So why haven’t I gone in the hospital yet? Is it a matter of pride? Do I think I can do this on my own and keep my head above water? No, for me there’s a lot to be considered before I go in. I’d like to give some basic information about psych wards and how they work, what they look like, the food, the clients and the questions that are asked while there. This with other information should help people understand what a psych ward is for and what to expect as well as why I haven’t rushed to put myself in one.
Going to the psych ward isn’t the same as it was years ago. You don’t go in for months on months, not usually anyway. Most of the time people don’t have to worry about being kept against their will for an undetermined amount of time. It’s not like that anymore because the laws are set up to prevent it and protect the rights of mental health clients. So how long will you be in there? Your time will more than likely be short. Even private hospitals are subject to insurance coverage so a person’s stay is limited. With my insurance I’d be there no longer than 7 days but more than likely 3 to 4.
When you show up to the hospital you’ll go through an interview. The person asks you if you’re suicidal. Do you have a plan, how long have you been feeling this way, do you have a therapist, etc. They get up and call the doctor to see if he’s willing to let you stay. Now, this is assuming there’s a bed for you to sleep in. In Indianapolis several psych wards have closed so the chances of finding a place to go are slim. So, assuming I can find a hospital with an available bed I’ll go in and do the first interview, get accepted and then head up stairs so three other people can ask me the same questions the first person asked.
One might think workers should share information but there are several reasons why each person asks nearly the same thing. You should know its not because they doubt your story or are looking for inconsistent information. The repeat questions are not because of poor communication between staff members. There are actually cognitive reasons for being asked the same damn thing by 3 different people. Trust me, it’s not a conspiracy to figure out if you’re lying about your symptoms. It’s annoying but it’s not a conspiracy.
So, after repeating myself I’ll fill out some paper work and at least 3 hours later I’ll find my way to a room. The room has two beds. I’ll sleep in the same room next to a stranger. We’ll sleep with the lights out and with the doors closed. I’ll be forced to trust that she won’t get up in the middle of the night. Chances are she won’t but my past says she will so I watch her like a hawk. In the literally hundreds of times I’ve been in the hospital I’ve never ever had problems with a patient bothering me in the middle of the night. Despite the fact that this has never happened my PTSD issues won’t allow me to rest knowing someone else is in the room and we’re in the dark and the door is closed.
The next morning I’ll wake up and have a physical exam whether I’m in the right state of mind for one or not. Then I’ll go talk to the pdoc a few hours later. He’ll ask me some of the same questions as the initial inquiry then he’ll give me some medication. I’ll walk out and go into a group where we’ll set goals for the day. It’s routine so nothing really therapeutic will come of it. I’ll go to several groups where the information is the same as it was years ago when I was there. (Keep in mind I’ve been there a lot so nothing much has changed. New comers may benefit from these groups) We’ll do groups all day long until it’s time to eat. Then we’ll take a break and we’ll do another group. Then we’ll have visitation hours and watch dull television shows until it’s time to go to bed. The next day we’ll get up and do it all over again. I’ll do that for 3 to 4 days. Not very therapeutic. It’s just someplace to sleep until I’m past this whole “I want to die” thing.
For those that have never been to a regular inpatient psych hospital you might wonder what it’s like inside. For many psych hospitals you end up staying in a place that looks like a really nice waiting room at an office building. There are sofas to sit on, “lounge” chairs, a large TV, a small eating area and then rooms that line the entire floor. So if you think of a large square waiting room then think of bedrooms that line 3/4th of the room then add a small eating area with a staff station then there’s your typical psych ward set up. Most of the psych wards I’ve been to were carpeted, had windows with curtains or shades in the bedrooms, had a bedspread, floral pictures on the walls and an armoires in the shared bedroom and shared bathroom. Uh huh, you have to share a restroom with one other person.
The clients themselves are from all walks of life, most will be wearing street clothes. Sometimes the clients wear hospital gowns but most of the time clients are in their own clothes that don’t have buckles, belts, laces or sharp objects. You’ll see everyone from soccer mom’s to business men to college students and older teens. You see black, white, Asian, Spanish, etc. Most of the psych wards I’ve been to are not full of screaming and upset. They have people like you and me who simply can no longer keep going at the pace they’re going so they choose to seek the safety of uncomfortable conditions for awhile.
The food isn’t that bad either. It’s not choice but it’s not that bad. I’ve been to the hospital in Indiana, Texas, Michigan and Kentucky. (I sound like I’m barging but I’m not. Just givin’ info.) Only once was I in a ward where the floors were tile and the place was all hospital like. I’ve had few really bad experiences but I have had some. I’ve had few therapeutic experiences because going IP (inpatient) is about stabilization not therapy. Unless I go to a center like The Colin A. Ross Institute like I did in Dallas and in Michigan then I can’t really expect to go in there and do major work. I don’t expect it but there have been times when I got it. At the Colin A Ross Institute my group was lucky enough to speak with him and an associate via satellite. His is a very helpful program.
