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This probably isn't quite what you're asking about, but I have spent quite a bit of time in inpatient/residential treatment for an eating disorder (some of which was spent on a locked ward, which I think is what most people think of when they think of 'psychiatric hospitals'). With that caveat, here are my answers to your questions - Is it incredibly boring? What did you do all day? Yes. It's incredibly boring, especially after you've been there for a while or after you've been hospitalized multiple times and so have seen most of the programming already. My longest inpatient stay was eight weeks, and by the end I was so desperate to leave and interact with the real world that I remember going to walgreens to pick up a prescription and just wandering around in awe, enjoying the feeling of no longer being confined to a single hallway and day room. A typical day will include some groups, which can include occupational therapy, recreational therapy, physical therapy, process groups, DBT skills groups, CBT skills groups, ACT skills groups, etc. Since I've never been admitted for a diagnosis other than anorexia, I've always had a lot of structure around meals/snacks as well - three meals and three snacks per day, observed while eating at a glass table with no pockets, no hands below the table, no napkins, etc. They've also always kept track of fluid intake/output, to look for fluid retention and monitor for fluid restriction (which is somewhat common in people with eating disorders). What were the other patients like? Did you have to interact with them or did they mostly leave you alone? There's a huge range in the patient population, depending on what type of facility you're in. My experiences when I was on a locked ward that was used as overflow for other psychiatric wards was much different than when I was in residential treatment only for people with eating disorder diagnoses. One of my scarier experiences on the locked ward involved a psychotic patient who scared staff enough that they called security whenever they had to enter her room and/or administer her meds. She would randomly ask inappropriate questions or lash out (verbally, thankfully) at other patients. She'd also storm around and slam doors, throw things, tear out the phone receivers, stuff like that. This ward was also placed next to the isolation rooms for the child psych unit, so I got to observe a lot of combative children and/or very, very unhappy children in isolation. That behavior could range from just a lot of hysterical crying and pacing around and hitting things to a child who responded to "no, we can't let you out until you've been calm for fifteen minutes" by urinating on the floor. Most of my experiences have been much more mild, since I've mostly been on eating disorder specific wards. A lot of people with eating disorders also have personality disorders, though, which can make the community somewhat turbulent. I did my best to avoid and stay out of the interpersonal drama, but it's amazing how quickly grown adults can descend to the level of middle-schoolers when you take away most of their control. I have seen people scream at staff about things like getting the wrong flavor yogurt or being asked to attend groups or sit in the day room. If you left, why? If you're still there, shitposting from the hospital, why? I have had multiple admissions (nine, I think? I haven't really bothered to keep track). I left for various reasons - sometimes because I didn't want to be there and was no longer legally holdable (I'm lucky that those experiences never ended in a commitment, given that it was discussed at times), sometimes because my treatment team felt that I was ready for discharge, sometimes because I needed to go back to work or school. I'm actually current an inpatient, but should be leaving in a few days because I need to start a summer job and am not legally holdable at the moment.
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Jun 4, 2017 18:10
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:56 |
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