[jamminpianogirl]

I didn't know where to put this post.

If anyone here has had inpatient psychiatric care, or been to a transitional living treatment center (basically been through any treatment that requires you to live there for a week, month, 3 months, etc.), could you tell me your story?

My therapist, friends, and boyfriend keep pushing the idea. They are frightened of my self-destructive habits and suicidal thoughts - I'm scared to. But I'm really nervous about living at a treatment center.

-I'd have to put my life on hold
-Its really expensive and I don't know who'd pay
-I'm really nervous about being without my loved ones, who I'm really dependent on
-I don't want to be medicated

Staying away from home has always been hard for me - just sleeping over a friend's house can be anxiety provoking because of the unfamiliar sleeping environment environment, nevermind my difficulties when I went away to college (I had to return home).

Besides all those concerns, the unfamiliar really scares me.

What was your experience of long-term residential treatment like?

[Junerain]

My experience was absolutely beautiful, I made great and true friends, as the atmosphere was conducive to opening up and sharing things, I developed great relations with my psychiatrist, social worker, and therapist, my life improved because of it, was not put on 'hold..' as my delusions stopped and I could live again, my loved ones visited me everyday, and with family therapy my relations improved, I also had to return home from college, but flourished at the hospital I was at....perhaps it's because the hospital I was at was such a highly rated hospital, but I say what do you have to lose?? Are you at a point where what you're doing now and how you're thinking and feeling now are working??

[GhostlyOne]

Originally Posted by jamminpianogirl

-I'd have to put my life on hold
-Its really expensive and I don't know who'd pay
-I'm really nervous about being without my loved ones, who I'm really dependent on
-I don't want to be medicated

In my experience:
-you are taking a "timeout", but if you need one, so be it.
-my care center is making a payment plan I can afford; my place will pre-auth you and let you know what the liabilities will be
-the staff at the facility I stayed at was; caring, understanding and professional. They worked with me, not "at me". I was involved in all decisions.
-I chose to take medicines, but none that I rejected.

All in all, I must say my experience kept me alive. Without it, I could very well be dead right now. I don't think I can really put a price on that. I also made a few friends that I stay in contact with and have been able to lean on after being released. I do the same for them, that is what friends are for, right? The most liberating part is being surrounded by no one who is shocked at suicidal ideation and self-destructive behavior. Therefore, I was able to work through things I couldn't with my "normal" friends.

Just my 2 cents.

[jennaorgana]

i am a few days away from going through a 3 month to a year residential treatment program at a private psychiatric hospital. ive been through treatment that lasted a few days, but this is long term and i will be housed with the other schizophrenics and manic-depressives.

if you'd like to follow my blog site, i will literally be documenting every single step of the way (the URL is letyourfreakflagfly.org). i am doing it so people like you can get a better understand of treatment. i myself have found it SO DIFFICULT to find modern-day first-person narratives. so i am writing my own

let me know what you think!

[splitimage]

I've been in residential settings twice. Once in a treatment centre for rehab for a month, and once in a psychiatric hospital for 8 weeks.

The rehab place was an ok to not great experience. They didn't have much experience dealing with mental illness on top of addiction so I really clashed with the staff. The facility itself was great and the treatment program was, objectively, good - it just wasn't a good fit for me.

The psych hospital was really good. I was absolutely terrified going in, I was in really bad shape and everyone was telling me I needed to be iP. the thing that reassured me, was that my pdoc told me that because I was going in voluntarily I could leave whenever I wanted, and that it would be up to her and me to decide when I was ready to finish treatment and be discharged.

There was about 3 hours of group therapy every day plus I saw my pdoc every day. I also was able to get passes to leave to go see my T whose office was just down the street. We had optional exercise sessions where we went to a gym, escorted 3 times a week. The food was pretty good. The nurses were all amazing. The way it worked was you were assigned a primary nurse who was in charge of your meds, and you could talk to her whenever you needed to. My nurse was great. She new I was struggling with addiction to, so she found all kinds of extra stuff on addiction for me to work on, even though that wasn't what I was in for.

We had 2 lounges with TV's and an arts and craft room, and a computer with internet that we could use.

