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I have a question to those Aspie's out there who've been hospitalized as a "risk to self"(as in like suicide risk)

My Psychologist mentioned it today and the sheer idea of being in the hospital for any reason freaks me out, but I am curious what happens, like do they strap you to the bed or something to keep you from injuring yourself? what's the whole process?

restraints are a last resort and used less and less. mostly they just take away any potential weapons (including your belt) and keep an eye on you.

there are ususally various therapy groups to attend.

Can you tell me a more precise series of events? starting from the moment one walks through the doors.

Went to the hospital twice back in 2008, never had the need to since. There are no restraints at all, but if a person is acting up they can be put in solitary confinement until they calm down. When you get in you're interviewed by the doctor in charge so they can figure out what brought you there, what your mental state is and how they can best serve you. Then you're showed your bed and where the bathrooms are...of course, there are no razors, hairdryers or anything you can hurt or choke yourself with. If you're just in the ward you're usually just sitting around with the other patients unless you're in a program that is going on. It's incredibly, mind numbingly boring, so all I did there was read the novels my mom brought me. Meals are served 3x daily, and if you're doing well you can get privileges to go outside or participate in recreational activities. Did not stay for very long (1st was for a week and 2nd was for two days) but I found the experience pretty calming and I was able to calm down and get out very quickly.

Thank you Anneurysm that was helpful

anybody else want to chime in?

I'm actually terrified of being in the hospital as a patient

and what happens if one has a meltdown(Autistic) in the hospital, are they also put in solitary confinement??

When I was hospitalized as a pre-teen it went like this -
the therapist called my mom after an outpatient interview and recommended hospitalization, I was given a tour of the grounds and allowed to choose between being admitted immediately or after the weekend.

The day I did go in, we walked into the lobby were none of the doors were locked, checked in with the receptionist and someone from the unit came to collect me and my things.

We went through a series of magnetic doors to the unit, one of the staff checked through my belongings looking for contraband, and the charge nurse spent quite a while taking my psych profile, then explained the daily routine for the unit.

One of the staff got me situated with hygiene items and explained the contraband box. I didn't smoke at the time so I had no use for it

They assigned me to an empty room which was closest to the nurses' station. I had the whole room to myself and I believe I was allowed to close the door. I woke up several times in the night and heard the staff's voices speaking, I initially mistook them for my family's and it triggered a sadness bordering on grief. It was the most alone and helpless I ever felt, the next day I got to meet the others and try to adapt to the new routine.

I spent 108 days in total, the physician had me on Mellaril so I was pretty much in a fog, the few times I was capable of a physical MD the bigger staff members would escort me to an isolation room for anywhere from half hour to 2 hours or would restrict me to my room, then transfer me to the locked unit for a few days to 2 weeks. Some of the older kids would willfully act out to be taken down out of boredom, others would escape only to be brought back a few hours or a few days later, 1 time I got an early pass out of the locked unit when a couple guys who were on a higher level tried to bail and they were spotted on the roof of the school next door after a couple hours

wow 108 days is a long time! was a this a regular hospital?

that all sounds rather frighting, I feel in the situation I would Meltdown into a crying mess, or meltdown and fight like all hell broke loose, or shutdown into a blank state.
I'd also probably find a clever way to escape or off myself(when I used to cut I once used a banana peel, you know the hard part at the top?)

There was a chain of psych places called Charter, by the late 80s they started making TV commercials.

It was just another Kafkaesque series of events in life for me, more bad things that I was supposed to just let happen with no idea why. I was one of the fortunate ones; there were peers who were there because their parents dumped them off to travel the world, or it was either there or juvie, or through no fault of their own were waiting to be placed in foster care.

Everyone was under 18, they could keep us however long they felt like, or at least as long as the insurance covered it

that sounds terrible!




anybody else want to "pitch in"?





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I went "in" three times. Once for losing it. Twice for suicide attempts. All three I was so disoriented and drugged I could hardly function. The groups were miserable. They expected you to "use the kitchen" to get snacks and stuff.. but I was so scared about entering unknown areas I never went in there unless a nurse went with me. They woke me every night around 4 am to test my blood to make sure I was taking the meds they gave me each day.

I was considered a "flight risk" so I was never allowed to go on the group walks. Had they realized I never broke rules I could have been let to go.

Had a room mate that was schizophrenic. I was an undiagnosed aspie back then.

Not a fun place to go - but I survived, and also learned what not to do to EVER go back there again.

Try not to panic and live in the moment. There are worse things out there. You will be ok

there are group walks? how does that go down?

I spent 2 months in Creedmoor. That's a huge psych hospital in NY. I stayed to myself all the time. I actually wrote a book of fairy tales while I was there. It had 32 stories which I eventually cut down to 28.

All of the other posters here describe the same experience as me. Some people were worse off than others. Yes, people were abused. I saw it with my own two eyes. I didn't say a word because we all slept in a big room, not individual rooms. Anybody had access to you while you were sleeping!

There were no blinds on the curtains. They confiscated your shoelaces. After a month they allowed me to keep a Walkman. I had in and out privileges. They thought I was mentally ret*d at one point so they placed me with that population for 2 days. It didn't work out so well.

I'm still on medication and I guess I will be for life. I'm not exactly suicidal these days but I could be feeling better.

that sounds scary!

On days with nice weather they would walk us a few blocks to a local park. A few times they took us out to movies, once to the beach and once to a regional park. Obviously we had to make Level 2 or higher

It was like the movie 'Girl Interrupted' without the knife in the 'aorta' or the drama in the ice cream shop

The reason I stayed so long was not following every minute detail of the routine because of the lack of signals. I basically had to learn to be a bullshitter to regain my freedom

I like going to the park(and beach), I wonder if they do things like that at my local hospital ward?

that doesn't sound like a good experience!