I am glad I never went there even once in my 8 years of schizophrenia
I’ve been sectioned in MH Hospitals 16 times and most experiences where okay.
My old pdoc said i have psych ward trauma. I wouldnt doubt it. I was a teen in the adult acute care unit for months straight. Was a pretty low point.
If I could change one thing about my experience with this illness it would be my inpatient stays. They ONLY made things worse. The complete lack of empathy from the people “taking care of you” just makes you cynical. I’m too soft for impatient lol.
The schizophrenia traumatized me but the 8 months in the hospital didn’t. There were a few times where I almost got in fights but they blew over. Where I really felt danger is going in other peoples rooms when they invited me. I played chess in this guys rooms and this other guy tried to sell me a stolen radio in his room and I couldn’t wait to get out of their rooms.
My room was perfectly safe though, the guy who had the bed next to me liked me and another guy moved in the room who took an interest in me and helped me. I occasionally pissed someone off. There was a lot of sex going on between other patients and there were people who were couples.
Yep. Traumatized me. Patients were like animals. Always harassing others. Some staff were ■■■■■■■■ too.
Yes hospitals have massively traumatised me every time I go there
In the early 2000’s they were actually therapeutic but now they just hold you in captivity until you’re no longer a danger
And that seems to be the remit nowadays
If they actually resolved problems properly it might take time to start with but would save suffering and cost in the long run
Especially Joker if they put you on a section.
Last time I thought the other patients were plotting against me
It was so bad that I agreed to work with the home treatment crisis team
That is unheard of for me but I did it as it was the least worst option
Just had to get out of there
My symptoms had gotten worse in May 2020, during the beginning of the pandemic. The wait to see a psychiatrist was a couple of months. I would make an appointment and then cancel it. My mom and then my husband were encouraging me to see a psychiatrist. I ended up going somewhere to get help. It was an independent place for mental health. They said it was 3 to 4 hour wait and I could go to the hospital and see a psychiatrist immediately. No one told me my rights would be taken away. I went there and it took overnight to get to a psychiatrist. Once I realized my rights were being taken away, I said “oh no”and started walking away and a security guard grabbed me and kicked me and left a bruise on my leg. I was not a danger to anybody. It was a misunderstanding of my part on what was going on. Then I was there for eight days. Seroquel made me not want to get out of bed, so I asked to get on a different medication. The next one made me pace in the middle of the night for two hours. Then I was finally put on Geodon. I was afraid I wasn’t going to get out before Thanksgiving. I was released the Monday before. I was so shocked and freaked out at my experience and then my diagnosis. I was not prepared to be told I had schizophrenia. I found out I had schizophrenia by reading my discharge papers. Nobody told me that was my diagnosis or what it meant. I didn’t know I had to take a medication, the rest of my life. I had to figure that out on my own, literally. Not even the psychiatrist I see now who is outpatient told me what to expect. She knew this was a new diagnosis I only had for a month when she took me on as a patient.
The hospital was scary. There was a yoga mat for a door so somebody couldn’t lock themselves in. I wasn’t allowed to use a razor except in front of a nurse. It’s not that I was treated badly, it was I had no idea what was going on and I just had to comply. One of my big goals in life is to not go back to the hospital. I can’t believe they take your clothes, your jewelry, your phone, and purse away from you. It seems inhumane. I know there are extreme circumstances in which people shouldn’t have these things, so they do this across the board. It’s just freaky.