# Ask the guy who has been a patient in a psych ward **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2015, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656 "2015-01-23T06:16:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Vitus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Saint\_Vitus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Vitus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/1 "2015-01-23T06:16:07Z")
Hi all, longtime lurker first time poster. Glad I have something unique to add to the board… Beginning in December I experienced a personal crisis, the details of which I won’t share. This led to a series of three hospitalizations over the last six weeks, the last (and, I’m quite sure, final) of which ended this morning. The first hospitalization was an involuntary hold for suicidal ideation, lasting 5 days. This was in a medium-sized community inpatient psych facility. The second occurred four weeks later for continuing severe depression, voluntary hold for two days. This was in a small community inpatient psych facility. The most recent, ending this morning, was a 2-day involuntary hold for depression with severe anxiety. This was in a large psych ward within a hospital. I’m feeling fantastic at the moment, better than I’ve felt in maybe a year or more. This is due to a combination of meds (Celexa 40 mg + Remeron 30 mg) and a ‘moment of clarity’ experienced during the most recent hospitalization where I realized that I had the opportunity to choose the path of sanity and life, which is what I’ve done. The experience of these hospitalizations has profoundly changed my outlook on life. It’s more than I can express in a single post, so I thought I’d entertain questions. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/2 "2015-01-23T07:15:49Z")
You have family support? How was the difference between those who had support and those who did not. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/3 "2015-01-23T07:51:24Z")
Firstly welcome to the forum, I am glad you are feeling better. Like you, my depression got a lot better once I realised that my life could get better, and I wasn’t trapped. What proportion of people there appeared “normal”? I was confined to a mental ward for an entire weekend when my housemate misread me and there were no psychiatrists available 'til Monday. Amongst the patients was a sharp woman with decades of nursing experience, a voluntary patient who wanted to be in a safe space the next time his illness flared up and a coursemate who was normal except a bit afraid of nuclear war… ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/4 "2015-01-23T07:58:56Z")
How exactly did the “involuntary hold” work? Did some guys just show up at your door, grab you, and haul you away with your hands tied? Of did someone trick you to go to the hospital then they locked the door before you could get out? How “involuntary” was it, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/5 "2015-01-23T08:20:20Z")
Congrats on your good health, long may it continue. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/6 "2015-01-23T14:06:51Z")
I’m so glad you are feeling better! I’m glad you got the help you needed and that it was successful. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/7 "2015-01-23T15:00:57Z")
Welcome! You mentioned that you had been in three different facilities. What was the reasoning behind that? Did it just depend on what facility happened to have space open on the day you needed it, or did you specifically go to different facilities to take advantage of what they had to offer (e.g. specialists, special programs, etc.)? What were the main differences between the facilities? Did they have different “feels” to them? Did they use different techniques? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/8 "2015-01-23T16:01:38Z")
1. Are they recommending ongoing psychiatric therapy? 2. If so, will you take the recommendation? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/9 "2015-01-23T21:59:31Z")
Hi from another alumnus of locked psych wards. Sounds like you had a far better experience with the shrinky people than I did. Welcome to the board! ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/10 "2015-01-24T03:17:58Z")
1. Give us the daily menu for each meal? 2. Is tv available? 3. Is internet available? 4. What items are you allowed to have and what must be handed over? 5. Did it feel like prison? 6. What was the most severe mental illness you saw? 7. Is it true the staff are a little “off” themselves? I will say I used to work at a hospital and one place I hated to go to fix a computer was the psyche ward. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/11 "2015-01-24T05:23:18Z")
How did it effect your work/school, finances, and relationships? Were you participating in group therapy or just individual? Were you already being treated outpatient by a psych doc? Were you on meds? What was the best & worst part of being inpatient? Glad you’re on a more positive path today! I too deal with depression and anxiety. It’s a daily challenge! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-has-been-a-patient-in-a-psych-ward/710656/12 "2015-01-24T05:34:19Z")
Welcome. I hope your medications continue to help, and that you are able to hold on to your realizations of possibilities (this suggests to me, the FP person-not-a-shrink that you are on an upward path. Bless you). I’m so glad facilities were available to you when needed- my state has an appalling dearth of same. This is a great board, BTW- as you as lurker likely already realize. Keep us posted- near as I can tell, there are many here who can empathize and share. I personally find Dopers to be a better resource than some of my ohter support groups, if only that they usually tolerate no BS 😉