Actually I have found this whole drama ridiculous.

1) People going inpatient are usually functioning so low ,GAF less than 25, that they can not dress themselves, get out of bed, etc. They do not spend weeks or days deciding whether to go into the hospital.

2) If a p-doc arranges for admission, the intake process is nothing but taking a history, and physical. Your p-doc or if he does not have floor priveleges, a co-worker, arranges for a bed and determines if your insurance will cover it. A p-doc admits a patient, they are in.

If there are no beds in one hospital, a p-doc will look for another hospital.

It is just like any other hospital admission. When I admit children to the hospital, I make sure there is a bed, make sure the insurance is notified, and tell the family they have one day that the bed is held. The family goes in for the intake, giving history, etc and they are shown there bed. As a doctor, I have admitted the patient. Check.

3) By arranging for admission to a hospital, the p-doc is saying "this person is serious."

4) If your p-doc did not arrange or think you needed to be hospitalized and did not work on it, going in and saying I need to be hospitalized is then YES, a subjective evaluation of you. In this example, unless you are a risk of killing yourself or others, most likely a bed won't be available and they will tell you goodbye.

5) In most hospitals, the people are functioning at such low levels or they are wanting to kill themselves or have attempted to kill themselves. It is not a get-away. It is hard work. Yes, you don't have the reality of the outside world, but you have the reality of the inside world and dealing with your problems.

I have been in numerous hospitals in various states. Not one did I say it was a vacation. It was hard work and usually required many days to even get to the point of being able to interact with groups. People are in there NOT to get away. People are in there because they can not function. Most did not "decide" over many days or weeks to goto the hospital. Most had no choice because they needed to save their lives.