My time as a patient in a psychiatric hospital (STORY + ASK ME ANYTHING) - General

[QUOTE=Hunterdnrc;39013758]What was the food like?[/QUOTE] Terrible. Like you can imagine...We ate the same meals all the time and on one occasion I got uncooked potatoes.

You've had a messed up life. Take comfort in the fact that you are stronger than all of us.

[QUOTE=The Aussie;39017568]I find diseases of the mind fascinating. One of the reasons why i have a drive to get into Psychiatry. I'm guessing you're on Lithium for your Bipolar disorder? Although it sounds like you didn't have the Mania side of it. I'm sorry if this is slightly irrelevant, but i find it difficult to find information about the working conditions of Psychiatrists. How many where on staff at a time? Although it's unlikely you saw this, were they ever abused by the patients? I'm guessing that most of the patients in the building hated him. They truly believe what they think. I'm guessing though a Therapist talked to you rather then a doctor, due to the more psychological nature of you condition. I'm sure it has something to do with your life so far, and possibly your (Past or present) drug use. Also, glad i could help you with your Japanese. I saw the post and was like "Holy shit, it's fucking Cypher". Oh, did you get drug tested?[/QUOTE] I'm not on Lithium, it's rarely used anymore for BD due to its toxicity. I'm on Prozac, Depakote (BD) and Quetiapine. A lot of the time the staff were abused by the patients, however it was mostly the "You're keeping me trapped here!" rhetoric; things rarely got violent though. On one occasion when I were trying to sleep a schizophrenic pyromaniac got into an argument with Chris the manic guy, a fight nearly broke up but a shit load of hospital staff came in. One time, an alcoholic patient went out for a cigarette and didn't return. (Billy he was called, he's scottish and one of the friendliest and funniest people you could meet). When he came back, he refused to be searched and as a result they took him into his room, called for backup and when about 10 members of staff walked in, they shut his bedroom door and that was that. On a good note though, he left the hospital on discharge a couple of days later :) I didn't get drug tested, no. But I did go through a physical and plenty of blood tests, but not for drugs. [editline]29th December 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=meppers;39018330]Do they really have that padded room they show in the movies[/QUOTE] Not in my ward, but in the ward above, which even the patients and staff are afraid of, they do. (Alarms are always going off up there)... [editline]29th December 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=rrunyan;39018729]You've had a messed up life. Take comfort in the fact that you are stronger than all of us.[/QUOTE] I've had many good experiences to counter-balance them :)

What was your daily routine?

Was institutionalised twice for benzodiazepine abuse. Nothing compared to this though, and the ward wasn't gender restricted. Met my weed dealer during my second stay there :)

[QUOTE=MountainWatcher;39019859]What was your daily routine?[/QUOTE] -Wake up 8.30am -Lie awake in bed for 10 minutes waking up preparing myself to look over my shoulder and see myself being stared at -Get up out of bed, shove my slippers on. -Go and eat some cereal and/or toast and many cups of tea (still gotta be british) -Either that or if I didn't feel like eating I would force myself back asleep for another 2 hours. -Read a Harry Potter book until somebody I could talk to woke up also (later on in the week my friends brought me an iPod to listen to music on, which was a godsend) -Talk to friends -Cigarette break every hour (when I was allowed outside on a 2-to-1 observation; 2 staff members to supervise me), cigarettes were the only form of currency you needed in there, honestly. You made friends with cigarettes. -game of Blackjack (I was a hustler by the time I left hahaha) -Visitors maybe, the days where you didn't get visitors really sucked and felt the lonliest, once though I had 7 friends visit me. they had all taken trips in cars :) -more blackjack -a game of pool here and there -talking -tea time (evening meal/dinner) -medication -blackjack -talking -pool -every 30/40 minutes or so, me and my friend, sometimes another would sneak into the bathrooms and all have rollups in there. we would walk out conspicuously, other patients laughing and on more than one occasion the staff have even caught us but we just said "please don't tell" and they didn't so :v: bed at 8.30 if i got particularly bored. ~11 if I got talking about something interesting rinse and repeat every day

Good thing that mental hospitals where you live are probably nice,unlike here,it looks like a medieval fortress,but raised to the ground,rebuilt by communists out of garbage,razed to the ground again and rebuilt by commies again,then complete lack of maintenance until the thing falls apart. Also,WW1 era furniture and equipment. I know because i was volunteering in one place to get some ca$h

For some reason this thread reminds me of the King of the Hill episode where all of hanks friends accidentally end up admitted in a mental hospital

Did they drug you? [editline]30th December 2012[/editline] Not talking scary big syringes, just same old drugs.

I hear a lot of talk in the US about mental hospitals being like prisons, but both of the ones that I've been to have been more like preschool daycare. It's still less than ideal because the staff have no fucking idea what they're doing, but at least you get to play video games and watch movies every once in a while. I don't know what the FUCK is wrong with the staff at these places. One of them called my mother and told her I was masturbating in my room with the door open (I fucking wasn't by the way). I don't know if they are totally fucking clueless or actually malicious (trying to get me to stay longer so they'd get more funding or some shit).

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;39008955]I have a couple, like [url=http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1089967&highlight=]The story of how I lost my virginity at 13, and got my girlfriend pregnant at 14.[/url] [/QUOTE] Oh, it's you. I hope things will be good for you eventually.

[QUOTE=Lizzrd;39030152]Did they drug you? [editline]30th December 2012[/editline] Not talking scary big syringes, just same old drugs.[/QUOTE] I were forced to take medication, so yeah.

Did you feel like your time being locked up in a psych ward was necessary under the circumstances, or do you think you could've handled it alone with medication and support from your relatives?

How long were you there? (not sure if it's already been asked)

is it like a clockwork orange?

[QUOTE=rampageturke 2;39043710]is it like a clockwork orange?[/QUOTE] A Clockwork Or-?!?!...We're discussing psychiatric hospitals, not the nature of teen violence. Where the hell did A Clockwork orange come from? [B]Edit:[/B] Plus, in A clockwork orange, the psychiatric hospital was run by Government G-man like figures. That was totally fictional. If you base your entire perception of what a mental hospital is like on a book about a sociopathic nutcase, you're gonna get mixed signals.