ITT: Americans sharing horror stories from inside their gutted healthcare systems.

Where are you? How old are you? I have been three times. Each time I was allowed either an mp3 player or my discman. I drew and wrote stories. Also, it wasn’t boring at all, the people there were quite fun to joke with or play games. we could watch tv in the evening. The staff was mostly selfi.portant prudes, but as long as you kept quiet in front of them, there was no big deal. When you mentioned you wanted to kill yourself, you would be locked up in your room for at least 2 days, 3 nights. So don’t be honest to your therapist in there.

GERMAN EXPERIENCE

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Well, in my ward, we weren’t allowed to use the phone, except in the evening to talk to our loved ones. I spent almost my entire stay in hospital just reading books during quiet hours, and at other times I just watched various TV programmes, such as series on YouTube, wrote frequently in my diary about what I had been doing that day, I ate in the dining room, but the food there was cold, and it was difficult to eat pasta with sausage and rice with beetroot, but that was when I was a child. there was even a case where one guy freaked out and attacked a nurse, but they managed to restrain him, so my advice to you is, don’t start arguing with patients, and don’t swear or insult them, so that nothing like that happens. It’s important to just behave well, as if you were at school or at work.😊

Overcrowded, understaffed, patients with different mental issues all lumped in together, minimal outside time, 5-10 people all sleeping* in the same room.

*You couldn’t really sleep because there was always someone in the halls screaming at the demons in their head. The only real sleep I got was when I was put into solitary for having a mental breakdown from sleep deprivation due to said screaming

As someone who was there to get help from attempting suicide, the whole experience just made me want to try again.

I’ve been hospitalized about 10 times. Every stay has been different based on my demeanor and the severity of my mental state. Some hospitals are nicer than others, certainly the ones with good food were more positive. Good food stuck out to me.

The boredom is awful, but it gives you time to do things you wouldn’t normally do like read books or draw/color. Make friends there, it helps with the loneliness. I never maintained contact once I left the stay, but I have memorable connections that helped me get through what I was working with.

You most likely will not be listening to music unless a worker puts some on during groups, and phone calls can be made but you won’t have any access to a smartphone.

It’s mostly a place to get you stabilized on medication and establish aftercare plans. Any discomfort is temporary and if the anxiety of doing nothing gets to you, you most likely can get a PRN like Ativan (or Hydroxyzine if benzos aren’t for you) in a controlled environment.

The more you pay typically the better it is.

Most folks seem to cover the emotional and psychological aspect so I’ll give some practical tips.

Shampoo and conditioner. If you are allowed to pack some or have some brought in by a visitor, do it. The hospital shampoo was really astringent and dried out my scalp horribly. After a week my head was constantly itchy from the lack of moisture. Conditioner would have saved me so much misery.

Make friends if you can. It will make you feel better to talk. It will help others to talk. It will make you a positive influence on the ward and help get you some leniency if shit hits the fan.

Take time with the crafts. It’s so fucking boring 80% of the time that when you can make something, really put your focus into it. Take your time. It’s cathartic.

It’s okay to ask for things. A lot of what you ask for will be a “no” but sometimes you’ll be surprised. I didn’t know I could get a shit ton of paper on request and tried to learn origami. It’s something to do and you’ll find what’s available.

Good luck. The ward is only scary the first time and the folks are so tired of dealing with shit (literally they all have a poo story) that you being calm is a relief. Be cool and you’ll be fine.

Assuming this is for commitment to a locked facility:

Bring some clothes without strings, shoes (again, no strings allowed so you might want to consider slides or slippers), no belts, no scarves. I recommend slides since they double as shower shoes. Valuables, electronics, anything considered a hazard to have on the unit will be confiscated. Includes dangly jewelry, large rings. And in general, consider that there are many patients up and about, some very sick and confused - don’t bring anything you’d be devastated if it got stolen or damaged. Don’t bring food/drinks, cigarettes, lighters, drugs -foodstuffs bc they can’t be verified or stored for hygienic reasons.

No smoking, but they’ll have nicorette gums or patches.

Small amounts of toiletries brought from home may be allowed at their discretion.

You might be allowed to use your smartphone for a short time under supervision (no smartphones for privacy reasons). There should be shared computer, phone, headphones use.

Since you won’t have your phone, DO have important phone numbers written on a piece of paper if you don’t have them memorized.

Expect a non-invasive skin check with a nurse during intake.

SIGN the information release form for family and friends you want involved in your care. Without your permission, they will be turned away.

