"coping skills"

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I can't stand the phrase anymore. It brings to mind slugging though and putting up with pain. I don't want to merely "cope". I want to be able to thrive and be happy. If that's impossible I don't really see the point in learning to "cope". To me it seems to imply learning to put up with misery without making a fuss that would trouble others. I'm frankly tired of being miserable. F*** "coping skills". If I can't find out some way to be happy in this world my hand is forced.

I just got out of a psych ward and quite frankly it is no place I would ever want to go if I was truly feeling like ending my life. You have to be practically bawling your eyes out in front of the nurse station to get one to leave whatever bureaucratic BS (or facebook messages) they must constantly attend to on their computer screen and talk - and even then it's uncomfortable because they won't even go to a private place. Their only purpose is filling people with pills (most of which made me sick) and forcing you to attend inane classes on "coping skills". Apparently the insurance companies decided to ditch the idea of having trained psychologists. Instead they isolate and control you like you're a prisoner. You find more support from other patients than from the nurses. I wonder how many suicides psych wards are directly responsible for. My experience has strongly discouraged me from "getting help". There is no "help" in such an institution. They physically prevent patients from killing themselves. That's ALL they do. That and force drugs on patients that have the potential to make them feel even worse than they were when they came.

My lesson. If you're ever feeling suicidal don't "get help". It will just make you worse. Next time you'll be more likely to follow through.

I had the exact same experience. The patients counseled each other while the nurses got our pills wrong and yelled at us for inane reasons. There was nothing to do except watch tv, and then only the shows everyone else wanted to watch.

I decided I may as well just stay home and watch my own tv. And if I need to talk to someone, I call my local crisis hotline which is available 24 hours a day and they will nicely talk to you for however long you want.

Distress Center 24 Hour Hotline: 416-408-4357

They did worse than get my pills wrong. They cancelled my prn ativan prescription and triggered a severe anxiety attack by forcing me to take lithium which kept me awake all night. The anxiety was so bad I felt what I can only describe as terror. I begged for an ativan and when they did absolutely nothing I flew into a rage, at which point they gave me a benadryl and haldol combination. That combination didn't put me to sleep. Instead it triggered a severe feeling of sadness. I felt as though my body was frozen still so I couldn't cry out even as I was being overwhelmed by this sadness from which there was no escape. I also started to squirm around uncontrollably from the sadness. It was so uncomfortable. I started thinking they were trying to torture me.


I don't even watch tv. All I could do was attempt to socialize with the other patients. Of course I couldn't even do that when my anxiety was through the roof. I had to wait until the next day for them to let my take an ativan. I only had to take 1 mg and I was better for the entire remainder of my stay. It was that simple. That and replace the damn obnoxious anxiety provoking lithium with my normal bedtime medication (latuda). It was so simple yet they forced me to suffer immensely for an entire 24 hour period!

I don't really like talking to the crisis hotline people. They always seem clueless and it takes too much energy to explain myself. It would be better if I had a number such that I could talk to the same person every time. That way they could actually get to know me. Otherwise I grow tired of repeating myself.

Yes.

The mental health system is quite possibly the worst thing that I have ever been subjected to.

f**k these b*****s, I hope they all die.