How to voluntarily commit oneself to a psychiatric hospital?

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Katiebun2281
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19 Feb 2011, 8:46 pm

I was in the psych ward in March of 08 due to a suicide attempt. It's not a fun place to be, I was sharing a room with a severe szchiophrenic. She wrote bible verses on all the furniture and just acted completely crazy. I was sleeping on early morning and I awoke to see her standing over me holding a blanket, I turned my head and looked at her and she stated,"I'm going to cover you up now" while holding the blanket over my head. I jumped up, screamed, "No" and ran out of the room. She sat on her bed, rocked, and mumbled incoherently. I was promptly moved back to my ward and got a newer, better, more stable roommate.
So, No, I wouldn't advise you to just enter a mental hospital or a psych ward all nilly-willy. It's serious business with people with serious mental and emotional problems. I would advise you to think your decision through and don't just jump into it.


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blastoff
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19 Feb 2011, 9:34 pm

Good grief. You WANT to go to a psych ward? You're nuts. Go.

There are other, better, cheaper, saner options. Find them.



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25 Jun 2012, 8:49 pm

vectrop wrote:
I've been giving some thought to the idea of committing myself to a psychiatric hospital for some time and see how things go.

If someone has done this, can someone please tell me what I can expect in terms of respect for my autonomy and my right to leave the hospital any time I want?

Also what is the experience going to be like? Am I going to have some amount of privacy or am I going to be locked up in the same room with a bunch of lunatics?

Does voluntary commitment to a mental hospital has the potential to be a helpful experience or is it going to be as traumatic and degrading as incarceration or involuntary commitment to a mental hospital?


Like most experiences, they can be traumatic or helpful depending on the person. In rare cases, people have positive experiences from traumatic events.

The experiences are going to vary from person to person, and not the same experience you will have.

A lot of it depends on the place and how much money you have.

You can imagine the difference between someplace that is a free country hospital and someplace that costs $25,000 a month and does not accept insurance.

You must remember, once you are inside, you are no longer a person. You must do WHATEVER they say, and if you don't, they can forcefully restrain you and drug you until you comply.

Maybe you change you mind? Better be patient. Maybe they decided that you aren't well enough to leave since you checked yourself in in the first place.

Once you say you're suicidal or something, you are PERMANENTLY suicidal for the rest of your life according to your psychiatrists.

Once you enter a psych hospital, commit yourself, go 5150, or whatever the numerous legal mumbo-jumbo, it is now on record.

If you were to have an accident, a divorce, get fired, or ANYTHING, the first thing they will use is the fact that you're a certified wacko, no matter how sane you really are.

===

These places are for people who are involuntarily taken there.

You are looking for a health spa or vacation. Go to a buddhist temple or some other safe and tranquil place you can get away from people and society.

Go find some other way to get away.

Go watch the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

These places are for people who are taken there involuntarily.

Think before you make a mistake that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

There are plenty of Mental Health and other places to go for help without being commited.

There are many other ways to find spirituality and to fix your mind and spirit without going someplace that may ruin you more.

You really need to be strong to survive these places.

I loved it, but then I live in a literal Hell on Earth, in the middle of a gang infested, corrider for illegal aliens, cartel controlled drug den. Every one and every thing in power is corrupted by the drug trade.

When I go to a hospital, it is a rest.

You better make sure you know what you're doing. Go talk to the doctors at the hospital or at the emergency psych ward of your hospital and ask them what the steps are.

Don't ask a bunch of people who just want you to get trapped in the system.

Because that's exactly what will happen.

You'll get trapped in the system.

Nobody ever gets helped.

It's just a way for criminals to get out of their crimes.

And it makes truly crazy people like myself not get the resources they need.



michiganman
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08 Dec 2012, 2:23 pm

i have been in a psych ward and people who say it does not work only say it because they were not willing to give it a full chance i believe that it works if you want it, i hope this can help.



madnak
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08 Dec 2012, 4:19 pm

A lot depends on the hospital you go to. Generally there will be some inconsistency in the rules, keep that in mind if it frustrates you. Staff are usually well-meaning but typically a bit condescending.

Meetings are usually technically optional but you may have to attend group meetings before they feel you're ready to leave. The group meetings are not well-suited for anybody on the spectrum and are sometimes worthless in general. If they have DBT meetings those can often be good. Your participation in groups may be expected, and usually involves making vague statements about your emotional state.

Some places allow smoking and others don't, if you're a smoker be prepared to quit for awhile.

The fastest way out is often to "pretend" to be happy and to have experienced a large and permanent change in mood and behavior, though actually achieving that may be unrealistic.

