I know all the hospitalizations I have had have been for many different reasons. Most to begin with were because of suicide attempts.....which always required a 72 hour hold. I was also in several different private mental hospitals for the long term care.....I wasn't in a good place, so it really didn't help that much.....but they also had the day care programs for us after that to keep the support going. Many other times were because I felt suicidal. I always had major horrible side effects to meds, so any time my pdoc wanted to try a new med, they would stick me in the hospital & give it a try. Most times the side effects were so bad, they would have to stop it.

I remember several times when my psychologist had actually called 911 during my appointment & other times when the psychologist I was seeing called 911 while I was talking to him on the phone.

Most of the medical hospitals with psych wards are short term, crisis treatment just to get you through the worst. It's usually the private hospitals that have the stays for several weeks to several months similar to the eating disorders treatment center I was in for 1 1/2 months. There were a few years where I was in the hospital more than I was home....but it was mostly because of suicide issues.

The year after going through the trauma with the home care person when my mother was dying of cancer, my pdoc had me go to a day treatment program. I had completely lost it from the PTSD that it had caused & was still having difficulty eating from the stress.

I was never just put into the hospital because my depression was so major....there was always something else along with it that was going on....suicide or med trial.......it was definitely a very bad time of my life. Most of the hospitals were good, but in many situations, the feeling of being locked in was more than I could deal with. I remember one time at the UCLA psych ward, they finally let those of us who had been there for awhile, go out into Westwood. The guy that took us out there from the hospital told us to make sure our wrist bands were up under our sleeves so they couldn't be seen....lol....so no one would know that the crazy people from the psych ward were wandering around through the town...lol. After feeling locked in for so long, almost felt like making a break for it especially since I had worked in Westwood my first programming job out of college....I knew all the good places I could hide in without being found.....but decided against that choice. Think that was always my worst feeling about being in the mental hospitals was the feeling of not being free to go & do as I pleased.