I might be going to a mental hospital to get my medicine straighten out. What should I expect? What is it like? Good and bad.
Everyone has a different experience. For me it was frightening at first - because it was all new to me. Later I got used to it and enjoyed the people (patients) and activities. Overall it was a positive experience for me
Hi it’s pretty boring. It’s not that bad but I didn’t like my freedom taking away. Just do what they tell you and you’ll get out faster. The hospital I was in didn’t have a lot of activity.
I think theyre nice places to go for a break…its therapeutic…you’ll meet nice people there…and sometimes theres activities to take part in.
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when i first went i wasn’t well enough to appreciate it but as i got better i found it to b very helpful. not the staff so much but the other patients. really brought me back down to earth. so after my initial terror it was a positive experience, except for missing my kids and family. good luck hunni. xxx
I’ve been in a lot of hospitals and they’re all different, but the one thing that is the same is it gets boring. So you might want to take some things to read and do. Some have groups going on during the day which helps. You usually have a goals group in the morning and one in the evening to see if you met you’re goals. You also have art therapy in some hospitals which is fun. Some hospitals will let you have five or six cigarettes a day. So some will let you go outside. Your family can visit you. My mom used to bring me fast food while I was in there. There is a nurse’s station where you go for meds. There is also a common room which usually has a TV and where everybody hangs out. You’ll see the doctor every day except the weekends. Make sure you go to all of your groups that shows them that you are participating in your treatment. Good luck to you. 
The last time I went I was 17. There was group therapy almost every day and gym activities. You had to take out your bedsheets and do basic shores from your room. We had quiet time and time to listen to music. I didn’t like it because they put me on the wrong medication but then they switched doctors upon request and it was much better.
Thanks, I appreciate it. It makes me feel better knowing what you guys went threw.
Plenty of butter pecan ice cream. 
I didn’t like it because of paranoia. They wouldn’t let me lock my door at night and they checked on me every 15 minutes. It was a complete waste to me as I did what I could to get out. Perhaps if is stayed, I’d have a better outlook on the matter.
It was mostly boring. There was only a little smoking allowed–5-7 cigarettes per day (I usually smoke a pack and a half a day). The food was sometimes good, sometimes bad, but going to the cafeteria was something to do, so I appreciated it. There was also a vending machine that we were allowed to use at lunch and at dinner, so bring some money and some cigarettes (if you smoke). We had groups, but they were really lame. In the morning it was, “What are your goals for today.” And everybody would say things like, “Stay positive.” We also took trips to the gym, and played basketball and volleyball. I had one meeting with one psychologist one time, and he was really good, but that was it, so he couldn’t do much for me. Most of the patients are friendly. You’re all in it together at the mental hospital, so who can judge you? In the place where I stayed, you had to have a roomate. And there are no locked doors or locked bathroom doors. The only doors that were locked were the ones that would allow you to leave or go outside to the courtyard. They come in to check on you in your room fairly frequently. Bring something to read if you get bored easily. There was also a community room where people could do puzzles or watch TV or read magazines.
You’re not a 100% correct BakedBeans; there was also Rocky Road.
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Boring. Most of mine had a ping-pong table or a pool table. Sometimes both. Most hospitals do not let you sleep in. Most hospitals got you up no later than 8:00 am. I always hated the art groups in hospitals, they call it something like “Art therapy”. Some hospitals have mandatory groups or meetings. Some are voluntary. Some hospitals will allow you outside for a walk or have outings to coffee shops or malls,depending on where their location is. Staff are usually cool and mellow, you can talk to them if they are not busy. Every hospital I was in (except one) was a clean pleasant environment, they would be nice places to take a vacation in if you were of sound mind. But your stay will depend on your state of mind. I only go in as a last possibility when I’m freaking out, but some people do a" preventive strike’ and go in while they are still sane. I assume that makes a better stay. Anyway, good luck. Here’s what my therapist said when I told her years ago that I might need to be hospitalized but I was scared. She simply told me , " You go in…and then you come out…"
@77nick77 thanks that makes me feel better.
I was in a long term hospital back before they became more expensive. A life-changing experience for me was knowing some of the people there. I was always considered the odd one, but I fit in there.
People would get there and the same night they were calling their folks to get them out. After about 2 weeks that went away. It’s hard at first to have your freedom curtailed.
I told the staff hospital pdoc while eating dinner with him that the reason for my frequent flyer visits to this hospital was I really liked the dinners.
He replied that was the craziest thing he ever heard.
True story.
Also I loved, loved, loved those little “berkley Farms” milks that were available in the fridge.
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I was in hospital for 6 months. It was really boring. I drew a lot and had my earphones on. They forced me to socialize. I was not allowed to sit alone in my room. I could not go outdoors without personel because the doors were locked.
I don’t remember very much because I had psychosis. Walls moved, floor turned into water. Voices. Terror. Lonliness.
The first mental ward I was in was a hospital with posh surroundings, a TV room and smoking room…that was 1997. Over the next year of 1998 I was put in some other mental wards but they kept finding out I didn’t have insurance and kept releasing me before I was stable due to that fact…it wasn’t until months later after being sick for 7 months of hell that I was stabilized in a state hospital…thank God for that…the state hospital I was so out of it that I never appreciated it until I was finally released…
i’d say if you could compare it with your head being in a washing machine then the mental hospital would be where you dry off.
seriously though it was the best thing to happen to me, it took me away from the pain i was in and i had some freedom in my head again i guess but everyone has a different experience.
When i went it was just like a cell block, once you went in there where two big metal power activated doors that closed behind you. i was lucky enough not to have to share a room, but you couldnt go outside at all. you couldnt smoke(basically had to cold turkey a two pack per day habit). they checked on you every 15 minutes.
3/4 of the time i spent walking around in circles around the desk in the center of the “lobby”. really boring.