's like saying asking a drug addict about their experience because you genuinely want to know what their life is like and get to know them better is you thinking drugs are cool and you want to take them.
billie
sad and suicidal
- Mar 31, 2024
- 408
This site would be treated as a vulnerability at worst. More likely a problem behaviour. All a person needs to do is profess a desire for treatment.
If therapists really locked up all people for going to a website, they would run out of patients. I suspect most people with these worried have neither participated in therapy nor been in a psych ward trying to get out.
godbody
Member
- Apr 21, 2024
- 22
There's no context except this website, & I'm sorry but that's just not good enough context to say "this person is more acutely in danger of being taken to the psych ward than a girl on TikTok" — sorry but it's the same thing, in this instance. You're not more likely to end up in a psych ward for being on this site, even if you admit to it, you're likely to be admitted because of your actions, thoughts & words that happen around revealing you are on this site. This site doesn't automatically qualify you for a psych stay, nor does it even mean people are actively suicidal unless they say so.
& No, it's like asking a drug addict these questions if you were actively using party drugs for the aesthetics or just because you're worried that you'll one day become a drug addict. Romanticising junkies is a thing too.
for real, if you could just be locked up for being on a website or saying you're suicidal, eventually nobody who is genuinely suicidal would ever visit this website for fear of that being true, but first we'd have thousands & thousands of people lined out the door, down streets & in ya mum's kitchen waiting for a bed in the psych ward if that were the case
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EmptyHeaded
Experienced
- Jan 24, 2024
- 230
I've spent six weeks involuntarily on a closed station. Involuntary stays on a closed station are usually six weeks here, sometimes longer. Most of the people I encountered there seemed (at least to me) pretty normal, slightly "problematic" at most. I wouldn't be surprised if at least half of them were there just because their parents wanted them to be. It's ridiculously easy to admit children to a ward, especially in my country. From what I've seen, read, and heard, most wards are pretty bad. Lots of mistreatment and sometimes even abuse. Blaming children for their illnesses, sometimes even diagnosing them with things that the psychiatrist knows aren't present, etc.
At least in most parts of the world, they certainly are. Depending on the type of ward, their goal is not treatment but to keep you "save from yourself".
I mean, don't we already? At least in Germany, you sometimes have to wait months to get a bed in a ward. It's so bad that some people try to get admitted to a closed one because it's faster (though may still take weeks).
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anastenka
Rosa
- Apr 25, 2024
- 75
i went there for 9 weeks back in 2022, it was a voluntary stay as I was being threatened with being sectioned (and that's a whole lot worse). if you're being sectioned, at least in my case then the minimum amount of time you're staying before they even consider release is 3 months, sometimes longer. i met a girl there who had just freshly turned 18 and was going to be moved to an adult ward soon, she had been in my ward for 2 years
it just truly depends on the individual situation to be fair. i only got let out because i started complying, i refused to eat at one point but knew that it wasn't a smart choice if i wanted out. i attempted in there too which made their trust in me unsteady.
usually once released you are still in their care however, just at home. i was under that for a few months after, being monitored just as much as i was back in the ward. i am under the team even now bc i refuse to go back
it just truly depends on the individual situation to be fair. i only got let out because i started complying, i refused to eat at one point but knew that it wasn't a smart choice if i wanted out. i attempted in there too which made their trust in me unsteady.
usually once released you are still in their care however, just at home. i was under that for a few months after, being monitored just as much as i was back in the ward. i am under the team even now bc i refuse to go back
My longest was 3 months .. it swapped from involuntary to voluntary & back again a number of times during that time … Once the hold would end & I'd get to voluntary, I'd say I wanted to go home & they'd put me straight back on an involuntary hold …it's all bullshit.
It is the most traumatic place I've ever been & has caused more damage than good. I've had about 10 admissions now I think ( in the last 7 years), all after attempts.
Got the BPD (mis)dx so can talk my way out quickly now most times.
I wouldn't recommend it as your next holiday destination…full of absolute crazies!
It is the most traumatic place I've ever been & has caused more damage than good. I've had about 10 admissions now I think ( in the last 7 years), all after attempts.
Got the BPD (mis)dx so can talk my way out quickly now most times.
I wouldn't recommend it as your next holiday destination…full of absolute crazies!
