/ot/ - off-topic

Send this to >/b/

Definitely meant to put this in /b/. Sorry admin-sama.

>>88520
Is this ED IP?

I was psych inpatient and it was dull. People being mentally ill. Wake up, meds, smoke, meds, sleep.

I hate films like Girl Interupted. They make psych wards appear glamorous to stupid kids when really they're as interesting as medical wards.

I was in a psych ward for non-mental health reasons, everyone resented me because I was the youngest one there at the time and because I was the only one who could get through the group-building exercises without flying into a bpd rage

>>88524
Was the group building optional? The only respite from boredom we had was OT groups like woodwork, pottery and art if you felt well enough to go. There's never any therapy IP, except drug therapy at general NHS psych wards.

>>88525
the group-building was optional but encouraged. I opted out at first because everyone was just yelling overtop of each other, it was chaos.

>>88523
This. I've been in a bunch, and the most excitement I ever saw was a severely schizophrenic man who was brought in and took a while to be stabilised, but even that was more sad than anything else, and no different to someone being put in a hospital bed in need of treatment anywhere else. Vaguely exciting, but really just medical.

Most days are just like you said. Wake up in the morning, they hand out meds, you sit around until lunch, they sometimes take vitals, you sit around until dinner, they hand out meds and then you go to bed. Nurses do things with the patients sometimes and sometimes you're allowed to leave the ward.

Sometimes there's patient interaction, but they're just normal people generally, not whacky cool eccentric people like this stuff suggests.

>>88523
I don't know how they made pysch wards seem glamorous. You are put and held there against your will, have to have someone else bathe you and give you meds constantly. If you're dumb enough to think they are, you're probably underaged and need attention.

>>95573
I mean, from what I've seen, you don't need to have people bathe you, worst I ever even heard of was a nurse had to sit outside the door while you showered. And in Aus at least, if you agree to be there (an involuntary patient can become voluntary at any time), they can't actually force any treatment on you, and can't make you involuntary again unless you try to leave and refuse to stay as voluntary.

Oh lolcow, if those of you in this thread were the same people laying into that poster for saying her dad stood up for her then I am going to laugh hard.

>>95573
you bathe yourself in psych wards.

>>88520
I've been inpatient baker acted a few times. I have also gone voluntarily.

I met a bunch of interesting people there. Many if not most were drug addicts. it was strange seeing when they first came in, often they were stitched up or would come in hysterically, screaming, crying. some people come in and seem 'normal' but as the days go by the start to 'show' how crazy they really are.

If anything it's sad more than glamorous.

a few times they stuck me in the geriatric unit which really scared me. I probably sound like a whimp but the old people in there were really, really gone in comparison to the younger patients. I had women (elderly) ones and men come in my room telling me to get out, that it was their room, that it was so and so's room etc when it was mine obv. I ended up getting strep from there and the shitty staff didn't do anything to help me pretty much. I didn't eat or drink for days pretty much and when I came out I pooped the worst poop of my life (TMI I actually ripped my butthole and it's been fucked since then)




I will post later about this really strange guy I met in there later, I talked to him outside the ward and he was really something.

I didn't encounter anyone who was "crazy". Most people in there were just suicidal excluding two guys who had PTSD because their fathers abused them. One of the attendants, who was a grown man, lightly pushed one of the patients during conversation and the patient lashed out. He started crying, screaming, and getting really angry so then the guards came and sedated him. We called it booty juice cause they'd stick the needle in your ass cheek lmao.
Other than that, nothing happened. I was put in a unit with younger adults so I assume they were less out there than an older patient would be. There's just a lot of eating food and watching television happening in the ward for the most part.

