I was in a psychiatric hospital...
This was a while ago, but I thought it might still be interesting for some people. I had depression/anxiety type stuff, I was admitted in December 2007 and discharged for good in February 2009. There were many adventures in between those two points though.
I was 14 - 16 at the time (my birthday's in January) and I'm 21 now. I was in an adolescent unit at the Priory Southgate; the Priory is the famous one that lots of celebrities go to, but I was there on the NHS.
I met a lot of interesting people in there and learnt a lot about mental health, as well as working on my own stuff of course. So...
Ask me anything.
I was 14 - 16 at the time (my birthday's in January) and I'm 21 now. I was in an adolescent unit at the Priory Southgate; the Priory is the famous one that lots of celebrities go to, but I was there on the NHS.
I met a lot of interesting people in there and learnt a lot about mental health, as well as working on my own stuff of course. So...
Ask me anything.
Sorry to hear!
How did you find it?
How did you find it?
Pretty broad question. :P
Well obviously I was quite miserable throughout or I wouldn't have been there. And it was boring as hell a lot of the time, when I wasn't actually in therapy there wasn't much to do except sit around and watch crappy daytime TV. It was the best thing for me at the time though, it gave me space away from my life (which I was obviously finding it hard to cope with) and let me just focus on becoming a functional human again.
The other patients were often really great friends - it's hard not to form intense friendships with people when you live with them and hear their most personal stories in therapy - that I got a lot out of hanging around. But there were also patients who could be scary when they were angry, which thankfully was generally rarely. It was tough watching your friends go through **** as well; it was quite common for people to try to kill themselves on the ward.
Well obviously I was quite miserable throughout or I wouldn't have been there. And it was boring as hell a lot of the time, when I wasn't actually in therapy there wasn't much to do except sit around and watch crappy daytime TV. It was the best thing for me at the time though, it gave me space away from my life (which I was obviously finding it hard to cope with) and let me just focus on becoming a functional human again.
The other patients were often really great friends - it's hard not to form intense friendships with people when you live with them and hear their most personal stories in therapy - that I got a lot out of hanging around. But there were also patients who could be scary when they were angry, which thankfully was generally rarely. It was tough watching your friends go through **** as well; it was quite common for people to try to kill themselves on the ward.
I've also been in a psych ward. They couldn't attend to my emotional and intellectual needs and I found the whole experience quite traumatic.
Did you meet any famous people?
A relative of mine spent a good while in a similar place before being moved on to various other places and ending up at a care home for people with mental issues.
I witnessed some weird and wonderful things when I visited said relative, and gained a pretty good insight into the kinds of things that go on in such environments. Because of that, I also know that there can usually be some quite funny moments, or at least there was when I was there for a couple of hours every week! So, what (if any) positive, or funny moments did you have while you were there? Some times it's better to focus on positives.
Hope you're all good and hope all your problems have gone away now by the way
I witnessed some weird and wonderful things when I visited said relative, and gained a pretty good insight into the kinds of things that go on in such environments. Because of that, I also know that there can usually be some quite funny moments, or at least there was when I was there for a couple of hours every week! So, what (if any) positive, or funny moments did you have while you were there? Some times it's better to focus on positives.
Hope you're all good and hope all your problems have gone away now by the way
(edited 9 years ago)
What was the craziest person you were in there with? Anyone dangerous?
How did you end up admitted?
Are you still under CMHT now?
Why were you an inpatient for so long?
Did you go to school there?
Are you still under CMHT now?
Why were you an inpatient for so long?
Did you go to school there?
Original post by SnoochToTheBooch
What was the craziest person you were in there with? Anyone dangerous?
There was once a guy who threatened violence against the gay people on my ward (after attacking one of them) and against staff members. He should have been in prison instead.
Original post by wildbluesun
This was a while ago, but I thought it might still be interesting for some people. I had depression/anxiety type stuff, I was admitted in December 2007 and discharged for good in February 2009. There were many adventures in between those two points though.
I was 14 - 16 at the time (my birthday's in January) and I'm 21 now. I was in an adolescent unit at the Priory Southgate; the Priory is the famous one that lots of celebrities go to, but I was there on the NHS.
I met a lot of interesting people in there and learnt a lot about mental health, as well as working on my own stuff of course. So...
Ask me anything.
I was 14 - 16 at the time (my birthday's in January) and I'm 21 now. I was in an adolescent unit at the Priory Southgate; the Priory is the famous one that lots of celebrities go to, but I was there on the NHS.
I met a lot of interesting people in there and learnt a lot about mental health, as well as working on my own stuff of course. So...
Ask me anything.
Very interesting and brave thread. Thanks OP for this.
Did you manage to get any qualifications whilst you were being treated?
Did you find the treatments effective?
What kind of treatments did you receive? What kind of therapies?
Did you try CBT? Did you find it helpful? (for me it wasn't particularly great I found it hard to do the things they told me to with the thoughts etc, but for others it's really effective)
What medication if any did you get given?
Why, were you there for so long?
Are you still suffering from those illnesses you mentioned now?
Did the staff treat you well? Were there any bad or insensitive staff?
What was the strangest thing that happened when you were there?
Original post by Holby_fanatic
Did you meet any famous people?
