Discussion Psych ward

[Jodes]

Been twice, the other patients you meet are a bit like the users on this forum.

I didnt realise there were any seriously dodgy people here!

 

[Pegasus]

Honestly, even just reading the title of your thread made me shudder. I just wanted to see what other peoples experience has been. I literally have nightmares about my time in the psych ward. It's the worst possible outcome for me.

I've been a couple of times for shorter stays, but the absolute worst was when I was 19. I took a shit ton of ibuprofen, and kept taking them even as I threw them up. I was found too early, and woke up in the hospital three days later. I had respiration pneumonia and still have crap lung capacity, but luckily, no major lasting liver damage. I spent a week in ICU then was sent to psych for three weeks.

My roommate was a girl who believed she could talk to God, and she would be screaming and yelling prayers and nonsense all hours. We weren't allowed phones, computers, or anything like that. We had to earn the privilege to do crafts and to go outside on a fenced in balcony for short periods of time. The food was absolutely disgusting. The doctors were condescending and dismissive, and were rarely around, which is part of why I was there for three weeks. The nurses would come in and shine flashlights in your face every 30 minutes at night.

Some of the other patients were nice, but many were loud, cruel, filthy, and even borderline dangerous. The staff would only step in if someone was getting violent. One older woman there kept trying to convince me to have sex with her. Another man constantly yelled at me that my suicide attempt was a bid for attention. I was either surrounded by the scent of patients who didn't care about personal hygiene, or that sanitation cleaner they used, the scent of which literally haunts me (I get panic attacks and anxiety having to go to any doctors office or clinic now,so I just don't go).

Therapy was a joke, and was very religious. It wasn't even a Catholic hospital or anything, but the other patients did NOT like that I am not religious, and the staff made no attempt to take that into consideration. T I had no privacy... there are no locks and other patients can easily barge in while you're in the shower or bathroom. I was warned of male patients wandering into my room, but luckily that never happened to me. The worst part was feeling so very, very trapped. I felt like I was suffocating every second of every day. I'm actually hyperventilating a little just writing about it, so I'm going to stop, but I will say that Psych is a NIGHTMARE. The only way you can get out is by playing their games and lying to the doctors, and frankly, if I survive again, I just won't bother.

If you weren't suicidal before you went in there it would be enough to make you suicidal. In which country is this?

 

[mattwitt]

I think the whole entire planet is a psych ward run by the inmates.

 

[Lunaemoth]

If you weren't suicidal before you went in there it would be enough to make you suicidal. In which country is this?

USA

 

[sunflowerfacingdown]

I was in once and would never go in again as I found it to be an unpleasant experience and, more importantly, POINTLESS.


I voluntarily admitted myself about 5 years ago due to severe anxiety and depression, combined with a slew of physical health issues that were making my mental health deteriorate even further but that the medical doctors weren't doing anything about. I naively believed if I did something as drastic as admitting myself to the psych floor that besides helping me w/my anxiety and depression, the doctors would also try to sort out my many physical problems and symptoms (they didn't. they didn't even care to hear about the physical issues at all.). Out of despair, on the day before New Year's Eve, I went to the ER where they kept me one day in the pre-holding room for one day until a bed on the psych floor was available. (the pre-holding room/area was terrible in that I felt like a prisoner because it was a completely locked area, you had to ask a nurse to use the bathroom, and the holding room itself had nothing but a bed, a simple chair and a nightstand, and there was a camera in the corner of the room so they could watch you at all times, like in a prison cell or something. When I was first brought there, a cop used a metal detector wand on me, then the nurses took away my clothes and gave me scrubs to wear, and took all my personal belongings. On the flip side, at least in the holding area I could have a family member stay with me the entire time and the nurses brought me a DVD player and some movies to watch and the nurses were pretty kind there.

