Discussion Fun in the Looney Bin

[sunny.sativa]

I've been hospitalized four times, my longest stay was two weeks. Doesn't really seem like much now, I met some folk in there that'd been hanging up photos in their rooms for months. It became their home. They were, however, "Class A Crazies" if ya know what I mean.

I met your normal, regular dudes in there, too, people that were just sad. I met schizophrenics and bipolars and anorexics. All of em.

I have some wild recollections (aside from my breakdowns, episodes and shit) that I experienced that were .. well, kinda fun. The friends I made were hard to leave, in the end of my longest stay. I learned some things about life and myself and everything.. I even learned how to play solitaire and gained the patience to complete a coloring page (or 100) lol.
I met some beautiful people. I made some much-appreciated memories.

I know a ward isn't meant to be enjoyed and I'm not saying it was butterflies the whole time... definitely not. But I'm curious:

What're your mental hospital experiences? Anything crazy or scary? Or even exciting, like I had? Did you make friends or enemies, did you fight a nurse??

 

[Asacschrader33]

I made a great friend in the psych ward. A 64 year old world travelled British computer programmer named Gerald. We still hang out to this day. I'm 21 btw.

 

[tomz323]

I've thought about admitting myself into a mental hospital before I try anything, Were you two better for the experience?

 

[Emabovary]

I had beutiful experience in psych ward. First time i was for 3 months and second time I was for 7 weeks. I even fell in love there

 

[sunny.sativa]

I've thought about admitting myself into a mental hospital before I try anything, Were you two better for the experience?

If I was better, I honestly wouldn't have ended up going back lol. No, it wasn't "helpful" at all, as far as my mental state went. I had time to escape and relax, and talk about my feelings and learn to understand and accept them, etc.which was nice.
but a lot of it SUCKED and that's coming from someone who stayed at a high-class, 5-star hospital. The meds didn't help and the other patients were scary sometimes.
However, to each their own and it MAY help you.
Much love.

 

[Meretlein]

I've thought about admitting myself into a mental hospital before I try anything, Were you two better for the experience?

Don't do it. It is a violating, traumatizing, and degrading experience.

Maybe try therapy and medicine before ctbing. Make sure not to disclose suicidal urges to your therapist though or they will throw you in the ward.

 

[Roger]

A terrifying thought.

 

[Halo13]

I spent 3 years of my life in psych wards, I have no idea where to begin with stories! I had one wonderful doctor that truly listened and met many kind nurses along the way. Different psych units can be absolutely terrible such as a state hospital had cameras, metal toilet, alarms if your door was shut, nurses and doctors who didn't care. I'd expect most people's experiences vary based on a decent unit or not. It's hard to gauge experiences in different hospitals because I'd even hear some patients complain it was hell on earth because they couldn't get an extra pillow!

The one thing that was always the same: no one ever escaped or was found dead. Romances happened including sex in the bathrooms. No shaving. Years ago patients could smoke and the doctors would smoke with us For what it's worth, in every hospital I was in, the cooks do work hard if you require a special diet. Also, they're loud during the day on purpose because they don't want patients sleeping all day.

I had beutiful experience in psych ward. First time i was for 3 months and second time I was for 7 weeks. I even fell in love there

Are you still together if I may ask?

 

[Chalken]

My one stay at a psych ward as a teenager was mediocre. It was pretty strict, obviously no shoelaces or whatever, but they didn't watch us showering or anything like that. The other teens there mostly had depression, some heard and saw things, some had behavioral issues. I am a very quiet and reserved person, so I spent all my free time there reading books in my room. It was pretty hard for me to go to the group therapies, which felt pretty pointless. Others made friends with each other, but I could not. I pretended to get better and lied to my docs to get out asap, but I still spent about a month there, though my parents visited me every week, and they brought my phone with them which I could use while they were there. All in all, it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great either.

 

[Conflicted Cat]

Man, I'm jealous of you guys that had such good experiences, and even made friends! For me?

Just boredem. Days and days of bordem. It felt like prison. Everyone around me, other patients, were not like me at all... Which made me feel even more alone and isolated. Tried starving myself, that quickly backfired. I remember I even snuck in a razor blade in on my second time I went there. Slipped it through the string hole of my pants. No one ever found out. I remember I spent an good while, trying to smash through the big indestructible window that was in my room. Or the time where I got all edgy and forced my cast off, only to then self harm and write "PAIN" with the blood that came of it on the wall... (I went through a whole masochist phase.) Then getting told to clean it up. I have trouble believing that was a thing that I did. Family coming in, and all I could say to them was, "get me out of here".

I faked my way out. After 2 stays in there, I must do all I can to not get locked up anymore. Never again.

 

[Emabovary]

I spent 3 years of my life in psych wards, I have no idea where to begin with stories! I had one wonderful doctor that truly listened and met many kind nurses along the way. Different psych units can be absolutely terrible such as a state hospital had cameras, metal toilet, alarms if your door was shut, nurses and doctors who didn't care. I'd expect most people's experiences vary based on a decent unit or not. It's hard to gauge experiences in different hospitals because I'd even hear some patients complain it was hell on earth because they couldn't get an extra pillow!