The hospital had a ranking system for patients in terms of privledges to leave the ward, from not at all to whenever you felt like it. Because I was voluntary and considered low risk for suicide, I could leave the ward whenever I wanted, unless I was supposed to be in group, for up to an hour at a time, so I was able to go out for coffee or a walk.

they even gave me special passes to go out at night so that I could go to AA meetings in the area.

The only 2 downsides in my opinion were (a) being constantly monitored - the nurses checked on you at least once an hour and (b) the relative lack or privacy - none of the doors had locks on them - not even the bathroom stalls. Also the staff took notes on everything and then updated each other. So for example when i came back from an AA meeting they'd ask me how it was and we'd talk about it. Then the next morning my day nurse would start the morning with I understand you had a good / bad experience at AA last night do you want to talk about it. It all felt kind of big brotherish.

But I can honestly say that the experience saved my life, and if I needed to go IP again, I would.

--splitimage

Hi there, I've been admitted to hospital 5 times total for severe OCD and suicide attempts...my longest stay being 44 days, and my shortest stay being 8 days.

It was definitely a needed experience, and to be honest, it saved my life. I made some good friends during my admissions, I met some great professionals and I learned how to cope with my various issues.

You say that you don't want to put your life on hold, but this seems to be something that you and your family recognize as important. Isn't your mental well-being worth giving some of your time and effort? By improving your mental health, you'll have a more rich and fulfilling life - trust me.

In the hospital people were basically sorted by how much of a risk they were. Those who weren't much of a risk or were there voluntarily could take walks outside by themselves, so you can have quite a bit of freedom depending on how much of a risk you are. I saw the psychiatrist, psychologist, and therapist quite often, nobody at the hospital was neglected. You'll get the treatment that you require.

In our hospital, there was a TV room, a games room, and a computer/art room. Since I was on the children's floor, we were also escorted to the school that was on grounds, and over there we had a full-size gym, an exercise room, and game/tv room. There's always somebody to talk to, so you shouldn't get bored.

It's very scary at first, but please consider doing this for your own well-being if you feel you can benefit from it. The staff try their best to make you feel at home, plus you will probably be able to have visits/telephone calls with family and friends often. Please keep us updated on how you're doing! (:

[coko27]

Originally Posted by jennaorgana

i am a few days away from going through a 3 month to a year residential treatment program at a private psychiatric hospital. ive been through treatment that lasted a few days, but this is long term and i will be housed with the other schizophrenics and manic-depressives.

if you'd like to follow my blog site, i will literally be documenting every single step of the way (the URL is letyourfreakflagfly.org). i am doing it so people like you can get a better understand of treatment. i myself have found it SO DIFFICULT to find modern-day first-person narratives. so i am writing my own

let me know what you think!

I love your blog and I hope that you get better asap

[mule]

Had some bad experiences with inpatient, but every one of them saved my life. I didn't miss out on much because my life wasn't really anything worth saving at the time. The inpatient treatments all gave me like a mental reboot, and I never took medication during them, not that I recommend my choice, I probably shoulda been medicated

[Stranger2]

My first time I was sent to a clinic because I didn't have insurance... They put me on the ward where you have a combination of personalities..After a week on that ward they decided I was safe so they put me on a better ward that was very layed back.. They had a TV room, and an arts and crafts, and games room..I was on there for a month.. The therapist was great and the nurse practitioner on the ward was a nice guy..They figured I was stable and let me out.. I ended back up there after being out for a month..I have been there nine times.. My tenth time they admitted me to the psych ward in the hospital because I had insurance then..I have social phobia so I stayed in my room except meal times..I recommend taking a couple of books to read because you do alot of waiting.. It's more boreing than anything..

[loveregardless]

Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences in this thread. I am finding them very useful.

[jamminpianogirl]

Thanks for the info :-) I just got back from an involuntary short-term stay at a psych hospital. As angry and frightened as I was to go, it really helped me to feel safer again. Now more than ever I think a longer term inpatient treatment would help me... but I'm realizing how outrageously expensive it is. is there any sort of assistance for paying for these programs? Because of my illness I can't work much, and it looks like my insurance won't cover it.

??

Maybe you might find some assistance here: http://www.something-fishy.org/treatmentfinder/