Ask Lemmy

Overcrowded, understaffed, patients with different mental issues all lumped in together, minimal outside time, 5-10 people all sleeping* in the same room.

*You couldn't really sleep because there was always someone in the halls screaming at the demons in their head. The only real sleep I got was when I was put into solitary for having a mental breakdown from sleep deprivation due to said screaming

As someone who was there to get help from attempting suicide, the whole experience just made me want to try again.

The more you pay typically the better it is.

For me, I treated my stays like the opportunity it is. To relax, decompress, and take a break from the internet and social media. A cleanse of the mind.

I'm one to usually just keep to myself. I do not tend to socialize much, but I still go to group sessions and keep my responses short and to the point.

I try to just sleep through the week while adjusting to medication changes.

Most folks seem to cover the emotional and psychological aspect so I'll give some practical tips.

Shampoo and conditioner. If you are allowed to pack some or have some brought in by a visitor, do it. The hospital shampoo was really astringent and dried out my scalp horribly. After a week my head was constantly itchy from the lack of moisture. Conditioner would have saved me so much misery.

Make friends if you can. It will make you feel better to talk. It will help others to talk. It will make you a positive influence on the ward and help get you some leniency if shit hits the fan.

Take time with the crafts. It's so fucking boring 80% of the time that when you can make something, really put your focus into it. Take your time. It's cathartic.

It's okay to ask for things. A lot of what you ask for will be a "no" but sometimes you'll be surprised. I didn't know I could get a shit ton of paper on request and tried to learn origami. It's something to do and you'll find what's available.

Good luck. The ward is only scary the first time and the folks are so tired of dealing with shit (literally they all have a poo story) that you being calm is a relief. Be cool and you'll be fine.

I've been hospitalized about 10 times. Every stay has been different based on my demeanor and the severity of my mental state. Some hospitals are nicer than others, certainly the ones with good food were more positive. Good food stuck out to me.

The boredom is awful, but it gives you time to do things you wouldn't normally do like read books or draw/color. Make friends there, it helps with the loneliness. I never maintained contact once I left the stay, but I have memorable connections that helped me get through what I was working with.

You most likely will not be listening to music unless a worker puts some on during groups, and phone calls can be made but you won't have any access to a smartphone.

It's mostly a place to get you stabilized on medication and establish aftercare plans. Any discomfort is temporary and if the anxiety of doing nothing gets to you, you most likely can get a PRN like Ativan (or Hydroxyzine if benzos aren't for you) in a controlled environment.

These are my experiences in Ohio in a privately-run in-patient hospital. I had two stays of about 6 days each.

1. No cell phones or electronics of any kind.
2. You can call family at designated times on a landline.
3. All of your belongings will be itemized when you arrive. All clothing with laces will either be locked up or you will be required to remove the laces from them before you can use them. Yes including shoes. Best to bring slippers. Everyone wore slippers.
4. There will be lots of programming from the staff there. Tons of group therapy. Art therapy. Music therapy. Sometimes the therapy dog would come around.
5. You will be very bored unless you do something. Bring a book. Bring some playing cards. Be prepared to do a lot of drawing if that's your thing.
6. You will also talk a lot to your fellow travelers. It will be weird because you will know the most intimate secrets and biggest fears of complete strangers.

The time is for you to get better and figure out what is triggering your mental health issues. The most important thing to remember is that you will probably never be 100% "fixed", but you can learn to live with your condition.

Assuming this is for commitment to a locked facility:

Bring some clothes without strings, shoes (again, no strings allowed so you might want to consider slides or slippers), no belts, no scarves. I recommend slides since they double as shower shoes. Valuables, electronics, anything considered a hazard to have on the unit will be confiscated. Includes dangly jewelry, large rings. And in general, consider that there are many patients up and about, some very sick and confused - don’t bring anything you’d be devastated if it got stolen or damaged. Don’t bring food/drinks, cigarettes, lighters, drugs -foodstuffs bc they can’t be verified or stored for hygienic reasons.

No smoking, but they’ll have nicorette gums or patches.

Small amounts of toiletries brought from home may be allowed at their discretion.

You might be allowed to use your smartphone for a short time under supervision (no smartphones for privacy reasons). There should be shared computer, phone, headphones use.

Since you won’t have your phone, DO have important phone numbers written on a piece of paper if you don’t have them memorized.

Expect a non-invasive skin check with a nurse during intake.

SIGN the information release form for family and friends you want involved in your care. Without your permission, they will be turned away.

Ask when the visiting hours are. You can have people bring you food and sometimes order food delivery (check with the staff).

If another patient is bothering you, maybe you’ve got a problematic roommate -let a staff know. They can maybe find a different arrangement.

Shower early or late. Higher chance of having the shared bathroom to yourself.

Stay on the normal sleep schedule and don’t stay up too late. First of all, they track how you’re sleeping. Second, it really sucks to sleep through your daily check-in with the psychiatrist (who basically controls how long you’re staying).

Staff are required to do frequent 24hr safety rounds on everyone, so this means at night too.

There should be recreational time outside to get some fresh air. Some group activities that are optional but encouraged to attend.