When I got brought to the psych floor, a cop escorted me which again made me feel like a prisoner, not a patient. On the psych floor at the hospital I went to, everybody got a private room which was nice but that's about the nicest part of it. The nurses (except for one day nurse who was very very nice) were disinterested and sometimes even condescending. The night nurses were the worst, they'd ignore patients who'd come up to their desk to ask for things or whatever, and just talk amongst themselves pointedly ignoring the waiting patient two feet away until they (the nurses) felt like acknowledging the patient. Phones were only available from about 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.. No cell phones allowed. I was so so SO very physically exhausted and needed rest but they'd make me go to pointless craft groups as they didn't want people in their rooms during the daytime. One TV in the common area that one patient hogged all day long but the nurses didn't care, I guess. They were assholes about how much food I did or didn't eat which was awful since I was so nauseated all the time that forcing down food was hard for me, plus I've never been a big eater anyway. At night they'd check on everybody every 15 minutes. They did let patients use hospital issued headphones to listen to the radio but the reception was so poor that those were fairly useless, but still it was nice idea. Beyond all this though, was the total lack of actual PSYCHIATRIC HELP I *didn't* get while there; the three days I was there I never saw an actual psychiatrist, just student doctors who'd ask a bunch of questions and that's it. Finally I had enough and didn't like the prison-like atmosphere and realized the help I thought I'd get wasn't going to happen. Spending New Year's Eve in a psych ward sucks.

No problems with other patients, though, thankfully. Either they were distant, much younger than I so the young ones all grouped up together, or just nice but not chatty or anything. I feel for those on here who experienced such negative interactions with other patients, that would make everything so much more scary. :( It helped that at the hospital I went to, they had separate wards for different levels of mental illness or severity.

Oh the other thing about where I was was that they'd let you wear your own clothes if those clothes didn't have strings, ties, belts, etc but you had to wash your own clothes in a laundry room on the floor. That was unexpected to me. lol

In summary, my experience had some negatives like the bitchy nurses and being made to feel like a prisoner in some ways, but mainly it was just neutral and pointless - and now I have it on my permanent medical history and so I get the "you're just an anxiety/depression patient" attitude a lot and psych meds pushed at me all the time, even when I (used to) go to the doctor about actual physical illnesses I also have which cause chronic pain. That attitude and the dismissiveness I get now is mainly why I regret ever admitting myself to that psych floor, as it seems going in only worked against me in the long run. I'd never do it again, certainly not voluntarily.

 

[OkTotti]

I was in once and would never go in again as I found it to be an unpleasant experience and, more importantly, POINTLESS.


I voluntarily admitted myself about 5 years ago due to severe anxiety and depression, combined with a slew of physical health issues that were making my mental health deteriorate even further but that the medical doctors weren't doing anything about. I naively believed if I did something as drastic as admitting myself to the psych floor that besides helping me w/my anxiety and depression, the doctors would also try to sort out my many physical problems and symptoms (they didn't. they didn't even care to hear about the physical issues at all.). Out of despair, on the day before New Year's Eve, I went to the ER where they kept me one day in the pre-holding room for one day until a bed on the psych floor was available. (the pre-holding room/area was terrible in that I felt like a prisoner because it was a completely locked area, you had to ask a nurse to use the bathroom, and the holding room itself had nothing but a bed, a simple chair and a nightstand, and there was a camera in the corner of the room so they could watch you at all times, like in a prison cell or something. When I was first brought there, a cop used a metal detector wand on me, then the nurses took away my clothes and gave me scrubs to wear, and took all my personal belongings. On the flip side, at least in the holding area I could have a family member stay with me the entire time and the nurses brought me a DVD player and some movies to watch and the nurses were pretty kind there.

When I got brought to the psych floor, a cop escorted me which again made me feel like a prisoner, not a patient. On the psych floor at the hospital I went to, everybody got a private room which was nice but that's about the nicest part of it. The nurses (except for one day nurse who was very very nice) were disinterested and sometimes even condescending. The night nurses were the worst, they'd ignore patients who'd come up to their desk to ask for things or whatever, and just talk amongst themselves pointedly ignoring the waiting patient two feet away until they (the nurses) felt like acknowledging the patient. Phones were only available from about 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.. No cell phones allowed. I was so so SO very physically exhausted and needed rest but they'd make me go to pointless craft groups as they didn't want people in their rooms during the daytime. One TV in the common area that one patient hogged all day long but the nurses didn't care, I guess. They were assholes about how much food I did or didn't eat which was awful since I was so nauseated all the time that forcing down food was hard for me, plus I've never been a big eater anyway. At night they'd check on everybody every 15 minutes. They did let patients use hospital issued headphones to listen to the radio but the reception was so poor that those were fairly useless, but still it was nice idea. Beyond all this though, was the total lack of actual PSYCHIATRIC HELP I *didn't* get while there; the three days I was there I never saw an actual psychiatrist, just student doctors who'd ask a bunch of questions and that's it. Finally I had enough and didn't like the prison-like atmosphere and realized the help I thought I'd get wasn't going to happen. Spending New Year's Eve in a psych ward sucks.

