This might get bad O.R.
I suggest, for your own sake,that you clarify your post. Are you, or are you not calling BS on the OP? If so, based on what, exactly. If not, then what exactly is it you’re trying to say? That the whole thing is malarkey? That he may have been admitted, but not voluntarily? That he may have been admitted, but that the condtions were not as he described? What?
All I can reflect on is professional experience. Granted, I have a sample size of two (the two hospitals at which I have worked for several years) … so YMMV.
The other day, I had a patient come in on a warrant for examination. He was screaming and threatening on a downtown street corner. Could you say that he was hospitalized to protect the public? Yes, of course - one of the reasons for commitment is danger to others. But, he was also hospitalized to provide treatment to him, so he could return to the community. It is possible (actually, it is essential) to serve at least two masters in such a case.
And IMCO patients generally don’t like to be called “lunatics”, raving or otherwise.
The professionals I’ve seen working do their best to be supportive and therapeutic. Perhaps I’ve worked in the two best places in the country? :dubious: (trust me, the answer to that is no).
Are we perfect? No. Do we have “empathic failure” on occasion? Yes. We’re human (despite the rumors about MDs being “minor deities”). If someone wants perfect care from perfect people … well, there’s therapy to talk about that 
Again, YMMV. We treat voluntary and involuntary clients the same professional in my neck of the woods.
(waves hand)
Sounds like you have the same problem we have up here (in the rural northeast). We actually have capacity to treat patients - it’s where they go afterwards that is the constant puzzle. Welcome to the fallout of the de-institutionalization movement of the '60s. :mad:
I can think of a few cases that were “maybes”. While I take depriving someone of their freedom very seriously, sometimes there are “grey” cases that are not at all clear - and indeed, better safe than sorry.
And whether they come in involuntarily or willingly, we treat them the same.
Well, I had my doubts, but after years of experience with this type of thing on message boards, I’ve come to feel that there is no margin in calling out someone who wants to rant about the failings of the mental health field. People with a vested interest, like AHunter3 will have their screeds ready, and most people without a vested interest will want simply to believe that One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest describes all care, and that mental health professionals are merely those with their own problems who are on some sort of head/authority trip. You’ll have a few people jump in to offer personal anecdotes about good experience and good care, but they will not have enough vested interest in persisting in the face of the voices to the contrary.
Essentially all of my recent experience is in outpatient psychology practice, but during my training in the early and mid 90’s, I had a great deal of experience with inpatient care in Connecticut, some in St. Louis as an undergraduate and some in Pittsburgh during my internship. My experiences were of good care and of primarily highly caring and invested professionals.
However, there is nothing to say that the OP did not have a negative experience. Unfortunately, around here, it’s pretty much better to say nothing than to offer up a challenge.
I’m spending the month on the other side of the desk, working in my last month of medical school at the county hospital psychiatric emergency center.
I have enormous sympathy for you, Creature. We have a shortage of beds in our public psych facilities, so placement is the biggest issue. We admit probably 1/10 that we see, but the admissions often have to wait in the lockdown unit in the EC for 3-5 days. We mostly admit suicide attempts with continued ideation, completely decompensated schizophrenia, mania, and we send drug addicts who want to quit to rehab facilities. Everyone else goes home. Yesterday, I discharged a man who the day before (when hungover/drunk) attempted suicide twice. He claimed no ideation, had plans for the future, was thinking of his children, so we let him go.
Our voluntary confinments are free to leave at any time, we can forcibly detain only 4 hours at a time or with family or police or social work consent.
It sounds like you had a rough time, getting caught by the cover-your-ass school of medical practice.
I wondered if it was a bear I should not poke … but hey, I’m new, figured what the hell 
.
Allow me to add another vote for “report this to the appropriate authorities.” If you get no answers or acceptable responses, take to the media if you’ve got the energy. Of course, you’ve got no way to prove it happened, because, see, you were/are insane and probably just hallucinated it. :rolleyes:
Jeez ‘n’ crackers, man, that kind of treatment is completely inappropriate. Even if you WERE suicidal, or dangerous to yourself and others, it would be inappropriate.
