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KazzaX - I'm sorry you had such a rotten experience going in-patient. That sounds worse than mine, and I thought Australia was more enlightened than that. I'm a nurse, and I see mention of Australia here and there when I read medical articles - about how your general health system is ahead of ours in the U.S. - in various respects. Isn't it something how Psych can be at such a lower level than other areas of health care.
I was able to get in, I think, because I live in a state where firearms are very easy to obtain. I'ld say the majority of us are gun owners.
Once I did get in, though, the scenario was not too different than what you describe. Everyone on the unit where I was placed were either psychotic or had dementia. I was put on on a ward for older people. I was much younger than everyone else in the unit. They told me there were more violent patients on other wards. That's a thing they look for here - potential for being a danger to other people. It's sometimes like the psych facility is an extension of the correctional system. I felt like I was treated more like an inmate, than a patient. When I got to the unit, they really didn't tell me about anything going on. They did talk to me about the potential of being restrained or put in "seclusion." It's routine for them to tell you that.
The psychiatrist spent minimal time with me. No real interview or assessment. Like you say, it's just about medication.changes. I stayed in my room because mainly it was that, or be parked in front of the TV. Similar atmosphere to what you describe. Nothing therapeutic going on. It seems they mainly monitor for violence. Staff stays away from patients and just sort of monitors. Absolutely no one asks what is going on in the patient's life. It is a very cold, almost mechanical environment. And there is that attitude on the part of Doctors that you are something low, if you are in there.
A social worker was nice to me. Even he told me that the system was bad. He thought he could get me some decent follow-up for when I left. He tried and came back and told me he was "shocked" when he was told I could go on a waiting list for 8 months.
I will admit I DID have a bad attitude once I saw how bad the place was - well, mainly just toward the doctor. He was like a robot. I would never go there again, if I felt suicidal. Some individuals were nice, if I took the initiative and talked to them. I felt sorry for patients who were too out of it to make any initiative. Some staff remained cold and condescending. That's how the pdoc was. The place was dirty. The food - much of it inedible. I lied to get out by saying I had improved and would be fine.
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