But yes, the days are boring! These places are geared for medications and getting you out of a crisis situation - not so much therapy. Recommend bringing reading/writing materials. Daily journaling is a nice idea. Remember no spiral bound because the spirals are sharp.

They all vary pretty wildly from what I’ve heard. The one I spent 2 weeks in was mind-numbingly boring. No phones, no internet, and one hour of the wards ipad a day. The only saving grace was that I stole a water damaged deck of playing cards from some volunteer guy at the hospital I was initially put in before they transferred me. I played solitaire probably a couple thousand times over 2 weeks.

Other than that, you pretty much just talk with other people there and watch TV. They did some kind of activity every day and if you didn’t it would take longer to get out. The activities were dumb little arts and crafts nonsense and a bunch of coloring. After a few days though, anything is better than nothing.

In the ward I was in, medication was an issue for me. They put me on haldol and I had a really bad reaction to it, but the staff didn’t believe me until I couldn’t move and was in a lot of pain. Generally the staff doesn’t care much and will ignore lots of what you or anyone else says.

Not as dangerous as Dathomir but that was only b/c I think perhaps I may have appeared on a season of Survivor. I dunno? I have great benefits & simply create my own reality b/c my wife’s career pays for it. I’m just kidding. I had a wife once. Once, I had several wives. And then chose to run the fastest time across the Darien Gap ever recorded.

Visited my brother in a few, so I'm just going off what he said.

Some are better than others, and either way, they will make you do things you don't want to do, but that's because the people in there want to do things that are not healthy for them.

Behave yourself, participate in therapy, and follow your plan and you'll be out of there a lot faster than if you fight it.

It was ok, but this was back in 2008 and smartphones weren’t really a thing yet, so them holding your phone wasn’t a huge deal regarding internet access etc. (I had a Motorola slvr at the time). A typical routine for me: a crew came in at like 4am to draw labs, woke up 7am-ish, shower fucking sucked (motion-activated, ran for a limited time, about the amount of time it needed to heat up). Food was average hospital, no caffeine. I found out if I called ahead to request a meal I could get caffeinated coffee/tea. Group therapy like twice a day, individual therapy once a day, medication meeting once a day, lots of downtime and board games/card games. I could listen to music because I had a classic iPod separate from my phone.

Most people shared rooms. I somehow got my own, likely because I was the youngest by at least 10 years. Smoke breaks were still a thing, so after a few days of being cooperative you got those plus your belt back. For me it was an excuse to go outside and socialize for a few minutes.

Ultimately a good experience because I got the treatment and meds I needed quickly. Your mileage may vary of course.

Not bad. Strict schedule. Sleeping sort of sucks because people are always checking in on you.

Getting forced to have a room mate because they can’t be trusted by themselves isn’t great either.

When all of the other older kids are gone and the nurses trust you, they let you handle some of the data entry, or they let you play with the really young kids. It’s sad to see 5 year olds with depression.

yes the boredom will be the biggest problem and likely no electronics will be allowed. get a few good paperback books, a good puzzle book with some more variety than just word searches / sudokus, and bring a non-spiral bound sketchbook and some crayons (all psych wards will pretty much universally allow crayons vs if they're acute enough they may worry about hard plastics, but admittedly that level of acuity is somewhat rare) and practice your figure or still life drawing or just have fun scribbling if you like. also a great time to pick up origami as a hobby. If you ask nicely they will almost definitely play music for you but it might be in a group setting where you have to rotate choosing with the other patients.

hi I've been working inpatient psych for almost a decade, ama! lol.

Mine wasn't a pleasant experience either time if I'm being honest. I technically went in voluntarily but the people I was around didn't really give me a choice. Not saying it was the wrong choice but I digress.

The point of the place I was in was to keep me from killing myself for a few days, thats kinda it. No doorknobs or hinges, no shower heads, no cloth towels, very thin bedding in a very cold building. They tried to change some medication, tried some group therapy type get-togethers but it was cliche and soulless. I wasn't allowed my phone or any electronic at all, I could bring a few books but that was the last thing I wanted to do while I was there. Mostly ended up sitting in silence in the little interior cube of outside we had access to and watching ancient reruns on the one TV the ward had.

I'm alive so they did their job at the time but the experience was traumatizing and did more to hurt me than help.

Don't get me wrong, if you feel you are out of control of yourself then please use this resource and take care of yourself just realize they aren't there to make you better. They're there to get you past a crisis so you have the chance to make yourself better later.

My experience may not be everyone’s but I was in threee times over a month.

The food was lot great, I couldn’t smoke or drink which sucks, and yeah alot of times it was boring.

Inside there I found some really accepting and cool people.

I recommend doing all the little classes and groups it’s really helps to break up the day. Use your outside time to get sunlight, if you have people who will visit you ask them to.

All that helps to break up the boredom.

Other than that it was kinda like camp. I got to color a bookmark. I haven’t colored anything in ages lol.

My (former) friend got sent to one after a Suzie Side attempt. She had to spend about a week there and we visited. She seemed overall happy with how she was treated. They are very restrictive on what you can and can't have, and were very confused by the Junji Ito book I brought for her lol