No problems with other patients, though, thankfully. Either they were distant, much younger than I so the young ones all grouped up together, or just nice but not chatty or anything. I feel for those on here who experienced such negative interactions with other patients, that would make everything so much more scary. :( It helped that at the hospital I went to, they had separate wards for different levels of mental illness or severity.

Oh the other thing about where I was was that they'd let you wear your own clothes if those clothes didn't have strings, ties, belts, etc but you had to wash your own clothes in a laundry room on the floor. That was unexpected to me. lol

In summary, my experience had some negatives like the bitchy nurses and being made to feel like a prisoner in some ways, but mainly it was just neutral and pointless - and now I have it on my permanent medical history and so I get the "you're just an anxiety/depression patient" attitude a lot and psych meds pushed at me all the time, even when I (used to) go to the doctor about actual physical illnesses I also have which cause chronic pain. That attitude and the dismissiveness I get now is mainly why I regret ever admitting myself to that psych floor, as it seems going in only worked against me in the long run. I'd never do it again, certainly not voluntarily.

thanks for sharing....this sounds awful, worse then hell

 

[sunflowerfacingdown]

thanks for sharing....this sounds awful, worse then hell

Thank you for reading my probably overlong post. lol It got much longer than I'd intended but it felt good to write it all out, and in a place like this where people understand.

And yeah, it felt like hell at the time and was frightening because I didn't know what to expect, and I truly thought professionals in a facility dedicated to mental health would be a bit more kind and respectful. And I certainly didn't realize just how rigid it would be in there in terms of what you could have with you re: personal belongings and such.

I can see how a stay in the psych ward could help some people, it just didn't help me and the unpleasantness of it and the continued stigma of having been in there wasn't worth it.

 

[TAW122]

I never had, but hearing many stories on Reddit, on the Internet, and seeing documentaries about them, I can only imagine that it does more harm than good. Sure those health professionals may have (temporarily) prevented the person from killing themselves, but they didn't improve that person's quality of life, only staved off the inevitable and not to mention, when the person gets out, he/she is even more fucked, socially, financially, and legally (depending on circumstances).

It's such a sick joke that attempting suicide or suicide ideation isn't a crime, yet people are being treated like they are criminals (or even worse insane people who have no rights, no due process, little/no writ of habeas corpus, etc.). I like to think that even suspected criminals (and sometimes heinous criminals) get better treatment than suicidal people, which is really messed up and unjust.

 

[Severen]

I assume you mean in the USA... do you get charged for your stay even if you've been sectioned?

Yep. It's the U$A, after all.

 

[MsM3talGamer]

Since I live in a Third World country the thought of a Psych Ward terrifies me. This is one of the reasons that I'll be going abroad to CTB. Far away from this shithole.

 

[stellabelle]

They shove pills down your throat and give you coloring pages and expect everything to suddenly be "better." They treat and street people like no other. Some are also abusive.

 

[JustLosingMyself]

Dull... bored... locked in

 

[TheCrow]

I was in once and would never go in again as I found it to be an unpleasant experience and, more importantly, POINTLESS.


