oh, gross. poor you . i think what you described is the case for most of the hospitals here too, but the hospitals i was referring to -- one of them is private, so they only accept patients who can afford it. the other hospital was only for teenagers, between 13 and 18, and they were trying to be innovative so as to caused less disruption in their lives. it was a really new idea when it got started up, i hope they are continuing it.

myself - i've never been admitted to a hospital, or used the day patient thing. my pdoc has discussed doing a day program thingie (where i would go once a week, like group therapy) but i dont have insurance so can't afford it. there was one time when i was really not doing well, and probably should have been in hospital, but pdoc said that the 'emergency' facilities for psych inpatients are atrocious at best, so he tried to keep me out of it. increased our sessions to 2x a week, and called me in between.