Mental hospital-what's it like?

[John smith10]

They say to people if you die its down to you it's your responsibility.

And anything u say they try to make you out as if your a lier!

 

[Susannah]

Been in a psyciatric hospital, still don't know why and who sent me there. After 14 days I was allowed to go outside 10 min with 2 therapists. They wanted to medicate me, I refused. Was released after 21 days, no explanation, follow- up or diagnose. It was awful, scary, like in a horror movie. It's 7y ago, but I'll never forget this episode. Felt like a criminal, but with no rights. Patients was not allowed to speak to each other. I live in Norway, a country well- known for violenting human rights in psyciatric hospitals.

 

[Justanotherconsumer]

They make it sufficiently hostile so that you lie to leave and they get to count that as success.

 

[lv-gras]

They make it sufficiently hostile so that you lie to leave and they get to count that as success.

this

 

[creatureoflight]

Here in Lebanon its awful, i was locked in this building 24 hours for 3 weeks, had my phone with them, they allowed me to take it for like 5 minutes per day, going out for a walk in the garden was only an option for paying patients (the institute belongs to the church, so it has a free part), food was good, i was allowed to shower once a week only, no privacy in the bathroom, had people walking into the bathroom while i was in (no lock) everybody was insane, i was the only sane person there.

Sorry for TMI, but they seriously walked in when you were showering or peeing or something?
how awkward

 

[Sidestep]

Just wanted to say thanks to the people who shared their stories so far. I'm probably going to be put in in-patient soon so it's nice to know what I might have to prepare myself for. None of the psychiatrists around here are knowledgeable enough to treat my wacko nonsense so I guess we'll see if in-patient care might help.

 

[Mr2004]

Prison meets Looney tunes

 

[Oblivion]

Sorry for TMI, but they seriously walked in when you were showering or peeing or something?
how awkward

pissin or shittin, and no not showering, cause the shower was once per week only

 

[Oyashiro-sama]

I was a few days in a hospital (in the mental health part) due to suicidal tendencies, I was 19 years old and they did not treat us badly, on the contrary, although obviously it is a depressing place. I do not like to remember that time in my life.

 

[sky7]

Wow, reading the stories on here I feel like I got really lucky with my 2 psych stays. The first was years ago and I don't really remember it; the 2nd was a few months ago and it wasn't so bad...but they didn't have much programming (groups and activities) so it was super boring and the food was awful. One day I paced for hours because I was going crazy doing nothing. But the staff were nice. And it got me away from work which had been causing me significant distress.

 

[weedoge]

I've had 2 stays. First time was in 2012 for a solid 11 weeks in a low secure unit. It was low secure but I was 17 at the time and the adolescent ward was on the top floor with an airlock type entrance. So there was literally no leaving unsupervised. It was fine though, the staff mostly treated me well and the place was maintained to a good standard. It had it's moments and I was miserable but I didn't feel abused or neglected other than one time I was late for my breakfast and so they didn't let me eat my morning meal but still wanted to force me into "education". Education/school was literally at hospital and I was forced into it even though I'd already dropped out of college. Anyway yeah, I sort of protested and just went back to bed and refused to do anything unless they let me eat because it's not realistic to miss a full meal because you were 1 minute late. Otherwise though, there was nobody over 18 y/o so I actually sort of made some friends there, they were like my peers you know, we caused lots of trouble like having food fights, self harming together, standing our mattresses up against doors, kicking magnetically locked doors to get to places we shouldn't. It was a right laugh. but even then, I got discharged, kept in contact with a few people from there, everybody got better except me lol. I always told myself I wasn't depressed but funny I'm the one that just never gets through that "phase" everyone else seems to.

Second stay was just over a year ago for a week before my 22nd birthday and it was in an adult ward in a totally different hospital near me this time. I wrote a huge long diary/complaint thing because over just 7 days I had such an awful experience. I went in after overdosing on xans and hoping to strangle myself and obviously failing because I'm a massive pussy. They treated me as though every single one of my problems were related to drugs and wouldn't listen to anything I had to say. We each got our own room and an en suite shower/toilet but the quality was unbelievably bad. The floor between the bathroom and the room would curl up and ants would crawl in from outside, all over the walls up as high as the lightswitch sometimes, due to my anxiety and already lack of sleep this stopped me from sleeping even more, I would literally leap out of bed while trying to drop off to sleep because I felt something crawl on my ear. Staff were inconsistent, lazy and liars. Half the staff told me there was nothing they could do about the ants citing "it's ant season you know?" but someone else immediately went to grab ant spray and use it around my room.

Nothing was explained to me, I was allowed to leave temporarily whenever I wanted over that week but it wasn't explained to me so I never did. Many things weren't given or explained to me correctly, staff were very neglectful and rude, I had no treatment or therapy of any kind for the entire week. I was sobbing pretty much constantly and only felt humiliated and ignored the whole time. "I can't understand you when you speak like that" one nurse said to me in a sarcastic tone. The final straw that made me try to discharge myself immediately was when the staff were banging and clattering at 1-2am and then lying about it when I question them. I didn't get a wink of sleep for 4 days because of it and they tell me "it's the printer feeding paper" when I can clearly hear metal and ceramic pots being clattered, keys being shook loudly and furniture being moved around on the floor.

I'll try to find the full note I made about my experience but yeah it was bloody awful and I've barely mentioned half of what I felt in there. Essentially there's no way to know what to expect in a mental health facility, depends on the individuals working there. If it's important information btw I'm in the UK.

Here is the full diary thing https://pastebin.com/bm5Et0xW