psychiatric hospital
 

Anyone here had any experience of being in a psychiatric hospital?

I know that a 'stay' in a hospital is an option for me if i so desire ( I only have to get a referral from a GP)

It is something i am considering if it helps get me on track, i have my ok days and then utter hopeless days so a short stay is on my mind.

I have been before but that was 11 years ago and my memory is foggy ( was hammered drunk at the time etc)

Anyways just wanted to hear from anyone with experience, as i am a little scared about it, the stigma and movies etc

My best friend has spent some time on psych floors of hospitals, after alcohol induced breakdowns. He has found it very helpful, and the staff were always very compassionate. So it does, as you say, help him get back on track.. and sometimes he will stay on track for a year, and then other times much less time..

So it's not a rehab of sorts, it's not really going to treat your alcoholism. It can help you detox and get you stable on the psych end of things, get on the right medications, etc. So then you'd need to get in to whatever type of treatment program might help you. Frequent counselling and periodic reassessment of your medications, for example.

I just need to 'get away' so to speak and talk with a psychiatrist face to face, im not sure if it will cure me because this is damn crippling but maybe it can help get my head above the waters!

Thanks for your input :)

I don't have any input on this Chilledice but just wanted to send hugs to you. It sounds like a good option to look into. 😘

Don't give out hope, Chilledice, that increased dose of meds will start to help. It can take a while.

Im not losing hope :) just considering medical options etc :)

I was once in a "behavioral health center" after a nervous breakdown.

It was a life-changer!

That's where I was diagnosed as bipolar for the first time, and was appropriately medicated. The nurses were great, the psychiatrist knew his stuff, and the technician was out of this world!

The technician was the one who conducted the group therapy sessions, which I enjoyed; she was also the one who insisted I draw a timeline of my life.

That was the most revealing thing of all!

It was not at all like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; nor were the patients creepy like the pictures you see of asylums in the 1800s.

Even the woman with severe schizophrenia was not creepy. She was a former schoolteacher and very kind. She just repeated several phrases all the time like a mantra.

Radiate your natural kindness in the hospital just as you would on the outside.

Not only will your hospital mates be more kindly disposed to you, but you will be inclined to appreciate them as fellow humans, each one wacky in a different way, but all in the same boat learning to row.

I was suicidal and extremely depressed when I went in; but I was glad to be there, even if it was a mental hospital, because I was removed from all responsibilities and pressure for a brief time.

If it had just been ten days in a hospital room it would have been a welcome respite--but it turned out to be very much richer and more rewarding.

Look at it as Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass! It's an interesting adventure: "curiouser and curioser"--and you fit right in as being just as "curious" as everyone else!

As with any other thing in life, you get out of the psych ward exactly what you put into it!

Thanks for your input Gilmer you are so awesome :)

I've spoken to therapists via the phone and in thea past via skype and recently a general practitioner face to face.......I really need to speak with a psychiatrist tho!. Yes I have various anxiety disorders BUT im not sure if there is something else going on, maybe im severely depressed because of the anxiety or maybe it's clinical, I don't know!

Goona ring Dr up tomorrow and see if my mental health assessment can be rushed through and discuss various options!

I jump at every single noise and sometimes go ballistic about it like full on rage! Which is NOT who I am as a person!

Milk that hospital opportunity for all it's worth! A good diagnosis with a well-thought-out treatment plan is worth its weight in gold.

:c009:

got thrown into a locked psych ward 5150 during my first year sober

all i was doing was not drinking, going to meetings and lookin' at the girls

i had no program

while locked up i received the gift of willingness

willingness to follow direction ....

meetings
sponsor
steps
service to others
higher power

the psych ward helped me as you said ... get on track

still sober !

God bless

That's what happened to me in a nutshell: for once I saw the problem, and realized that there was a solution!

Once I had that knowledge, I jumped right on the bandwagon!

Are you going through a lot of physical withdrawal symptoms?

Nope I been sober over a month now :) I have had eating issues but I think its anxiety.