Am I the only one reminded of “My Cousin Vinny”?
“I shot the clerk?”
“I shot the clerk??”
You said you were depressed, and they said you “tried to walk into traffic.”
You have to be really carefull about what you say to “professionals” sometimes. They are trained to be on the lookout for bad stuff, and sometimes innocent victims can get caught in the crossfire. Yours is a textbook case, isn’t it? I am really sorry you had to go through it, and really glad you are back out in the world.
You gave a real clinical reading of the whole thing. Now, what’s your advice for the rest of us?
Aw, poke away. We may poke back, but there is no mental health / psychiatry perspective that’s any kind of sacred cow on this board
I’m an escapee (escaper? I didn’t get escaped from, I did the escaping). Variously diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic w/delusions of grandeur (most lurid one, I guess); manic-depressive psychosis (nowadays known as bipolar disorder); schizotypal personality disorder; borderline personality disorder. Two incarcerations, both private bins: Vista Sandia Psychiatric Hospital outside Albuquerque 1980, and Deer Park Hospital outside Houston 1982. “Voluntary” in the same sense as the OP on the first one, voluntary in a bit more embarrassing sense in the second instance. Also twice held very short-term on an involuntary basis on psych floors of mainstream facilities, once in Athens GA and once in New York. Resident of special psychiatric shelter for homeless (Creedmoor, Queens) followed by “halfway house” facility in New York (Residental Care Center for Adults, Creedmoor grounds), 1984-5.
I don’t believe in “mental illness”, at least not without an asterisk and five pages of disclaimers and elaborations. Certainly there are commonalities among the folks who have been so labeled, and it seems likely that there are physiological manifestations (perhaps in neural structure, perhaps in biochemistry), although they are not necessarily causal. Politically, a difference is not an illness if sufficient numbers of the people who have the difference like being that way.
Nurse’s training (LPN), Georgia 1982-3, incl. rotational placement on two psych floors @ general hospitals.
Myriad visits as advocate and/or friend, various facilities usually in New York, 1984-present, including opportunities to view treatment of residents.
Participation in the movement variously called “psychiatric inmates’ liberation movement”, “mental patients’ liberation movement”, “expatients-consumers-survivors’ movement (C-S-X)”, etc; member, Project Release of NY, Long Island Treatment Resistance, National Association of Psychiatric Survivors, and New York Organization For Human Rights and Against Psychiatric Assault.
I’m harshly critical of the state of psychiatric treatment (dark ages, stone knives and bearskins, trephination, blah blah blah), lots of lying about the excellence of the pharmaceuticals & other tx modalities, but for those who want it, I’m fine with a free and unimpeded market. (I do think LSD and other mood-modifying substances should be equally availalble to those who find them useful and efficacious, so I’m being consistent there). Where I’m inflexible and totally polarized against psychiatric practice is forced treatment, which I totally oppose.
Hentor the Barbarian is correct: I have my screeds ready, and I carry my own soapbox to stand on. I’m partisan. But I don’t think that means I cannot learn from folks with other perspectives, and I hope you are open in a similar fashion.
Dang it, I meant to check the “quote message in reply” on that one. That post was intended as a reply to Freudian Slip, in case that wasn’t obvious.
PS:
That’s movement nomenclature. We don’t refer to ourselves as “mentally ill” (most of us share Szasz’s view on the term). We usually call ourselves “lunatics”, “nuts”, “crazies”, etc. “Mental illness” is too tied up in the mainstream medical-model theory of what’s going on, and the medical model is extremely unpopular within the movement.
Holy shit! Is there anyway to make a formal complaint, or anyone you can report said conditions to? Pissy floors? Refusing to meet medical needs for diabetics? Hell, I would think if you weren’t mental going in, you’re certainly be when you came out of there! PLEASE let someone know about this place. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt, if what you say about J is true.
