Well, my experience was not like a regular hospital...but I'm not sure I can give it a hearty recommendation either. There were structured activities...group therapy, art therapy, skills groups that happened every day (sometimes not weekends) plus you saw a pdoc and had daily meds and all that and visitation time. I still thought it was boring all day. Sleep was impossible in the awful beds plus the noisy nurses desk and who knows what from your roommate if you have one.

I thought it was awfully restrictive...but I guess that's the point. One positive thing though, was having the ability to make med changes so quickly and get that stabilized. Med changes were possible on the spot. I was in for mania, so that was a big plus...and you might have to factor that in to my feelings of boredom/oppression. There was no individual therapy and my T didn't have privileges there, so the group stuff was the only therapy during my stay.

Bottom line, I guess for me, is that if that's where I have to be to be safe then I just have to suffer through it. The hospital I was at also had partial hospitalization options. I'd take that in the future if only to be able to sleep in my own bed!

I hated hospitalization, but at least I'm still around to complain about it. Without it, I'd be dead. Go with what keeps you safe.