>>95620
>>95614
Your experience sounds the most similar to mine, I've been in a few different adolescant psych units in my time and some of the things I endured and what went on was fucking horrific. I've spoken to a lot of people who've been in and out of prison too and they agree that jails are less dehumanizing and disgraceful. One place it was just me and this chick a couple years older than me locked up in this massive high security unit. It had cushions all over the walls and this big central room that was circle with little bedrooms around it, and there was nothing to do but build pillow forts with that blonde, nymphomaniacal, BPD probably, girl all day until they'd unlock this glass cabinet with a tv inside it and we could watch it for an hour. That was torture for me, so understimulating. It's funny though how two very different people can be forced to bond in confinement. Anyway this other ward I was on was way worse, I don't know I'm pretty sure everyone working there cared so little about their job and us kids it was another level of neglect, this place really was just turning young kids into zoloft zombies. I was super drugged up when i went there, they put me on insane amounts of pills that made me go into psychotic rages, i got the butt injection and thrown into the high security cell on christmas eve. the other kids on the ward were pretty fucked up, a bullimic rape victim who couldn't actually say or hear the word "rape", you had to say "the R word" around her. A 12 year old boy who had been transferred from the main part of the hospital after being admitted with a stab wound and suffering from drug induced delusions. another boy called winston who was either severely autistic or intellectually disabled I'm unsure, he would just make animalistic noises and kick over the trash can in the rec room like, every day lol, and his parents would always come visit or maybe his grandparents since they looked older, it was weird, they always had really sad smiles on their faces. There were other kids who came and got released but those are the ones I remember since we were in for the longest, plus most of my memories around that time have a lot of holes from all the pills. Sorry for the fucking blog post I just have a lot of stories and I like hearing others if you

>>95598
idk what you're saying about being able to become voluntary at any time, I doubt that's true. Being a minor in a psych ward is the worst since your parents literally sign over your rights and you have zero say in anything like medications or even who your doctors are.

>>96325
It's absolutely true in Australia, you're only involuntary if you refuse to stay in the ward.

Voluntary here just means you've given your consent to be there, which is applicable over the age of 14. You have absolute say over your medications if you're considered a voluntary patient, as to force medications on someone not legally under the care of the facility would violate bodily autonomy laws. And obviously consent is able to be given or withdrawn at any time, as it is with any setting.

Compulsory treatment orders are different, you can't just become voluntary from those, but they're pretty rare, you have to do something particularly bad to get put on one.

i went inpatient at a hospital with one unit reserved for ED patients, 14 beds.
i was underage so i was involuntarily admitted.
i stayed about 2-3 weeks because in hospital ED units, the goal is just get your weight up and get you out.
there were all ages there. the youngest was 10 (her mom was emotionally abusive. so sad), and the oldest woman was like 60. there were also two guys in their teens/college.
everything was pretty standard i guess. they wake you up around 5 for vitals. breakfast at 730. everyone at one table with two nurses observing and a 45 min time limit. at the end, we go around the table and you have to say if you completed your meal. bathrooms are locked pretty much all day; you can ask a nurse to open it but they will be outside the door and also check the toilet after you go (gross)
meet with therapist, nutritionist and medical doctor, and the whole 'team' at intervals throughout the week to check your progress.
if you are good you get two 15 minute walks a day.
there are only 2 ED units in my state but the other one lets you take yoga class, which i think is good. we were basically caged animals, being observed, fed, and drugged.

>>88520
I'm ashamed to type this, but have any of you been traumatised by inpatient stays, even years after the event? I've started to find myself having night terrors over things like constant obs and being restrained by staff (funny enough being attacked by patients and seeing their self harm blood smeared over the place hasn't really affected me as they were ill and therefore didn't have capacity).

Given that I was still a teenager at the time I can understand that didn't have the development to cope so easily with such an environment but as an adult I just can't forget the terror of being 14 and having a grown man restrain you, or not having any privacy.

Yes I know how pathetic that sounds.

>>96641
Things like being on a section where you basically have no autonomy, and having a nurse always weigh you in just your underwear and pinch your buttocks to see if you need a padded cushion. Okay they are just doing their job but when you have already gone through being groped by an adult in the past to have an adult stare at you nearly naked and judge you for your body was hard.

>>96641
I can relate to that, anon, it's not pathetic at all. I was very young when I was first admitted and I was manhandled by the orderlies as well, which, during such a sensitive time for my psyche, left an impression. It really is such an inhumane way of 'treating' those most at risk, it's definitely a psychological sort of manipulation as well which I could definitely see having a lasting effect on a young, impressionable mind. Maybe your night terrors are a way for your brain to process these memories and emotions you're only now able to process?