Blood sugar alone could account for J being there-we can always tell when my grandmother hasn’t been eating properly, because she gets REALLY nasty and harsh with everyone.
And if you are depressed, there are MUCH better treatments out there. You don’t have to take drugs IF you don’t want to (I am on meds, but that’s for an anxiety disorder that triggered my depression), there’s always talk therapy and other methods.
Good luck.
Fabulous Creature,
I read your account with great interest. You have my sympathy and I’m glad you’re feeling better.
Your experience, while dehaumanizing and traumatizing, is unfortunately not unusual. If you’d like to help yourself and other people avoid this kind of “processing” and invalidation, (or just tell your story to others who might benefit), I am supplying the contact information for your local NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).
I can tell you from first-hand experience this is a fantastic organization. They advocate for the mentally ill, educate both consumers of mental health services and their loved ones and work tirelessly and effectively to destigmatize mental illness and improve treatment, availability of of mental health resources and lobby for parity.
I have been on the NAMI Metro Baltimore Speakers Bureau for over a year as part of their “In Our Own Voice” program. (You can read more about that on the website if you like.) I also volunteer and do fundraising for the organization.
Because of my own experience with mental health issues and its effect on my family, my mother is also quite involved. Right now she’s readying to speak in front of Congress on behalf of NAMI and is currently working with her state senator to improve services and resources for the mentally ill in the state where she lives. (My mom is an awesom advocate. It turned out she goes to the same hair stylist as her senator, so she trapped him there one day and bugged him and he finally gave in and agreed to work with her. My mother is a force of nature. Nobody says no to Mom. They meet regularly.)
That’s the thing about NAMI. It really engages people. It motivates people. It’s dynamic and it’s gaining force and momentum.
Anyhow what I’m saying is, NAMI kicks ass and really makes a difference and they seriously make things happen. I’ve seen it for real. I know I sound like a zealot, but I have never seen people work so hard and with such integrity *and so effectively *. I’ll get off my soapbox now. If you can use this info, cool. If not, that’s cool too, but I just wanted to toss it out there.
NAMI Memphis
Contact: Brad Cobb - (901) 725-0305
And:
Your State NAMI
State: Tennessee
State Affiliate: NAMI Tennessee
Address: 1101 Kermit Drive
Suite 605
Nashville, TN 37217-2126
Primary Phone: (615)361-6608
Alternate Phone: (800)467-3589
Fax: (615)361-6698
Website: www.namitn.org
President: Elliot Garrett
Executive Director: Sita Diehl
Additional Contact: Sita Diehl
Additional Contact: Shannon Marble
I don’t recall even a single line in my OP asking for pity or even advice (which is not to say that I don’t appreciate the many kind words from those who offered sympathy and calls ot report it.) And if you care to exercise the reading comprehension skills you were supposed to gain in 8th grade English, I believe you’ll find that I did NOT contest that my behavior the night of the accident was erratic; I’m fairly sure that I’ve already said that I think the ER staff was reasonable to suspect suicidal tendencies. My arguments was with the horrid treatment in the ward itself. No beds, so only minimally-padded armchairs (for a lucky few) and the hard floor (for the rest) to sleep on. The lights being on all night. Having to BEG to get my blood sugar checked.
I’d give my opinion of your response, but it’s mostly pit-worthy, and I try to stay out of that arena.
The National Association of Psychiatric Survivors? Fucking splitters! I was a member of the National Psychiatric Survivors’ Association!
National Association of Psychiatric Survivors * spit *
With respect, IMHO the whole OP was written more or less as a variation on themes found in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and other “against my will” psychiatric movies and was designed to elicit exactly that – pity, sympathy, shock, anger, whatever. Where exactly did the accident occur? When? What was the name of the ambulance service that picked you up? What was the name of the hospital you were taken to? What floor were you taken to? What were the names of any of the main characters you described? What was the doc’s name? What exactly did he look like? Not saying that you didn’t actually get placed in an institution, but the whole thing seems a bit contrived and hollywoodish to me, more like a novelization of an event than the straight dope.