So this is basically a quick over view of what it’s like inside of a typical psych ward and what my personal experiences have been. It also may help to understand why it is I’m not in a rush to uproot myself just yet. If the time comes to do it then I will but I’m going to try my hardest not to go in.
Inside A Psych Ward
Wednesday, February 6, 2008, 6:35 pm
Yup. That pretty much sums it up.
Agreed…that’s about what it’s like here too. But around here, the food is awful. I often get treated as if I have an eating disorder when I go inpatient cuz I won’t eat, even though I tell them it is only because the food is beyond nasty. Last time I was inpatient I asked the staff if they ate the food there & most said no. I said “exactly my point”.
This is excellent! And, having just been in the hospital in August, I can tell ya it’s still the same. The thing is, though, I don’t think it’s even for stabilization really. If you’re out the door in three days, you have no idea if your meds are working yet or not. And for me, I have to pay for this crap with my own money because nobody will insure me for anything mental health anymore.
I’m with Sid–the food here in Colorado STINKS! The food at the Colin Ross program in Dallas was excellent, however. At least it was for the outpatient program. I stayed in a hotel and I liked that set-up a lot.
Hey, I know you already submitted for the blog carnival against child abuse, but I think this would be an excellent post to include as well. Many child abuse survivors have to face the decision of whether or not to go into the hospital at one point or another. My personal vote: Never again!
Someone recently told me that if you’ve seen the movie 28 Days with Sandra Bullock in it then you can get a good idea of the inside of a psych ward looks like and get an idea of how it’s run and what’s expected of you.
Except for the 28days part, I guess.
Thanks for writing this Austin. I found it enlightening. I haven’t been in one and the only time I’ve tried to find help that way, I couldn’t even get someone to talk to me on the phone.
I work at a psych ward and everything you stated is true, you have inspired me to want to change how things are run in the place that I work, though I am just a little guy on the totum pole it is truely enspiring.
I always feel downtrodden when i try to explain to myself how it could be possible for children to understand how they are being cared for in a psych hospital. Its so much worse for children in this situation. Indeed for children in a mental hospital it is far worse. The lounge the eating area the rooms all take on a sinister look when your a kid. There is no comfort there except for kids supporting each other with the last fragile bits of comfort they might be able to give to each other. Just A Place that reeks of grief.
Thanks a lot for posting this. I have suffered from depression for a long time, and sometimes wonder what it’d be like going inpatient. Your post was most helpful, although the place itself doesn’t seem like it would be… unless one is actively suicidal.
I used to think that it could be a sort of place where you could just completely check out for a while, and maybe exit the place feeling renewed, but your description (corroborated by others) makes it seem like that’s an unrealistic hope.
Thanks again for posting this.
The hospital is a band aide for major hurts. It’s where you go when help is needed so that post-suicidal life can be healthier and more fulfilling.
There are times I’ve come out feeling rejuvenated. I got the spark I needed to keep going. I think this happened because when I went in I’d hit rock bottom and was desperate for a spark. The hospital can provide that for a time but it’s follow up therapy that takes the spark to a flame which leads to a full grown fire.
I hope that with your depression you’ll be able to find outpatient rest. Maybe you’ll be able to find a place somewhere away from everything that will let your mind get away from everyday life. I have a few places I go that let me regroup. They’re mine, all mine and man are they better than the hospital.
If ever one must choose between the discomforts of an inpatient stay and life itself I hope they, without hesitation, choose life.
Thank you for commenting.
Faith
Yeah i went to one for 6 days we had 2 groups 4 rec groups which was basically an hour of playing a game or whatching a movie and i was the only guy there surronded by 7 gilrs 3 where obssesd with me and they didnt evne know me one i sorta knew she went to the same school dated her after tehn still going on but shes in another ward up north now the weekends we did nothing but whatch tv no groups or anything the food sucked the bed sucked but other then that it was like a vacation for me getting to be away form my family for 6 days. id go back fi ym family couldnt come vist me and the food got better i lsot 10 pounds in those 6 days form not eating
I realize this is a late post … but I’m a mother of a 29 year old man, who has been staying with me for over 2 months, because he lived alone in Seattle, and was deeply depressed and having horrible anxiety attacks.