You will often have free time. Privacy depends on the institution - you may not have a room to yourself and most hospitals have a restricted status that forces you to stay in social areas ("day rooms" or "common rooms") for some time, usually 12 hours per day. Often their understanding of AS is poor and they will think your desires to avoid social interaction are "unhealthy." This can lead to meltdown/shutdown/extreme stress.

Typically they have things to do that are reasonable - writing, coloring, jigsaw puzzles, sometimes television, but bring a book to read just in case. And expect most of your time to be unstructured time when you have little to do.

Every weekday you'll have a short meeting with at least one member of your treatment team - often an attending psychiatrist, a resident psychiatrist, a social worker, and often an intern/med student. The nurses and psych techs will report their observations to your treatment team. In general your treatment team will not be especially competent or trained in dealing with spectrum individuals, and the main treatment will be lots of medication (perhaps switching medications every couple of days, though some medications take some time to reach a therapeutic level, which may require longer-term monitoring).

Technically in most states they can only keep you for 72 hours without your consent - after you give notice that you want to leave you will be able to leave in 72 hours time. Sometimes they will attempt to rule you a danger to yourself or to others and keep you involuntarily, in that case they will be able to hold you until a scheduled court date to evaluate your status.

Usually they will let you go when your insurance runs out, regardless of other factors. This will often happen even if you aren't ready to leave at that point. This usually makes the maximum length of your stay 3 weeks (typical insurance coverage). If you don't have insurance then your bill will be at least five figures, but they should be able to help you get Medicaid or even SSI/SSDI, be sure to ask them.

Wake-up time, meal times, and lights-out time are typically structured. Some places will let you sleep in, but you'll probably miss breakfast. Some places will more or less haul you out of bed at 7:30am and make you go into your bedroom at 10pm-midnight. If you have insomnia then you can read if you have your own room, but your options will be limited otherwise. Typically you can leave your room to ask for trazodone, ambien, or some other sleep aid. If the staff is nice they may let you come out and putter around if you can't get to sleep. Otherwise you may need to toss and turn next to your roommate or find a way to occupy yourself with the lights out (meditation?).

Your basic need will be provided for, and some (like hygiene) may even be required. Sometimes the structure of being fed, clothed, and generally cared for by staff in a structured way is somewhat addicting and you may become adapted to institutional living and have some adjustment trouble on leaving, on the other hand patients typically want to leave as soon as possible.

Outtake is usually unsatisfactory. They may set you up with a therapist, psychiatrist, and support or therapy group (prod them if they don't). They may help you deal with some of the financials (prod them if they don't). If you really need intensive care on outtake, you'll typically be referred to a long-term residential facility. Expect negative experiences there. Intensive outpatient programs are not usually available to adults. If your problems are chronic, they are likely to recur quickly even if they remit during your stay. If you're having an acute problem or if you need substance abuse detox, a hospital may provide a safe place until the storm passes.

Other patients on most wards are usually friendly and easy to get along with, but will sometimes be sensitive about certain things.

Note: This applies to the United States. I can't comment on the mental health care in other countries.



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08 Dec 2012, 5:40 pm

Unless you are actually a danger to yourself or others, or feel like your on the verge of a mental breakdown or something...its probably kind of pointless. I went to a psych ward recently because I was feeling very suicidal and on the verge of acting on it, but after the first couple days I just wanted to leave more and more.

But yeah I just had my mom drive me to the ER and then I told them I was suicidal, that was all it took....then I had to sit in a waiting room thing for a lot of the day till I was finally taken to the psych ward...its not getting admitted that is hard. Well at least it wasn't in my experiance.


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08 Dec 2012, 6:50 pm

The point of a psych ward is to keep you alive while you're in acute crisis. They don't really keep you long-term, not unless you have treatment-resistant schizophrenia and can't take care of your own basic needs, or something like that.

If you're in danger of dying--heck, yes, go. it's boring and they treat you like you're a toddler, but it's safer there than most other places. If not, they probably won't admit you.


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08 Dec 2012, 8:33 pm

This thread reminds me that I'm wanting to know what are the warning signs that someone you are observing needs to be evaluated for being admitted instead of just working on everything at home.

(I know "is suicidal" but how do you tell the difference between suicidal and bad suicide idealation? I know risk of hurting self or others, but at what level? And so on...)

(Someone can PM me with more information if they want to, this is something I'm actively trying to figure out and I'm not managing to figure out)



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08 Dec 2012, 8:48 pm

I worked in psych for many years. Both on locked psych wards and open psych wards. Some are very good, some were very bad. I worked on one particular open unit where I actually think most of the patients benefited. It was a much less stressful environment than many of them had at home and it gave them the chance to stop long enough to think clearly. People in open psych wards are not actively suicidal nor are they acutely psychotic. It sounds like from some of the comments here that people are accustomed to locked units. Open units are very different.

