Does psychiatric hospitalization actually help?

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Nope. Alas!

For my sister, the first one had nice grounds but you could only leave the building on good behavior. She was almost treated more like an inmate than a patient. A lot of security, and I think the whole thing made her worse not better. She had gone there several times.

The second one was out of state and seriously expensive, it was one some celebrities have gone to to get help for drug addiction and mental illness. But it really helped, she got clean of everything but tobacco, had support even once she left, had a lot of things to do and different types of counseling, she got her severe ADHD diagnosed and managed, that is the type that should be available to more people.

The sense of feeling locked in can be extremely unpleasant and triggering. It can also be unpleasant when a fellow patient gets out of control.

Most psych meds take a few weeks to fully kick in, so it’s not like one leaves a psych unit feeling a lot better.

They are necessary if one is in crisis and is at risk for suicide, though. It helps somewhat to get away from life stressors. Sometimes it also takes a hospital stay to get an accurate diagnosis (of mental disorders, not autism).

Hospitalization only works depending on where you live and how much money you have. My boyfriend went into the hospital a year ago and was there for 3 days and it didn't really help anything since he didn't have medical and still had no way of really "getting better". Someone else I knew went into the hospital and had good medical and was not only able to stay about a week but received out patient and everything and was able to make a full recovery.

I had to disarm a fellow patient who was going to stab a nurse

That must’ve been very scary!

I’ve seen people completely flip out so nurses had to give them an injection.

A woman in a room next to me smashed a chair into the wall which caused me to panic.

I told on a patient who was having her mom sneak pills into the unit, and I heard her say that she wanted to kill me and tried to talk the nurses into letting her be my roommate. Scary! I only told on her because I was worried she’d overdose or that the pills would interact with her other medications.

^ It actually wasn't scary for me at the time - I seem to do alright and step up in a crisis - afterwards though I usually crumble and struggle processing the event.

I don't know if this is common , but I know a few patients had drugs smuggled in , got off their heads , then deliberately kicked off so they get an injection so they could fly higher

That’s very possible, but I knew that if I didn’t tell on her I’d feel guilty if something bad happened to her. We had been on friendly terms.

I still remember lots of the people I met in there and it’s been 10 years. It really is as dramatic in those places as they make it out to be in the movies.

Speaking from extensive experience, it really depends on the hospital. Some places are really scary, some have nothing to do and are really boring even if they give out journals or coloring pages. The best ones offer therapy and an individualized care plan.

I've stayed in a typical Victorian asylum and yeah it was dramatic for a 19 year old.

You are courageous and wonderful for doing the right thing .

Thanks!

It’s such a bizarre memory.

My whole experience there was bizarre.