Ask when the visiting hours are. You can have people bring you food and sometimes order food delivery (check with the staff).

If another patient is bothering you, maybe you’ve got a problematic roommate -let a staff know. They can maybe find a different arrangement.

Shower early or late. Higher chance of having the shared bathroom to yourself.

Stay on the normal sleep schedule and don’t stay up too late. First of all, they track how you’re sleeping. Second, it really sucks to sleep through your daily check-in with the psychiatrist (who basically controls how long you’re staying).

Staff are required to do frequent 24hr safety rounds on everyone, so this means at night too.

There should be recreational time outside to get some fresh air. Some group activities that are optional but encouraged to attend.

But yes, the days are boring! These places are geared for medications and getting you out of a crisis situation - not so much therapy. Recommend bringing reading/writing materials. Daily journaling is a nice idea. Remember no spiral bound because the spirals are sharp.

They all vary pretty wildly from what I’ve heard. The one I spent 2 weeks in was mind-numbingly boring. No phones, no internet, and one hour of the wards ipad a day. The only saving grace was that I stole a water damaged deck of playing cards from some volunteer guy at the hospital I was initially put in before they transferred me. I played solitaire probably a couple thousand times over 2 weeks.

Other than that, you pretty much just talk with other people there and watch TV. They did some kind of activity every day and if you didn’t it would take longer to get out. The activities were dumb little arts and crafts nonsense and a bunch of coloring. After a few days though, anything is better than nothing.

In the ward I was in, medication was an issue for me. They put me on haldol and I had a really bad reaction to it, but the staff didn’t believe me until I couldn’t move and was in a lot of pain. Generally the staff doesn’t care much and will ignore lots of what you or anyone else says.

Visited my brother in a few, so I’m just going off what he said.

Some are better than others, and either way, they will make you do things you don’t want to do, but that’s because the people in there want to do things that are not healthy for them.

Behave yourself, participate in therapy, and follow your plan and you’ll be out of there a lot faster than if you fight it.

For me, I treated my stays like the opportunity it is. To relax, decompress, and take a break from the internet and social media. A cleanse of the mind.

I’m one to usually just keep to myself. I do not tend to socialize much, but I still go to group sessions and keep my responses short and to the point.

I try to just sleep through the week while adjusting to medication changes.

These are my experiences in Ohio in a privately-run in-patient hospital. I had two stays of about 6 days each.

1. No cell phones or electronics of any kind.
2. You can call family at designated times on a landline.
3. All of your belongings will be itemized when you arrive. All clothing with laces will either be locked up or you will be required to remove the laces from them before you can use them. Yes including shoes. Best to bring slippers. Everyone wore slippers.
4. There will be lots of programming from the staff there. Tons of group therapy. Art therapy. Music therapy. Sometimes the therapy dog would come around.
5. You will be very bored unless you do something. Bring a book. Bring some playing cards. Be prepared to do a lot of drawing if that’s your thing.
6. You will also talk a lot to your fellow travelers. It will be weird because you will know the most intimate secrets and biggest fears of complete strangers.

The time is for you to get better and figure out what is triggering your mental health issues. The most important thing to remember is that you will probably never be 100% “fixed”, but you can learn to live with your condition.

Not bad. Strict schedule. Sleeping sort of sucks because people are always checking in on you.

Getting forced to have a room mate because they can’t be trusted by themselves isn’t great either.

When all of the other older kids are gone and the nurses trust you, they let you handle some of the data entry, or they let you play with the really young kids. It’s sad to see 5 year olds with depression.

It was ok, but this was back in 2008 and smartphones weren’t really a thing yet, so them holding your phone wasn’t a huge deal regarding internet access etc. (I had a Motorola slvr at the time). A typical routine for me: a crew came in at like 4am to draw labs, woke up 7am-ish, shower fucking sucked (motion-activated, ran for a limited time, about the amount of time it needed to heat up). Food was average hospital, no caffeine. I found out if I called ahead to request a meal I could get caffeinated coffee/tea. Group therapy like twice a day, individual therapy once a day, medication meeting once a day, lots of downtime and board games/card games. I could listen to music because I had a classic iPod separate from my phone.

Most people shared rooms. I somehow got my own, likely because I was the youngest by at least 10 years. Smoke breaks were still a thing, so after a few days of being cooperative you got those plus your belt back. For me it was an excuse to go outside and socialize for a few minutes.

Ultimately a good experience because I got the treatment and meds I needed quickly. Your mileage may vary of course.