Nope, sorry! Boring I know. :P
Original post by ryan9900
So, what (if any) positive, or funny moments did you have while you were there?
I think the most positive bits were just hanging out and joking around with my friends. We had all kinds of inside jokes.
Original post by SnoochToTheBooch
What was the craziest person you were in there with? Anyone dangerous?
I'm going to go ahead and interpret "crazy" as "mentally ill".
It's difficult to measure illness in any meaningful way. There were a couple of people who were basically mute (one I don't know, one had OCD and it was related to her speech, so she found it easiest to not talk most of the time), one girl who wanted to dance with everyone all the time, someone else who thought everyone was out to get her all the time and responded very aggressively to the slightest aggravation. There wasn't anyone really dangerous, very dangerous people got moved to a more secure ward. We did have one person who was extremely angry for the first few weeks and shouted at people at threw things (cups, TV remotes) at the staff, but she calmed down after she started accepting her medication.
I will say that almost everyone there improved over their time there. I can think of maybe one exception. Pretty much everyone got better.
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
How did you end up admitted?
This isn't a fun story...
So my parents walked in on me cutting myself with half a suicide note next to me. My mum insisted I go to school the next day (I think it was the last day of term) regardless, I think she wanted things to be normal. I don't this very well but she said that when she got home from work, I was just sitting in the living room with the curtains drawn, not doing anything, looking really grey and drawn. She took me to the GP later that day; they dressed my wound, evaluated me, and sent me to A&E at the local hospital. The people at A&E evaluated me again and decided I should go into hospital. And that was basically it.
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
Are you still under CMHT now?
Yes, I still have therapy every week or so. I'd really like to quit because it's time consuming but I'm not sure if I can yet. If this year at uni goes well I probably will. I also take 60mg of fluoxetine a day.
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
Why were you an inpatient for so long?
That's how long it took me to get functional again. I spent a really long time not wanting to engage in therapy, because therapy hurts. Eventually I had to. As soon as I went into hospital, I got worse, because I spent my whole time out of hospital running around doing a million things to sotp myself thinking and feeling what was going on inside me. In hospital I couldn't hide and it was awful. But eventually, I confronted it and defeated it. Took a long time for that process to happen though.
It's a bit more complicated than it appears in in my initial post because I was actually discharged for a bit, but only a couple of months before I went right back in. I had some quite long periods of leave too.
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
Did you go to school there?
Not really. We went to "education" which was a schoolroom and theoretically we could study, but in reality, we just messed around and did crosswords. If we asked for help with school it was provided, but it really wasn't the main focus.
Original post by Toriar
What was the best moment during your stay?
Nothing sticks out from my stay. All the "best" bits were really processes, overcoming things and learning to deal with them, but they were always quite painful to go through.
I do still remember right after I got discharged, with this necklace with my initial on it (people getting discharged normally got a small present) round my neck, running to meet my boyfriend at the train station. That was pretty good.
Anonymouspie I haven't forgotten you but that's enough for now. If anyone else has similar experiences and wants to weigh in, feel free.
Original post by anonymouspie227
Very interesting and brave thread. Thanks OP for this.
Did you manage to get any qualifications whilst you were being treated?
Did you find the treatments effective?
What kind of treatments did you receive? What kind of therapies?
Did you try CBT? Did you find it helpful? (for me it wasn't particularly great I found it hard to do the things they told me to with the thoughts etc, but for others it's really effective)
What medication if any did you get given?
Why, were you there for so long?
Are you still suffering from those illnesses you mentioned now?
Did the staff treat you well? Were there any bad or insensitive staff?
What was the strangest thing that happened when you were there?
Did you manage to get any qualifications whilst you were being treated?
Did you find the treatments effective?
What kind of treatments did you receive? What kind of therapies?
Did you try CBT? Did you find it helpful? (for me it wasn't particularly great I found it hard to do the things they told me to with the thoughts etc, but for others it's really effective)
What medication if any did you get given?
Why, were you there for so long?
Are you still suffering from those illnesses you mentioned now?
Did the staff treat you well? Were there any bad or insensitive staff?
What was the strangest thing that happened when you were there?
While I was in hospital I didn't do any studying. I was just focused on getting better, so no I didn't get any qualifications.
I did find the various therapies I did quite effective, though. Probably the most effective thing for me was CBT in fact, I had a really good therapist that really pushed me even when I didn't want to work. We also did lots of other stuff like meditation/relaxation exercises,
While I was in hospital I didn't get any medication, but once I was discharged I got given fluoxetine (that's the active ingredient in Prozac) and also a couple of different types of sleeping pill/muscle relaxant.
I was there so long because...it just took that long, I guess. I spent a lot of time trying to avoid dealing with stuff because it was too hard to cope with. After I started facing things head on stuff got better.
I'm pretty good at this precise moment but it's possible for things to go really bad for me really quickly. After I got out I did spend many years still working hard, and that work isn't completely over yet.
The staff were generally quite good. There were some that just didn't give a ****, especially the night staff - it doesn't pay well and there isn't much opportunity for promotion, so the people working there tended to be either stuck or training for something else. They were quite good overall, but there was wide variation, and some of them were significantly better than others. A lot of this depended on personal preference though; everyone had their favourite staff members.
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