Oh okay! Good.

Shoot that's right.. now I remember.

Lol im exactly the same, I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached to my body!

Chill,

My alky coworker is beginning to scare me.

He starts to flip out in seconds over things that seem so small.

I have gotten to the point of not saying a word to him unless it is for business.

Sometimes I fear he will lash out at me if the opportunity is right.

We used to be drunk together and now I am clean.

I have loyalty to him, but I get tired of tippy toeing around his inconsistent personality.

Thanks.



Thanks.

Hello,

I have not had an experience in the hospital, but it sounds like it might be a good option for you to sort out your anxiety/depression and get on the right path to move forward. I think many of us suffer from mental health issues that we tried to escape with alcohol or drugs.

I have anxiety, and medication that helps me to deal with it, and I have added yoga, exercise and mindfulness to help with the anxiety/worry as well.

I think you should take advantage of the time if you are able to.

Good luck with everything.

❤️Delilah

I thought I was going insane after a month sober in my own. That's when I got willing to take myself to some AA meetings . That helped a lot as they were able to give me some reassurance with their own experence of intense anxiety in early sobriety, and what they did to get past it. Restless, irritable and discontent all seemed like understatement to me at that point, but that is the alcoholics natural state when they take away booze and have not yet experience to healing effects of working on their recovery for a sustained period. There is not a quick release mechanism for this. No instant gratification. Some people do get prescription medication from their GP to get through the initial stages. I was too scared I might become dependent on that so I didn't go down that line, but its a personal thing. It certainly helped my AA bestie.

What does your GP think? Presumably they would need to refer you anyway.

While you're waiting to go into treatment why not try some of the other things available that could knock the corners of the anxiety and get you a little relief just for today? Get to some meetings, talk to others who've walked the path ahead of you (and may even have had experience of the local support facilities, and know which GPs in your area are most clued up on addiction, because lots in the UK aren't really very clued up on it.)

Praying that you find some peace and support today. BB

Once 10 months. First time 4 months. A few short stays here and there. Nothing but good experiences. It's nothing like the movies.

Not good!

Chilledice - I have experience with a short stay in a psych ward here in the States, and it was overall a positive experience. I was involuntary, and it helped me to be locked up somewhere for a while. It was actually more helpful for me than the rehab was.

All of the groups were voluntary. There was no hard timeline hanging over my head on when I would leave. The food wasn't bad. The staff were very skilled and kind. One of the nurses even let me and two other patients take a look at the padded room just to see what it was like. The doctor was quite intelligent, and knew what he was talking about. The female nurses were all smoking hot, which I found surprising. I assumed they would look like linebackers and speak with a thick Russian accent. It was a good place to de-stress where I had no responsibilities whatsoever.

As far as the other patients went, we had everything from old ladies with dementia to suicides to schizophrenics. There were some of the schizophrenics that I definitely kept at a distance. On a couple occasions there were patients that attacked the staff, and things got interesting. The hospital would send guards to the floor, shoot them up with Haldol, and restrain them. One patient was masturbating to one of the nurses when she was doing a room check. He wouldn't stop when she told him to. The nurse didn't appreciate his attention, and he got the Haldol / restraints therapy. I never saw a patient attack another patient during my stay though.

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not, but that was my experience.

Dude that last paragraph :lmao :lmao :lmao

My mother has always been a nurse in psych hospitals. One would close due to state funding cuts, and she would be transferred to the next, and finally she has been working for the VA hospital with the dementia people, although they will occasionally send a schizophrenic or two.

But needless to say she has her fair share of horror stories, from being carried down the hall by a patient who wanted to baptize her in a bathtub, while all her coworkers watched and laughed (mind you she was a big girl, so I can imagine how strong this person was), to going to check on a patient in solitary who waved hello to her through the tiny window, before calmly pulling out his eyeball and placing it on the window sill.

Until she told me those stories, I thought I had an interest in working in psych. lol

There is zero chance of me harming anyone.........I MIGHT steal chocolate tho lol :p