It would help to know more about why you feel you might benefit. Do you have a mental health professional that you could speak to regarding your thoughts? He or she would probably be able to help you figure out what you need and would likely know the quality of the facilities in your area.


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08 Dec 2012, 9:25 pm

RE: them having "power"

If I didn't want to be there, I could have easily left, and I did -- I went back at my own volition because I wasn't ready to leave, but I could. I could have refused medication; I refused to eat in the cafe and go to "events" (too many people and too much noise).

Involuntarily is different (court ordered, though doctors can also do it).

To be voluntarily committed, you need a referral from a doctor -- the same for any specialized care and/or treatment.



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08 Dec 2012, 9:29 pm

Dillogic wrote:
RE: them having "power"

If I didn't want to be there, I could have easily left, and I did -- I went back at my own volition because I wasn't ready to leave, but I could. I could have refused medication; I refused to eat in the cafe and go to "events" (too many people and too much noise).

Involuntarily is different (court ordered, though doctors can also do it).

To be voluntarily committed, you need a referral from a doctor -- the same for any specialized care and/or treatment.


I didn't have a referral from a doctor, but maybe it varies depending on where one lives.


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08 Dec 2012, 10:11 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
I didn't have a referral from a doctor, but maybe it varies depending on where one lives.


I'm sure you saw someone before being committed, even if it was just a doctor in an ER; they have to sign off on it (most medical institutions are the same the world over, really). You may not even know that you had a referral.



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08 Dec 2012, 11:18 pm

Dillogic wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
I didn't have a referral from a doctor, but maybe it varies depending on where one lives.


I'm sure you saw someone before being committed, even if it was just a doctor in an ER; they have to sign off on it (most medical institutions are the same the world over, really). You may not even know that you had a referral.


Oh I see, I did see one in the room in the ER so I guess that is why.


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09 Dec 2012, 3:06 am

Stand outside one and just start howling.



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09 Dec 2012, 4:54 am

squonk wrote:
Stand outside one and just start howling.


Tried that. It doesn't work :lol:

I can only speak for the UK system, but I would honestly say that unless you are really REALLY struggling and are suicidal or seeing pink elephants everywhere just don't go anywhere near a psychiatric hospital. I have been to two. The second one wasn't as bad as the first but both I had problems with getting food that fit my dietary requirements (lactose intolerant vegetarian). If you have dietary needs or are just plain fussy, that's the first bad thing about staying in the psychiatric ward. You get very little choice over what you can have. I came out of the first one weighing 6st5 when I normally weigh 8st10!

Then there's the whole 'don't get Aspergers' thing. A lot of the staff (again might only be speaking for UK) are not trained in autism/aspergers and this can leave you vulnerable to abuse from both staff and other patients. In the first hospital I was treated like a naughty child because of my autism symptoms that they didn't understand. The worst part is, if you like solitude (as many of us do) the staff will see this as non cooperation and may hold you for longer because it seems that 'normal' (pardon me using that word) psych ward patients are assessed based upon their ability to leave their room and socialise with other patients. I was held for an extra two weeks based on my poor social interaction and it wasn't until a company which specialised in autism got involved that the staff LET me stay in my room whenever I wanted.

While you are in there, you are also likely to meet Jesus. Or Santa Clause. This is not me being mean, but there does seem to be a tendency for patients to strongly believe they are one (or maybe even both!) of these people. How would you deal with that? It's not as easy as you think to keep your mouth shut, try not to laugh or correct them.

In the UK (don't know if USA has an equivalent) we also have the mental health and mental capacity acts. If either your mental health or capacity is questioned in a UK hospital they can use either of these to hold you against your will, even if you went in voluntarily. It's not as simple as saying 'I would like to leave now' when you get there and realise how effing scary the place is. They will make you wait for psychiatric assessments and all sorts. It's very frustrating. Last but not least, I once wanted to be sectioned because I wrongly assumed that if I got sectioned that they would HAVE to give me the psychological therapy I desperately need. They won't and are unlikely to. They are more likely to offer medications as a short term solution.


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09 Dec 2012, 5:48 am

WilliamKus wrote:
You are looking for a health spa or vacation. Go to a buddhist temple or some other safe and tranquil place you can get away from people and society.

Go find some other way to get away.


There are several monasteries in New Mexico that would be ideal. They generally allow visitors to come and stay for a while, but it costs something like $75 or $100 a day. Also, you are expected to be there for religious reasons. And silence is expected.

Here's one that I find interesting: http://christdesert.org/.