Mental Hospital

I've been looking into mental institutions recently. I have a strong feeling that I am going to be send to one later this year due to, well, my mental health status.

I wanted to know if anyone has been to one and would like to answer some question or even share their experience?

I'm mainly worried about school. I could care less about visits and I could honestly care less about my school future. I want to know if they will continue my education in the hospital. Will I have to continue it outside of the hospital or will they have classes inside?

I want this mainly just to be an open discussion for those who have been in a mental facility to express themselves or tell their stories about it.

@ Keely Noelle
I think that depends on which hospital you go to/get sent to. Whether or not educational classes will be offered depends on the hospital you go to I believe, some may not offer them. Going further, it would probably depend on how mentally stable they declare you. If you're too unstable, they may not allow you to take the classes because they may think you won't be able to handle the stress. There are a lot of factors to something like that. For me, I was sent to the adult ward because I was 19 and in the adult ward, there are no educational classes. If you're planning to go willingly, you could call and ask the hospital if they offer such classes or know of a place that does. If you think you're going to be sent unwillingly, there's no choice in where you go. You'll most likely get sent to the first psych hospital or ward the will take you. That's what happened with me.

Although I think you're more than likely to not be allowed school courses while in a mental hospital. The point of mental hospital is to stabilize people and help them, to take them away from the stresses of the real world so they can get back on their feet and learn to cope with their mental illness. So most likely, you'll be temporarily taken out of school and allowed to continue when you're released. Your parent/guardian/caretaker should notify the school and you'll most likely get your make up work when you return. You'll probably just be marked down with a prolonged absence due to a medical condition or something like that.

If you have any questions, you can tag me in this thread or message me if you want to talk privately. I spent a few days in a mental hospital earlier this year after a bad slip up, I'd be happy to answer your questions on some things. Though I may be unable to answer certain things for personal reasons, so I hope you understand but I'll be able to answer most. ^^

@ Keely Noelle
I know that some hospitals get the school work faxed over to them (or something along those lines) so you could work on it, but it all depends on where you're going.

@ Airi.
Thank you, I'll probably have more questions after I get declared 'insane'.

I've been to about nine. Most of them were when I was minor, some when I was adult. I've been to some that took insurance and some that were state hospitals.

I feel like in the majority of situations, they really do want to help you. I had mostly good experiences and two of the doctors I saw when I was a minor were stripped of their medical licenses, so I feel like that may have contributed to the problems in my diagnosis when I was in high school.

Generally you get up, you take meds, eat breakfast, and then do therapy all day. You do group therapy, therapy about how to cope, recreational therapy, therapy about drug addiction if you need that. You see your doctor once a day. Sometimes nurses do one-on-ones. My longest stay was two weeks. They want to get you healthy enough to cope in the real world, but they aren't necessarily going to "fix you" there and send you home. There should be continued outpatient care and medical if you were put on meds.

We had a classroom in my hospital in eighth grade where we got to work on our projects. As long as someone brings your coursework into you, you should be able to work on it. I was allowed to have books, notebooks, candy, pens, etc.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask!

I've been to 2, but I've been hospitalized 4 times.

In both of them, we had groups many times a day. In the morning, we would make a goal for the day. During the middle of the day, we would work on our "goal work", writing down how we would achieve our goals. At the end of the day, we would go over our goals and if we achieved them or not. We also got asked "Are you suicidal/homicidal?" and "How are you feeling on a scale of 1-10?". We also go through group therapies and activity therapies.

During the school year, we have school where we do actual schoolwork. During the summer, we do easier things like worksheets on musicians or actors.

We room with one or two other people. You may not always like your roommate, and most of the time you can't switch rooms. The only time you can switch a room is if you have a legit reason to want to switch.

Uh, the food in my experience wasn't terrible but it's not as good as a home-cooked meal.

It's been a few weeks since my last stay, but if you have a question regarding something I didn't post - don't be afraid to ask. I'm always here to help.

I only had a roommate once in the hospital. In the rest of mine they only had single rooms. Nice hospitals have a bathroom in the room. Some have shower rooms. No group showers in any of the ones I stayed at.

I just got out of McLean, a Massachusetts mental health hospital- first of all, if anybody is reading this seemingly-dead post and truly not knowing what to do to get help (and in New England, maybe?) I recommend this hospital 100% It is specialized around mental health, (if you get trapped in a generic hospital's psych ward, usually you don't get the best care,) & has a ton of different disorder-oriented treatment programs, both in-patient and out.

The first one I attended was a partial program, and I went to it ~7 hours every day, going from class to class to learn about cognitive & dialectical behavioral therapy. It was group lecture-based, very intensive and fast paced, and the most fucking useful supply of knowledge ever presented to me. Even if you don't go to a program for this, these two areas, CBT & DBT, are intensely eclectic and practically useful for MOST mood disorders. ('nd for regular life too, how bout that? )

Afterwards, I had a brief "downslide" period where I got worse and dangerous to myself, so I went to a ward in the same hospital for a week. That was more safety-oriented, but it was very helpful in building a social community with people who struggled with the same issues. (I was in a trauma ward for women.) I also was assigned a psychologist, case manager, + nurse who helped me figure out what was going to be the best plan for after I was discharged. That was more immediate-necessity assistance, but still extremely useful.

Also, just a side note, I made some AHMAZING friends at these places. Maybe life-long. Wow, I did.

That's my experience. I also tried a day at a PTSD~ish~ facility (outpatient) but it was just not a right fit and so I'm looking for some alternate treatment route for that. But that just is to say that not everything works for you, obviously, and it's GREAT to go in voluntarily before you're a huge threat to your safety and get systematically sent somewhere, because you can try out insurance-ok'd places and see if they're right and move on if not. I don't see any stigma attached to it, either. I feel completely bettered from these experiences, and I don't feel weak as a result of them. I think that hospitals for mental&behavioral health can be extremely benefiting and change your life in such a cathartic way.

I've only been in one, but my experience wasn't really normal since it was simply a ward in a hospital where they were combining kids that had no business being combined. They had suicidal kids, self-harming kids, and also kids that were simply there because they'd been getting into physical altercations. Putting a cutter and a bully in the same hospital ward and then forcing them to interact isn't the brightest idea.

My stay was less normal and more a deleted scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.