He’s tried to come off Paxil 3 times now, but too fast and he’s crashed each time. He was at such a traumatic state in seattle and being alone, I feared for his life … so flew him home. We’ve seen 2 different psych docs, who have put him back on paxil ….. he tried to establish and it didn’t’ seem to work, then put him on other AD’s … nothing worked so far, all though he doesn’t give them enough time, because he feels SO traumatized, he tells me he’s in such mental pain, he can’t go on.
I know some of what inpatient would be like for him … and I don’t see how it would help, since what he needs to find, is the right medication … and that can take time. He tells me he’s done, he has no more in him to fight, to try. And he tells me he doesn’t see how a short stay inpatient would help … and this is where my question comes in.
While there .. if a person is suicidal, but doesn’t REALLY want to DIE .. just wants the pain to stop, and to have something that will make it stop, quickly … is there any medication that they give you, to ‘quickly’ stop the pain of suicidal thoughts … or deep depression and horrible anxiety?
He’s on Ativan, that helps just a touch, but he has to take 3 to do any good … and he may end up getting hooked on them. ‘sigh’
Any help from anyone here .. who may know about any medication they can give you, while there, that would work fast on the mental pain, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Also wanted to add: he’s currently taking Pexava, which is paxil I believe, with salt added. He’s on 20 mg. at the time .. and has been on them for 5 days. In the past, if something is going to work for him, he tells me, he feels the affects very fast .. within days, but so far, he feels just as bad, if not worse.
I guess the first thing I’d suggest is that he find an inpatient facility that could help him through the withdrawals and help him find a psychiatrist who can assist with the right medication combination. This can be accomplished inpatient.
You said that you worried “…if a person is suicidal, but doesn’t REALLY want to DIE .. just wants the pain to stop.”
The way I understand it, that is suicidal ideation and a reason to go in for the purpose of stabilization not therapy. What you’re saying he’s going through is exactly what inpatient psych wards are set up to work with effectively. Inpatient psych wards are the mental help ER.
You said he wants the pain to stop and is desperate to make it stop. When I’ve gone in the hospital it was because I didn’t want to take that step of killing myself but I feared my desperation would get too strong and I’d act on something I couldn’t undo. People who go inpatient usually want help to not hurt themselves. Left without help they could cross the line they can’t come back from.
I’m a psych patient, not a doctor, so everything I say comes from the perspective of a patient who has zero medical training. While I have no medical training I do know two things about mental health: 1) a client must want help and 2) help must come from the right professional.
He wants help, that’s clear but does he have a psychiatrist who can assist with taking him off Paxil and setting him up with the proper meds? That would be a place to start. If he goes inpatient he may be able to get set up with a psychiatrist faster than to try and find one on his own in his current state.
I hope this helps. The entry may be older but its still fine to leave a comment or ask a question. Thank you for reaching out on behalf of your son.
With hope,
Faith
Okay so I’m a lot later than everyone else, but here’s my thing; first I’ve been in psych wards multiple times as a kid, and this is exactly what I remember, agreed also to the comment to say it’s a little bit scarier when you’re a kid. But I have a multitude of problems, all of which can only be summed by one disorder PTSD, of epic perportions. My issue is, I feel like I am not getting good help no matter where I turn. My own doctor quit on me because I was “too overwhelming to deal with.” This is a doctor who has handled mental health patients for 28 years. Longer than I have even been alive. She had her doctorite in psychology and she couldn’t handle my case, how am I ever going to get the help I need. I don’t want to kill myself because I don’t want to let everyone I know down around me, but if I can’t start getting help I’m going to unravel. It takes a lot of self control not to fall apart and I don’t know if I can do it anymore. I need a long term inpatient. Is there even a place like that. I need a less scary version of girl interupted. No joke. I just don’t know where to go.
You are completely wrong. You are talking about a “mental hospital” and NOT a psych ward.
YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO TO A PSYCHE WARD. A psych ward IS “girl interrupted” or that “bird/cukoos nest” movie and no, you have NOT been to one, obviously.
Where you went to was a short-term mental hospital. Not the same thing at all. You need to change the wording on this article before more people go to state-run psyche wards expecting the same thing you experienced in your short-term mental hospital (which is NOT the same thing, btw)
Also, when you go to a PSYCH WARD, not the local inpatient psychiatric hospital, you’re going to stay for at least a month. Once again, where you went was NOT a psych ward, trust me on that.
I absolutely loved reading this. I’m from Portland, Oregon and have been to both Providence and Emanuel. The places have quite the characters. I was hospitalized in both for one and a half weeks each. I was 15 the first time and 16 the second time, all within 2 months of each other. I was admitted in September and November of 2010.
