((((((Christina)))))))

It is my opinion that how helpful a hospitalization can be depend on a number of factors.

1. What hospital you go to. Different hospitals will have different programs for their patients. Some hospitals have groups, it sounds like the one your friend went to did not. You should find out what will be available to you while you are there.

2. What you are going in for. Different hospitals have different specialties even in general psychiatry.

3. How motivated you are about getting the most you can out of your hospital stay.

4. Know that it can take a little while to adjust to the hospital environment for example just sleeping in a different bed with different noises can be hard to adjust to.

Also keep in mind that what day you go in can make a huge difference. Usually you will not see the pdocs on the weekends. So if you can choose the day of the week you go in do it at the beginning of the week. If you go in on Thursday or Friday you wont get much done before the weekend and then just have to wait through the weekend until Monday to see the pdoc again. Often there is less activity on weekends. They can be very long and feel frustrating becasue not much gets done.

I think it is important if you can plan ahead for what your goals will be. Then you will be able to get the most out of it.