Has anyone else had a traumatic experience with mental hospitals before?

[Underground]

I spent a few days in a mental health unit back in August 2010, which I guess was quite a while ago now.

The traumatic thing was the events leading to me being put in there, more than the unit itself. Like cutting myself into ribbons, threatening suicide, spending hours in a police cell under suicide watch.

The staff were nice, but I absolutely hated having no privacy. I was 17 and in an adult unit, so I was the youngest person on the ward, so no one my age to talk to. Most of the patients were about 15+ years older than me. I hated having to have someone watch me while I slept, wait outside while I used the toilet/shower, someone to sit with me while I ate, watched TV, etc.
I still managed to self-harm using things like bottle caps...

The ward was locked but it was low security, there was no drama or any dangerous patients though.

 

[WearyOneSC]

Oh, my, yes...both in an upscale residential place and, far more horrifying/traumatic, with no insurance in a psych ward filled with frightening types of other patients and jaded, insensitive staff

 

[afterlifepig]

sometimes ur paranoid and sometimes ppl really are out to get you

i had an experience of the latter happening in the hospital ... ppl afraid of losing their jobs b/c of me ... but i told my parents and basically if anyone had hurt me there would have been serious repercussions. i thought at first i was in an episode of Breaking Bad tho that was wrong, but ppl were still out 2 get me. i don't want to go into too much detail b/c ppl might know who i am

mainly tho, the only problem i had in the hospital was getting fat b/c of meds and being bored. i had stuff i wanted 2 do but couldn't b/c i was stuck in the hospital. for the most part tho the hospital was a fine place 2 b, the staff were very helpful, and at least some ppl seemed genuine. i liked most of the staff there ...

edit, more info: so although i had an experience where i actually thought i was going to be murdered (crazy, life changing experience), the situation is not black and white ... overall i was really well treated in the hospital i was at, ppl were respectful and helpful, unlike what some ppl describe

it also helped that i knew how not to get myself in further trouble, since my father had experience w/ mental hospitals b/c of his job and knew about all the laws and procedures

 

[Johnnie]

I was hospitalized last year for 3 days after an attempt. There really isn't any therapy that happens there. It seemed mostly like a place to keep people they don't know what to do with. It was just meds, and making sure that the patients had the basics. It felt like prison... having to line up in groups of 8 to go down to eat. They allowed smoking, and that was weird. It was outside the building in a cage... they held onto the cigarettes and allowed only 1 during the break, with 4 breaks a day. When I first got there, it took over a day to get my hands on a toothbrush to brush my teeth. My therapist actually had to call them to get that for me. I refused to sleep in my room and slept on the couch in the lounge because one of my roommates was scary-violent. Some of these places are just awful, which is why I don't talk about suicide with any medical or mental health provider - I'll die before I ever go back there.

 

[AAA3330]

This last time I was in the hospital it seemed like I had to deal with all kinds of bull and felt as though I was treated like a child in many ways. The doctor didn't treat me that way though. I just wanted to lie down all of the time I was there, but they would always come around and say "group time". I went to most of them though it was a lot of bull that I didn't need. The last few days I was there I didn't go to all of them and they would always come around and ask "why aren't you in group?". I went there voluntarily, but they won't let you leave until the doctor allows it, so I was basically stuck there until the doctor allowed me to go. The meds didn't help me so the doctor was reluctant to let me go and I was there for 2 weeks. I should have known that it wouldn't help and kept telling myself "you shouldn't have come here". I didn't plan on being there for more than two weeks and had bills to pay so I was worried about that because the doctor didn't seem to want to give up. He finally did let me go though and was able to get my bills paid. I didn't remember it being so bad the other times that I was there and I know that many hospitals are worse than this one. I don't know if it was the drugs or not, but all that I wanted to do was lie down in the bed and was having a hard time walking. I didn't even want to get up for meals and didn't eat much of anything while I was there. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to make it out to my car when discharged, but I did thankfully. After I came home I was really shaky. All that the hospital seemed to do for me was to make things worse.

 

[AngelofPainandMisery]

I have been institutionalized at 4 places. After my first attempt I was in a short term care facility for a month, then a Residential care facility for less than a week. After my second attempt, I was at a short term facility for three weeks, and transferred to a Residential care facility for a little over two months.
Only one was "ok" the others I have bad memories from. Two of them I have severe PTSD from (both Residential care facilities) the psychological abuse, humiliation, along with punishments that didn't make sense, also neglectful medical treatment (I got bronchitis at the last residential care facility I was in, they refused me medical treatment on the basis that I was "making it up" despite that I had coughing fits every few minutes, sometimes I coughed up blood, they finally got me medical care after I was almost in a coma.) I was also almost killed at the first residential care facility as well. I literally died inside, and I still wake up with nightmares from those places. I went through this as an 11-12 year old kid, and I will die before I will ever allow myself to be put back there ever again.