I voluntarily admitted myself about 5 years ago due to severe anxiety and depression, combined with a slew of physical health issues that were making my mental health deteriorate even further but that the medical doctors weren't doing anything about. I naively believed if I did something as drastic as admitting myself to the psych floor that besides helping me w/my anxiety and depression, the doctors would also try to sort out my many physical problems and symptoms (they didn't. they didn't even care to hear about the physical issues at all.). Out of despair, on the day before New Year's Eve, I went to the ER where they kept me one day in the pre-holding room for one day until a bed on the psych floor was available. (the pre-holding room/area was terrible in that I felt like a prisoner because it was a completely locked area, you had to ask a nurse to use the bathroom, and the holding room itself had nothing but a bed, a simple chair and a nightstand, and there was a camera in the corner of the room so they could watch you at all times, like in a prison cell or something. When I was first brought there, a cop used a metal detector wand on me, then the nurses took away my clothes and gave me scrubs to wear, and took all my personal belongings. On the flip side, at least in the holding area I could have a family member stay with me the entire time and the nurses brought me a DVD player and some movies to watch and the nurses were pretty kind there.

When I got brought to the psych floor, a cop escorted me which again made me feel like a prisoner, not a patient. On the psych floor at the hospital I went to, everybody got a private room which was nice but that's about the nicest part of it. The nurses (except for one day nurse who was very very nice) were disinterested and sometimes even condescending. The night nurses were the worst, they'd ignore patients who'd come up to their desk to ask for things or whatever, and just talk amongst themselves pointedly ignoring the waiting patient two feet away until they (the nurses) felt like acknowledging the patient. Phones were only available from about 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.. No cell phones allowed. I was so so SO very physically exhausted and needed rest but they'd make me go to pointless craft groups as they didn't want people in their rooms during the daytime. One TV in the common area that one patient hogged all day long but the nurses didn't care, I guess. They were assholes about how much food I did or didn't eat which was awful since I was so nauseated all the time that forcing down food was hard for me, plus I've never been a big eater anyway. At night they'd check on everybody every 15 minutes. They did let patients use hospital issued headphones to listen to the radio but the reception was so poor that those were fairly useless, but still it was nice idea. Beyond all this though, was the total lack of actual PSYCHIATRIC HELP I *didn't* get while there; the three days I was there I never saw an actual psychiatrist, just student doctors who'd ask a bunch of questions and that's it. Finally I had enough and didn't like the prison-like atmosphere and realized the help I thought I'd get wasn't going to happen. Spending New Year's Eve in a psych ward sucks.

No problems with other patients, though, thankfully. Either they were distant, much younger than I so the young ones all grouped up together, or just nice but not chatty or anything. I feel for those on here who experienced such negative interactions with other patients, that would make everything so much more scary. :( It helped that at the hospital I went to, they had separate wards for different levels of mental illness or severity.

Oh the other thing about where I was was that they'd let you wear your own clothes if those clothes didn't have strings, ties, belts, etc but you had to wash your own clothes in a laundry room on the floor. That was unexpected to me. lol

In summary, my experience had some negatives like the bitchy nurses and being made to feel like a prisoner in some ways, but mainly it was just neutral and pointless - and now I have it on my permanent medical history and so I get the "you're just an anxiety/depression patient" attitude a lot and psych meds pushed at me all the time, even when I (used to) go to the doctor about actual physical illnesses I also have which cause chronic pain. That attitude and the dismissiveness I get now is mainly why I regret ever admitting myself to that psych floor, as it seems going in only worked against me in the long run. I'd never do it again, certainly not voluntarily.

That was actually a really good description of what a lot of the staff can be like. I totally experienced that kind of apathy in some of the places I went to, and I'm sorry you had to go through that as well. I hope you have a better NYE this year. Once when I was inpatient and my eating disorder was active, I had a staff member tell me that he "didn't feel sorry for me" and that his body was his temple and that he'd never do that to it. Umm...

 

[Partial-Elf]

Before I got on this site I let on a little to my therapist and doc about my si. I didn't tell them everything obviously, just that I was not really enthused about continuing life. This thread has been incredibly helpful in getting me to realize that I need to pull back from that entirely. I get frustrated because I want a therapist I can actually talk to without all the mandated reporter bs. Gotta either get along OR get outta here without sending any red flags up

 

[15dec]

I've never been in a psych ward but I heard one story about a girl who was picked up and shaken by a staff member in one.

