I was inpatient at a psychiatric hospital for 7 weeks last summer and it was mostly a good experience. We had group therapy several times a day along with recreational therapy, and we had the option of going to a gym to work out three times a week. I was assigned a nurse as my primary point of contact and I could talk to her whenever I felt I needed it. I also saw my psychiatrist almost daily which was important because we were making med changes. I was basically only allowed to bring clothes, books, and some craft supplies and personal toilletries. Anything sharp had to be handed in to the nurses, but you could sign out your razor for shaving. Since I was a voluntary patient I had full priviledges to leave the unit whenever I wanted (within certain hours) so I could go for coffee or walks outside. The biggest downside is boredom. Despite the group therapy, there is a lot of down time, so I wound up watching a lot of TV, and doing a lot of crafts. I learned to knit when I was in there. After discharge, I went into an 8 week outpatient treatment program called transition to community which had me going back four days a week for a couple of group therapy sessions (basically only a couple of hours a day) and meetings with a nurse and psychiatrist to discuss my goals on reintegrating into the community. Being inpatient helped me immensely and although I was really resistant to th e idea at first, I now consider it one of the better decisions I ever made. That being said, I was in a really good program in a really good dedicated psych hospital. They're a WHO centre of excellence site. I've heard of people having much worse experiences than mine in places where little or no therapy was offered.

Good luck.

--splitimage