Every time I've been hospitalized I've gone on a 72 hour hold and then I've been voluntary after that, except once I was put on a 3 week hold, and during this last one, after a week I said I was leaving and they threatened to put me back on a hold, so I stayed.

I find the level of helpfulness varies depending on the hospital. Some of my voluntary stays have been helpful, some have not. Usually they just keep me a few weeks and change my meds around. Some of the hospitals I've stayed in don't even have therapy, you're just sitting around doing nothing.