After one of my failed attempts I ended up in the normal paediatric ward for about three days. I was out of it on drugs, hallucinating and being confused so I don't remember much other than it being very boring. The nurses were nice as a whole but they told my parents it was just a cry for help, which was annoying. They also seemed surprised about how bad the OD was and how many symptoms I had, so make of that what you will. They also got me to speak to the mental health assessment team when I was hallucinating and didn't know what was going on, which I'm my opinion was a stupid decision because I was just so out of it and unaware of what was going on. It also meant my parents could really easily manipulate me into lying to the team; they told me they were coming to take me to an actual psych ward where I'd never see my friends again, be locked up all day, etc so I needed to be careful what I told them, and lie to them, basically. So in my opinion the nurses/doctors made a pretty big mistake getting me to talk to them when I was in that state rather than when I was coming to my senses and understanding what was going on.

If it's relevant I've found that mental health workers are a lot less sympathetic than normal healthcare workers. My doctor for example sends urgent referrals for me everytime I visit him and seems genuinely worried but he's powerless to do anything else. Then some of the mental health workers I spoke to recently seemed more eager to dismiss me, examined everything I tell them to find 'proof' I'm not suicidal, told me I wouldn't get employed if I kept acting suicidal, insisted I self-harmed frequently despite me saying multiple times I don't, told me my friends didn't care about me at all, that I was just too sensitive and 'emotionally distressed' and when I told them I was feeling worse than when I came into hospital (I admitted myself for feeling incredibly suicidal/on the verge of ctb) they said it was 'normal' and sent me home. Though some mental health workers are genuinely concerned -I had a counseller a few years ago who was lovely, though the counselling itself didn't help me.

In my opinion the experience you get in a psych ward is luck of where you live and what staff you get. Understaffing probably comes into play with how some staff act, though that certainly doesn't give any of them the right to treat some service users worse or less seriously. Anyway, a quick google search or two will probably help you find information about the services in your area

 

[JJ-NOHOPE]

I've been in 4 different psych wards, ranging from absolutely horrific (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest type) to not too bad.

My first 3 were when I was an adolescent (I'm now 54), so these might not be relevant because things have changed so much. The horrific one was a state mental hospital, and words can't describe how horrible that experience was. The nicer one was an open ward. I was there over 9 months, which would never happen now, with how insurance works now. My home life was so horrible that I was happy to be in the mental hospital. I met many friends there, and it gave me a different view of life that I couldn't have got any other way.

My most recent experience was a couple of months ago. I went to my primary care physician, who noticed my self harm cuts on my arm(some of which were pretty deep). He also knew I had some Suicide ideation (however I never mentioned that in that visit). He made an excuse to leave the room. A few minutes later 3 security guards came in the room and threatened to physically carry me to the emergency room because they were going to try to commit me to a mental hospital. In the emergency room they took my clothes, purse and phone from me. Put me in scrubs. I sat in that room for 8 hours, then was put in an ambulance and taken to a mental hospital.

During all this time I wasn't allowed to make a phone call. If I had shot someone in the head, I would have had more rights.

They kept me one completely sleepless night in this horrible place. I saw the psychiatrist first thing on the morning and he discharged me immediately. He knew that legally they had no right to keep me there.

Self harm that is clearly not suicidal is NOT a valid reason to put someone in a mental hospital. Nor is suicidal ideation. They can only put you in a mental hospital against your will if you have a suicide PLAN.

You are treated like a prisoner. You have no rights. The staff have no respect for you as a person. It's demeaning, demoralizing, and degrading.

I personally would rather be dead than ever go in one of these prisons again. Speaking for myself, if I do decide to ctb, I will make damn sure it is successful. I will never go back in one of those places where the basic dignity of life is taken from you.

 

[15dec]

I've been in 4 different psych wards, ranging from absolutely horrific (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest type) to not too bad.

My first 3 were when I was an adolescent (I'm now 54), so these might not be relevant because things have changed so much. The horrific one was a state mental hospital, and words can't describe how horrible that experience was. The nicer one was an open ward. I was there over 9 months, which would never happen now, with how insurance works now. My home life was so horrible that I was happy to be in the mental hospital. I met many friends there, and it gave me a different view of life that I couldn't have got any other way.