The one thing that was always the same: no one ever escaped or was found dead. Romances happened including sex in the bathrooms. No shaving. Years ago patients could smoke and the doctors would smoke with us For what it's worth, in every hospital I was in, the cooks do work hard if you require a special diet. Also, they're loud during the day on purpose because they don't want patients sleeping all day.

Are you still together if I may ask?

We never were together, he was just chasing me around and i would say no. He was bipolar and i have borderline personality disorder and than i fallen in love woth him eventually but he wasnt into me anymore because he found another who said yes. Ssad story

 

[Walilamdzi]

In total I've spent 4/5 months in psych ward, across 3 separate occasions. Hated it.

 

[memento_mori]

worked in a pysch hospital before and the patients were all pretty nice, sometimes they were emotionally flat because of meds.

 

[Johnnythefox]

An insightful intelligent description of a mental health unit.

Here

 

[Soul]

I had a good experience on one ward and a horrifying one on another; made some friends, took some drugs, met an ex-classmate (awkward!), jumped out a window into deep snow to escape - quite a mixed bag. The main effect on my life has been that it can be hard to remember it's not always appropriate to tell stories that start with "Once when I was in the mental hospital ... "

 

[sunny.sativa]

The main effect on my life has been that it can be hard to remember it's not always appropriate to tell stories that start with "Once when I was in the mental hospital ... "

Haha! This is so true for me! I have many good memories and jokes from in the ward and one of my biggest life accomplishments was achieved in my favorite one.. but I can't always be like,"yeah one time, at the mental hospital"...
exactly.

 

[offshoreserver]

my most recent one was absolutely hellish but not all of them were so bad. i have had a lot, but would have a lot more if not for being turned away at the er multiple times (before i left home i lived in a very overpopulated area so psych hospitals would be bedless for like a hundred miles in every direction or something like that, sometimes)

 

[Retched]

Expensive and didn't really help me at all. A holding cell really. Interesting people I suppose. But the monetary expense was outrageous and I will never admit my suicidal thoughts or intentions ever again to anyone in the medical community or to any one of my friends or family. And one of the stays was due to an attempt that didn't work, and as I'm not actively seeking the end right now, I can hope that won't happen again.

 

[sunny.sativa]

Expensive and didn't really help me at all. A holding cell really. Interesting people I suppose. But the monetary expense was outrageous and I will never admit my suicidal thoughts or intentions ever again to anyone in the medical community or to any one of my friends or family. And one of the stays was due to an attempt that didn't work, and as I'm not actively seeking the end right now, I can hope that won't happen again.

Luckily, they applied for my country's "emergency health care" type stuff, and thankfully, that covered it because I'm low-income.
I stayed in a very nice place, but when I saw the bill, I cried and asked them if they thought I was gonna try and live with a debt like that, like.."is this supposed to help motivate me to live?"

 

[Severen]

Not the worst place to be but not the best place either. It's basically like prison except you have more freedom inside. And you don't have to worry about dealing with the worst sociopaths. And you also get decent food and your room is not a tiny cell. The staff will treat you like shit. Yell at you, bitch at you and treat you like a retarded little kid even though you are a grown man, who has experienced more in life and knows more about life than them. And you pretty much have no choice but to do what they say. It's also a very boring place to be. If you are lucky, you might be able to meet some cool people while inside. But you will also have to deal with people who are completely fucked up in the head and do gross things around you. I think, the only people who would find it enjoyable are people who are homeless and people who live with very abusive people. Otherwise, I'd avoid such a place. Of course, that is just based on my experiences. If you live in some other part of the world, a psych ward could be a lot better than what I just described or a lot worse.

 

[Retched]

Luckily, they applied for my country's "emergency health care" type stuff, and thankfully, that covered it because I'm low-income.
I stayed in a very nice place, but when I saw the bill, I cried and asked them if they thought I was gonna try and live with a debt like that, like.."is this supposed to help motivate me to live?"

I got some of my bills waved but still owed over 10,000. So much for all that mess helping my psyche when all was said and done and bills started to pile up in collections.

 

[Ruffian]

Luckily, they applied for my country's "emergency health care" type stuff, and thankfully, that covered it because I'm low-income.
I stayed in a very nice place, but when I saw the bill, I cried and asked them if they thought I was gonna try and live with a debt like that, like.."is this supposed to help motivate me to live?"

I was just talking about this - If I had the money to be in a psych ward I wouldn't need one! Edit: I forgot to say in the US the amount of care you get is different as night and day in the areas near me. There are a couple good ones, but the ones closest to me are terrible. You usually end up with a mixed bag, but the last one was just, awful. And I was so awful I didn't want to be let go, but the insurance companies decided that for me. It's not like it used to be. I was first diagnosed in with bipolar in 1992 or so, and they really tried to help me. Now, you have to be actively suicidal or homicidal to even be considered for treatment inpatient. It's awful.