Yeah, but we’ve got link presence and your group don’t 
Although confidentiality may not be binding upon other patients in a group setting, it is a reasonable expectation or request. Should this story be true, I would rather have their confidentiality respected. However, I would like to know the other information you requested, particularly the name of this facility. A google search suggests that there is a Lakeside Hospital in Memphis. It may very well be the case that they have a triage program at other facilities.
I agree with Freudian_Slip that it sounds much more like some sort of forensic facility - more like some sort of forensic holding facility even. The entirety of my experiences have been of psychiatric facilities that were exactly like any other wing of the hospital (or of other hospitals), except that the doors were kept locked. This included the long-term forensic unit in Connecticut where those who had committed murder and who required mental health care were housed. I’ve never encountered a health care facility that had cinderblock walls, concrete floors and did not provide beds for everyone. Refusing to provide medical care is unbelievably outrageous, and I can’t imagine that the risk management team of any medical facility (which one must presume a facility with an ER would be) would allow such a source of financial liability to persist.
I would suggest that Fabulous Creature publish the name of this facility and the name of the physician who was responsible for your care while you were there. You should contact the state agencies in charge of oversight of medical facilities in your state. Perhaps the Tennessee Department of Health?
You’re free to have your opinion. I’ve never seen Cuckoo’s Nest, so I have no opinion on any similarity my story may have to it. (Though, as I understand it, it takes place in an actual insane asylum, whereas I was merely in a detention facility.) That said, I NEVER ASKED FOR ANYONE’S PITY OR SYMPATHY. I also said that the idea to put me under psychiatric obervation was quite reasonable. It’s the treatment of the detainees thatI have issue with: specifically the lights being kept on all night, the lack of any sorts of beds, cushions, or pillows, and thus being forced to try to sleep on the hard floor with only a thin blanket; the grouping of obviously deeply disturbed persons (to my untrained eye, either psychotic or schizophrenic) with persons who’d checked themselves in for drug rehab; the lack of care given to the two known diabetics in the room; and the lack of attention given to the guy who was being violent to HIMSELF–the fellow who kept punching himself in the face.
In point of fact, I feel less traumatized than angered by my treatment. I was fortunate enough to suffer neither hypoglycemic nor hyperglycemic episodes during my incarceration; this makes me distinct from J, whose irrationality Saturday night/Sunday morning can easily be explained by his high blood sugar reading). Once I got over the initial shock of being locked up, and once my confusion from the accident and head trauma ended, I quickly came up with a strategy for making it through my time there with my sanity intact: don’t cause trouble, don’t be needlessly disruptive, don’t piss off any of the persons who seem prone to violence.
The accident took place a few blocks west of Southland Mall in Memphis (and now, unless you happen to be a Memphian, you know as much as you did before.) If you’d troubled to read my OP for comprehension you’d see that I already noted the approximate time–Saturday the 1st at around 7:00 p.m. I don’t know the name of the ambulance service. As I said, I was someone confused and possibly hysterical when I was picked up. But the EMTs had on shirts with Memphis FD on them, so I assume it was a city ambulance. The hospital was the Med–that is, the REgional Medical Center at Memphis–for which Lakeside Hospital provides Triage services.
It was the fact that Lakeside was providing the psych assessment, by the way, that persuaded me to sign the paper consenting to an assessment in the ER. I think that’s covered in the OP too.
I actually only got two full names, one of which I am utterly certain is a pseudonym. Nothing approaching group therapy occurred during my 36 hours there (and as you suggest elsewhere in the post, it was more a holding facility than anything else). That said, I do feel obliged to respect my fellows’ confidences because we had a sort of cameraderies. About four of us who were relatively rational noted that the facility seemed more likely to induce craziness than to help cure it, and we agreed to look out for each other and to warn one another if anyone seemed to be losing his temper.
Again, what was your doctor’s name and what did he look like? What floor were you kept? The little you provided is easily googled via the internet, give us specifics that are not.