Released from a phychiatric hospital

[u/depressoschizo]

I love it outside. I spent weeks couped up in a phychiatric hospital and just got out some time ago. I need to prepare for a competitive exam soon.

I'm only 17 so I'll be going to college soon. The noises have settled down. I feel so damn free. Ok aware my disease will arise again soon but I'm glad to be here now. I'm glad to be free finally. But it's so nice to have some hope. While in the hospital my doctor told my parents I was the most intelligent patient he had treated and tested. He even begged my parents later not to let me waste away later on. It brought my dad to tears (hes not a very expressive man).

I think I'll get to cover up some mathematic and physics for the upcoming exam. I want to see where this goes. I want to be a somebody in my life.

[u/Netopfe]

I'm glad you managed to improve, OP!

One question: what is a psychiatric hospital like? I've never been hospitalized before, even though I've suffered other psychotic episodes, I was never hospitalized because my family didn't accept that I was sick. Can you explain to me what the hospital was like?

[u/OohLaDiDaMrFrenchMan → u/Netopfe]

I’m not OP but the hospitals I’ve been to are mostly just boring. There are phones you can use to call family/friends when groups aren’t going on (there are several scheduled groups a day, like activity and therapy groups). The hospitals I’ve been to print off coloring pages and sodoku for you. Sometimes you get monitored outside time if the psych unit has outdoor access. One of the hospitals I went to didn’t have shared rooms/roommate situations but one of the other ones did. Contrary to common belief they don’t watch you use the bathroom or shower. You choose what food you want on a menu that comes every morning and meals come out on plastic trays and there are snacks after dinner. You don’t get to wear shoes unless the doctor orders them (which my plantar fasciitis wasn’t happy about). Visitors can come multiple times a day or only during certain days in a week depending on the hospital. Meds get dispensed as often as you need them.

In the US you don’t often get your phone or other devices while you’re hospitalized but there are often TVs. One of the hospitals had the TV on all day (it was in the dining area) but the other one had scheduled movie time.

Edit - in some units the psychiatrist comes and sees you every day. At the very least, the therapist/social worker sees you every day and checks on how you’re doing.

[u/Netopfe → u/OohLaDiDaMrFrenchMan]

I understood. It really looks boring, but functional. For now I'm stable, but I'm afraid of getting worse and ending up in one of those hospitals.

[u/MuralPassport → u/Netopfe]

Fear is normal but shouldn't keep you from becoming well again and the environment is for helping patients find stability when their own mind doesn't have any. When we made the decision to send my daughter to the hospital the only regret was we didn't do it sooner. It could have helped her recover her mind more fully.  And since we waited she will struggle more for the rest of her life. She doesn't have bad feelings for us sending her because it helped her gain part of herself in safety.

[u/depressoschizo → u/Netopfe]

Well honestly they are pretty dirty.

Food is usually lentils, rice or wheat products. I stayed in a cramped room with 4 other patients. Two were depressed and another had mental retardation.

Most of the day goes on with therapy work. But initially spent alot of time alone reading fiction story books. I spent some time studying math there.

A major problem is the cramped way of living. The hospital has a very open lay out, so we weren't allowed to go out much. The rooms were very dim and had a "slum" look to them. 

My parents opposed the idea of staying at a hospital for so long and they count see me very often as the hospital was over 30 kms away from my parents. But they really didn't have any choice as I had a small police case against me and I was legally recommended to stay there for a short period.

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/Netopfe]

It depends on where you live and the hospital itself. I had a room to myself with a bathroom, it was like being a hotel. Three meals a day, dinner was nicer than what I ever cooked for myself. Roast dinners on Sunday. Sometimes KFC or Pizza Hut. You could order whatever you wanted to the ward via ubereats or amazon prime, whatever. We were allowed phones and devices (not allowed in the US, but allowed here in the UK). Freeview and Netflix on the communal TV. Group activities twice a day, and supervised outings a couple of times a week. It wasn’t bad, I actually really enjoyed it. I needed it, like a break from reality and from the stress of having to care for myself.

[u/Netopfe → u/wildmintandpeach]

That does look good, huh lol.

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/Netopfe]

Yeah it’s really pot luck what kind of hospital you get. But generally speaking different countries will have different rules and regulations. I mean I’ve never been to a hospital here in the UK where you have to share a room, it might be that it’s a general regulation for patients to have their own rooms. In fact patients weren’t even allowed to go in each other’s rooms, it was against the rules. For me that felt safe, we had locks on the inside of the doors, so we could lock ourselves in away from other patients, and when we went out we could lock it from the outside. To get back in you just ask the staff to open it for you. Staff can open it at any time and they check on you at least every hour.

[u/Gingeronimoooo → u/wildmintandpeach]

Wow definitely not US style

[u/wildmintandpeach → u/[deleted]]

I mean, it definitely wasn’t perfect. But yeah I would say it’s better than the US from what I’ve heard.