Personally, I think that a lot of the 'therapy' I had to endure actually had more of a negative impact on my mental health than some of the other trauma I went through, the whole ordeal of being told there was something inherently wrong with me made me question everything about myself and I became incredibly self conscious and it took a long time to build up any self esteem again.

I was IP for about 6 hours. I went to the hospital by ambulance and my dog was traumatized by them (he would not eat or drink at all for a few days) so they let me go back home since I was so scared my dog would die because of me.
The end, never been in IP other than that or anything but you did ask. The nurses were incredibly sweet, but I was like 13.

I've been IP twice for depression/anxiety.
First time I was 13, so I was put in the kid's ward. I was the oldest there. I threw a tantrum when I was admitted, I refused to eat/drink/shower/go to toilet for like 2 days before I realized it wasn't such a bad place. Felt a lot like being at home, expect a lot more strict. I didn't have access to my phone and anything that could be used as a weapon/ tool for suicide was confiscated, but otherwise it was just school, playing games, surprisingly nice food, exercising, hobbies etc normal things that normal people do. I stayed for 4 months in total, and the weirdest things I saw were a kid throwing a violent tantrum and being restrained in a padded room, and a kid who would expose himself constantly (he was like 7, I think he may have been a victim of sexual assault…). Oh and a 12 year old girl who smuggled in cigarettes.
The second time was when I was 18, I was put in the adult ward. It was voluntary on my part so no tantrums this time, lol. Had to share a room which sucked since my roommate snored. Stayed for 4 weeks, nothing exciting happened. I was considered not a threat to myself or others so I had access to my phone, laptop with wifi, cash, etc and I could come and go unsupervised. Other patients were nice, we'd watch movies together and one of them, who was a baker, taught me how to bake all kinds of delicious things. I guess the most interesting thing were the ana patients who weren't allowed to even walk, instead they had to sit in a wheelchair 24/7(they COULD walk, just weren't allowed any exercise whatsoever). I thought it was a bit excessive. After I got out I also read the news that someone had had cocaine in there and the police confiscated it but the nurses weren't allowed to tell whose stuff it was due to professional confidentiality so no one was arrested.
I have to say I also hate the way media glamorizes/dramatizes IPs when it's really not that interesting. Most of the people are just regular folks who happen to be sick.

I was IP for about 3 months due to psychotic depression. This was a little over a decade ago. I think it was probably the single most traumatizing experience of my life. I was having a session with my doctor and he suddenly calls me an ambulance and tells me I'm going to the ward. Later on I did realize why he did that, but at that time I was really surprised and shocked. I remember crying all the way to the hospital, I was so scared. I had no idea what to expect, because all I "knew" was what I'd seen in movies.
Oh well, it definitely wasn't as bad as I'd thought, but boy, was my roommate a hoot!
This girl was a paranoid schizo, who would borrow my makeup without asking (ew!), and she would clog the damn toilet at least 3 times a day! I don't know wtf she kept doing to it, but it stopped when the nurses talked to her about it. She would also shake the door handle throughout the night to check if it's closed. Sometimes she would just sit around the room, and mouth words, laughing to herself and making kissing motions to the air. Sharing the room with her really sucked.
Not many other interesting characters there. Two of the youngest girls in the ward had been IP for 5+ years. They were basically just obese zombies wandering around. So pumped up with all kinds of meds it made me kinda sad. I wonder if they're still there.
There was also an incident where this guy drank a whole bottle of axe deodorant, and passed out in the hallway.

I remember it was just super boring. Everyone just sat around all day watching tv and talking shit. It was a closed wards so we couldn't leave without a nurse. And even then it was like a short walk to the library building or something equally depressing. They hardly ever had any time for things like that, and most of them were assholes anyway. The most annoying thing about the place was the strict rules, and the fact that they took our phones away so the only contact with the outside world was through the public phone (1 call/day) in the hallway where everyone could hear your business. I pretty much bullshitted myself out of there by pretending to be doing better. Quite honestly, the only good thing about the hospital stay was that the meds helped me through the psychosis, but I think it made my depression worse.
So much text.

>>96746
Fuck, sorry. Meant to say she blocked the toilet.