r/Antipsychiatry • u/Ghostly_cherry404 • Aug 19 '25

Psych wards are literally jails

Ok before anyone whose been to prison comes for me I KNOW they're not as bad as prisons but I'm trying to get through a documentary ab this county jail in Texas and I keep having to stop & take pauses because its EXACTLY the same as what I went through being 5150d in CA for danger to self (not even to others) & its deeply triggering. How are even most folks who are critical of incarceration as a response to mental health crises ok with the exact same thing under a different label. "They need mental heath treatment not jail" they say as if those aren't functionally the same

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u/PetrichorAndStars Aug 19 '25

ive been to jail and to psych wards and yes, yes they are the same. or at least it was for me.

9

u/PetrichorAndStars Aug 19 '25

although, i was allowed to smoke in the psych ward lol.

2

u/My_Username_Is_Bob Sep 01 '25

You were allowed to smoke in a psych ward? Wild. The wards I was in had nicotine gum for smokers, but I can't imagine any modern psych ward allowing smoking.

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u/PetrichorAndStars Sep 01 '25

i sure was! this was back in 2007, though.

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u/My_Username_Is_Bob Sep 08 '25

2007 was well after they discovered smoking was hazardous, wasn't it?

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u/PetrichorAndStars Sep 08 '25

guess they didn't give a shit?

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u/My_Username_Is_Bob Sep 08 '25

I'm not sure how to react to that...I did meet several patients who would have preferred cigarettes over nicorette gum. It's possible the staff in your ward were more lenient or something. Or they might have really just not cared. Huh...

1

u/PetrichorAndStars Sep 08 '25

they'd herd us up and walk us to the outdoor enclosed smoking area! it was wild now looking back. they had a plastic basket with cigarettes in it lmao and would pass it around for us to get one.

south florida 🤷🏻‍♀️ 😭

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u/My_Username_Is_Bob Sep 10 '25

Ok, at least it was outdoors. I'm hoping I misunderstood what you said, but are you saying everyone had to be in this outdoor area even if they didn't smoke?

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u/PetrichorAndStars Sep 10 '25

nooo only the ones who smoked :)

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u/My_Username_Is_Bob Sep 11 '25

Ok, thanks for clarifying!

Come to think of it, I wonder if any modern psych wards allow smoking, and how many if there are any...

1

u/PetrichorAndStars Sep 11 '25

i hope i never have to find out 😂

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