The above person (Jack Norris) is wrong. Mental hospitals/asylums or whatever you want to call are nearly non-existent. You DID go to a psych ward. The average stay is 7-10 days. The psych ward is a ward inside of a big hospital, but the entire unit is secure and private. I’ve had…Interesting experiences. Psych ward’s are truly wonderful. It sounds sick, I know. But it’s a great place to really find yourself and feel calm.
My experience from the first time was a bit different. I attempted suicide, was taken to the ICU/ER to the nearest hospital (this being Clackamas), and then having to stay overnight after getting my stomach pumped and skin stitched. The next day a therapist came into the room and informed me that I was automatically being admitted into a psych ward. This all sounded horrible to me. I was scared and automatically assumed the worst: Restraints, straight jackets, padded rooms. But it’s not like that at ALL. THOSE are mental hospitals/institutes/asylums. I had to spend another night in the ER because neither Providence or Emanuel’s psych wards had available beds. As soon as they did, I was transferred via ambulance to one of them.
The way for release/dispatch in the two psych wards I was in was by signing a safety contract. There is no automatic leave or expulsion and getting kicked out of the ward. Even if you attempt harm to yourself, the most they do is put you into restraints and call security. But they do this all in private. A few times while I was there, they had to call security and we weren’t allowed to leave our rooms. (They were locked from the inside and out).
Also, people couldn’t sign up to be in a psych ward. After a failed suicide or having their guardians or someone turn them into a hospital, a therapist confines them for a short amount of time to a ward. Since the only two psych wards in Oregon were in Portland, there were people coming from every square inch of the state. The main reason for confinement is because one has caused intense harm to one’s self, or another person. It’s not because someone felt like going on a killing spree or they wanted to blow up the world. Yeah, not at all.
Overall, your description was very accurate, I’m glad you wrote this and hopefully may change the views of those who automatically picture the worse when thinking of “psych wards.”
PS, I wish the people who did not get dispatched, who had to get shipped across the country for further help in mental residencies are still alive.
I live in New Jersey. I am now eighteen and was fourteen when I was admitted to a psych ward. What you say is not true. I was forced to stay there for 31 days (and more if my progress was not up to their standards). The staff were domineering and threatening. I have no idea how you could go so many times and not be permanently institutionalized.
PS: the other patients tried to harm me during my stay. Not an atmosphere conducive to mental well being.
I was just wondering are you locked in your rooms at night or just locked in the general area. Just curious
Hi Taylor,
Your question was forever ago but I’m just now able to respond because I didn’t have access to the net.
In every case where I’ve been in the hospital it has only been the main doors that were locked. The door to the room was never locked, not in Indiana, Kentucky or Texas where they ever locked. Now, as someone so angrily pointed out, there is a difference between a state hospital and a psych ward. I’ve been to psych wards and have never had the room itself locked. Age may make a difference as well. I was never in the hospital as a minor so I have no idea what happens on a ward with minors but I do know in 3 different states I’ve never had my bedroom door locked at night or during the day. I don’t think this is a general practice for your run of the mill adult psych ward. Hope that helps.
Faith
@ Meezy,
I have no experience with being hospitalized as a minor. I’d say the experience is much different especially since it is your parents or guardian that hospitalizes you. Of course in this manner one would feel forced because the decision is up to the guardian. I’d think as a child staying in the hospital would be rather overwhelming. You’re asked to recognize the authority of total strangers and trust them. I think I’d have a hard time with that. I have no idea what its like to be a child in a psych ward but if I had to guess, I think personally I’d be a tad bit uncomfortable. My experiences have been as an adult where I signed myself in willingly. That’s the key to this entry. It is written from the perspective of an adult who signed herself into a psych ward willingly.
when i went to centerpoint illinois the place was crap. i didnt like it there. the staff treated alot of the kids like crap. i remember one kid just got upset (when he was on the phone with his parents) cause his parents were practically abandoning him, so the kid got angry and started cussing (i dont blame him with that kind of parents) so the lady at the front desk started being a bitch, i dont remember everything that she said cause i was too young to understand most of this but i know that she upset him and told him that “if he misbehaves that he could have to stay here forever”. also i agree that its so much worse for kids, i was first hospitalized in center point at the age of 5 for anger issues (i was an extreemly angry child) then later when i was thirteen i was hospitalized at deconess crospoint, illinois (this institute was much much more better, i think they had a few bad apples in the staff but most of them were helpful and descent, also there was one in particular i think his name was jay or something but i think you could relate to him much better cause he knows what its like to go through a tough life and stuff, i always say you cant understand someone (completely)until you’ve gone through what they have gone through, but he used to get into alot of trouble and fights and no one really cared about him so i think that lets people relate to him much better (oh and the food was good there too))
i just think that the entire system should be different.