My most recent experience was a couple of months ago. I went to my primary care physician, who noticed my self harm cuts on my arm(some of which were pretty deep). He also knew I had some Suicide ideation (however I never mentioned that in that visit). He made an excuse to leave the room. A few minutes later 3 security guards came in the room and threatened to physically carry me to the emergency room because they were going to try to commit me to a mental hospital. In the emergency room they took my clothes, purse and phone from me. Put me in scrubs. I sat in that room for 8 hours, then was put in an ambulance and taken to a mental hospital.

During all this time I wasn't allowed to make a phone call. If I had shot someone in the head, I would have had more rights.

They kept me one completely sleepless night in this horrible place. I saw the psychiatrist first thing on the morning and he discharged me immediately. He knew that legally they had no right to keep me there.

Self harm that is clearly not suicidal is NOT a valid reason to put someone in a mental hospital. Nor is suicidal ideation. They can only put you in a mental hospital against your will if you have a suicide PLAN.

You are treated like a prisoner. You have no rights. The staff have no respect for you as a person. It's demeaning, demoralizing, and degrading.

I personally would rather be dead than ever go in one of these prisons again. Speaking for myself, if I do decide to ctb, I will make damn sure it is successful. I will never go back in one of those places where the basic dignity of life is taken from you.

That's awful, I'm sorry you went through that. Psych wards do seem like really awful places, I can't believe that just a few months ago I thought they were completely fine. It's ironic you mention only being held against your will if you have a suicide plan though; at my last assessment I said I had a plan and the mental health worker just raised an eyebrow, asked what it was and wrote down that I had a plan but wouldn't tell her the method. Funny how different services can be

 

[Misanthrope]

I wrote a somewhat detailed account of my psychiatric experiences here. Although it is limited to the UK.

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/on-safari-in-the-psych-unit.9610/#post-169004

 

[Skathon]

absolutely horrific (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest type)

Ironically, such psychiatric facilities would be "elite" in most Eastern European countries.

 

[Madame Psychosis]

I was in a psych ward earlier this year for about a week and a half.

After taking all the prescription medications I'd accumulated over the years, I gave myself serotonin syndrome (would not recommend) and had a seizure that stopped my heart. A paramedic brought me back and I was committed to the ward a few days later.

They took my shoes straight away and gave me these yellow socks with rubber grips on the bottom that the nurses called "happy slippers." An illustration of a smiley face was printed on each sock, so that when you looked down at your feet, they explained, you would remember to be happy.

The daily routine for the patients consisted of watching television, eating suspect hospital food, coloring in coloring pages, and attending group therapy sessions, many of which were devoted to "setting goals for yourself" and "remembering what you're grateful for." The staff tried to cultivate this weird, chipper environment that many of the patients resented. Those of us who had tried to ctb just went along with it, attending the groups to score the attendance points required for a discharge, but the others were less likely to comply with the routine, either because they were having withdrawals or dealing with psychotic episodes. One guy kept telling me that the government was spying in him through the televisions.

Some of the patients there were caught in a psych ward merry-go-round, so to speak. One woman had attempted unsuccessfully so many times that she was on her sixth stay at that particular hospital. I spoke to a gay guy in his early twenties whose parents had done some weird legal maneuvers to land him in the psych ward time and time again, somehow convinced that with enough psychiatric intervention, he would become heterosexual. He seemed pretty level-headed to me (if I discounted his depression and drug abuse, both of which I also struggled with), but spending his life in small, white rooms in the company of mentally ill people was starting to unhinge him.

There was no surefire way to secure a discharge. When you got out was entirely up to the doctor, who saw each patient for five to ten minutes each day to discuss medication and really didn't know what the hell was going on with anybody, unless one of the nurses happened to put in a word. One particularly determined patient got up each morning telling everyone, "Today is the day I get discharged!" but went to bed having made no progress with the doctor. Showing too much enthusiasm about getting discharged hurt your chances. Acting chipper seemed to work, though. Smile, nod enthusiastically, assure the doctor that you're actually feeling quite good despite your recent attempt to, you know, cease to be – and you might have a shot.

Patients would break down crying because they'd been there for nearly a month with no discharge on the horizon. If you can manage it, avoid psych wards. They're like something out of a Kafka novel, seriously.