I don't know, I've been to the hospital one time, semi willingingly, and I don't think I will be back there again, or at least not for a very very very long time. My hospital experience really wasn't bad. They had good staff, treated you with dignity and respect. They made sure I was sleeping and eating.. Two things I really needed.

I don't think going to the hospital set me up for failure, maybe the opposite. I strive harder now to manage my bipolar more actively because I don't want another hospital stay, not because the stay was bad, but because I don't want to be that sick ever again.

That's only my experience tho. I'm sure it can work the other way too but for me I don't think I'll ever be actively suicidal, I have tried and failed in the past and I have my kids now, so in my mind that's not even an option for me. But if I am so low functioning because of mania and psychosis that I can't take care of them, and the home med treatments are not working at all, I feel I have to do something to get back in control so I can be a mother. I'm the only parent they have so it's pretty necessary that I am able to take care of them.