Have you ever been to a mental hospital?what was it like?

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felinesaresuperior
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06 Feb 2015, 10:31 am

Skibz888 wrote:
I've been to plenty, courtesy of my severe bipolar. :?

More often than not, though, I've been to ERs and ETSes (which is like a psych ER), which is typically where you start out. Staying in hospital ERs is awful; you're just isolated in a cold hospital room with a security guard keeping watch (with varying levels of security strictness, e.g. sometimes you can go to the bathroom on your own, other times it's just a bottle) for hours upon hours on end until they're able to move me to their own ward or transport me to ETS. At ETS they hold/evaluate you for a night until they either release you with some pills and follow-up psychiatrist appointment, or they transfer you to another facility for further hold.

Every hospital varies: I've been in good ones (more leisurely environments where they have regular therapy and activities) and bad ones (which are kind of like adult day cares). If you ask someone "what is it like?", they'll all say the same thing: boring. I always get lots of reading done in hospitals because there's so little to do during the days. My medication at least helped me sleep for long periods of time, but there's really not much to do, especially for hospitals which don't have any regular activities.

However, the most important thing to remember is this: whether my experience was good or bad, the hospitals all helped me. They put me on the right medications which successfully stabilized me and prevented me from doing something really bad to myself and others (sure, I went back a lot, but that's my own irresponsibility). Don't let people's negative experiences make hospitals seem scary; they're not at all like they are in the movies. They're there to help you. Honestly, it's actually pretty hard to get into a hospital unless they see you as a genuine threat, so don't think that if you tell someone you're hearing voices (I remember you're the one who started the voices thread) that you're immediately going to be locked up. It doesn't happen that way. Hospitals can be unpleasant, but they're ultimately beneficial.


aweful

whoever heard of such a thing? cant even go to the bahtroom on your own sometimes? sounds more like a prison than a mental institution... were you under suicide watch? because i read the law dictates anyone addmitted to a mental institution, even against their will, are to be allowed to walk freely in the hospital grounds, and i believe this includes the yard as well, unless their condition prevents it, (suicidal, self harming).


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