Oh god I'm going inpatient helps!!!

my advice, don't go in if not sectioned , that's what its called in England when your keep against your will, and deemed to ill to be out in the world. Panick attacks are not hospital cases, strong meds will help that. Its scary place and stays with you for ever. If suicidal is the only reason to go in, all the rest can be treated outpatient,

I am in MN, and the rule here is that you have to give I think 12 hours notice before you plan to leave, that way the doctor can decide if you get to leave, or take other action if they think you shouldn't.

You can't just say I want to leave and then walk out the door (Been hospitalized more than a few times, tested the rules)

True, you can't expect to determine that you are leaving when the psychiatrist isn't there or available. The psych does have to agree with the leave.

In most cases though, this isn't a problem. If a person is delusional and refusing help, that's when the doctor will resist patients decision to leave & may then file to have the person become an involuntary patient (for 30-90 days). However, this is an extreme example ~ NOT the norm!

an involuntary that is 30-90 days is pretty long at a crisis hospital. especially if its a hold. but ive been to a crisis hospitals that have varying stay periods. theres one i know of that i dont think they keep people past 2 weeks at all. if they do they transfer them out. although ive been to other places that say they are crisis that usually people are there for less than 2-3 weeks but theres a few (a literal few) who told me they were there for 3-4 months if not longer they said.

Here in MO you can go in voluntarily but cannot leave unless the pdoc says you can. I know this for a fact. Depending on what hospital I was in, the stays were tolerable to good. The most people in a room was 4, the least amount was just me. The amounts varied from a couple thousand to almost $25,000 (private room). Thankfully I have Medicaid and it covered all the bills. I attended the groups and individual sessions after the first day or so, except for one stay where I stayed in my room for 3 days. That stay had me inpatient for almost 3 weeks. That was one of my best stays once I started going to groups and what not. I also had a good stay at my last hospitalization.

Hope you have read the many replies here to your post, at the very least.

At the most,

I am sorry you are struggling right now. Just over 6 weeks since i was last an inpatient at the hospital. (still processing)

I hope "they" who are suggesting this are offering with the idea of giving you a break, reassessing symptoms/diagnosis/coping resources, prescribing/adjusting medication, plus giving you more strategies and support to be able to deal with panic attacks. I also hope you are in a place that is relatively safe and comfortable (hooray for Canada's Health Care System btw)

(((((everybody here)))))

The longest I was in was close to a month. The people that had been there for 3-4 or more months were typically the ones waiting for placement (commitment) to a state hospital or other institution.

Seem,s all down to money in America, if you have none or insurance your put in a zoo type hospital full of the scariest people . if you have money you put in what you call crisis centre , that sounds like a private hospital to me were they treat the big insurer,s. your hospitals are words apart for have not, and have lots. We on the other hand have the NHS which has tramps, bankers, drug takers , rich people , ect ect all in the same hospital no crisis centre , Your in the mental hospital and if sectioned your going know were till they say so. No class distinction for us were in it together one of my friends was a broken GP, Posters seem to be talking about different types of care in America , rich or ooops your going to the community zoo. Which one is the thread maker going

Doesn't sound like a posh rehab hospital. More likely at a local hospital.

while its true that if you have "better insurance" or something you get treated well.

but its sort of mixed up on what hospitals call themselves.they may call themselves crisis centers and people stay in really long. i was in over 3 weeks at a so called crisis center. then 7 days many many many times in a place that called themselves a crisis center.

i think this being all mixed with what people expeirienc is a testimony to how the mental health system is run. bad.

You seem to have a lot off mental health type hospitals in America ,is there more mentally ill per mile or something. We have 1 mental hospital per city nothing else. Nobody pays insurance for private mental health care that i no . the private hospitals are for rock stars or celeb,s, at 10s of thousand £ a week. NHS pays for health care we pay every week out of wages, but it don't give us private health care . You can pay private out your own pocket , but all he means is you get the same treatment quicker, so you pay twice for the same thing.

i think they say 1 out of every 5 people in usa have mental health dx. i really dont know the statistics for all diagnoses together to be honest.

anyway
as far as the mental hospitals per city. yea here at least around where i am its like that. although some cities dont have it. if they dont i think they have a county hospitals. some places have very little people living in them in this country. i live in a town with around 700 people. theres no school or grocery store here or police station. on fire station. we go out of the town to get or do stuff. just to paint you a picture.

bigger cities have multiple hospitals. they are either tied to general hospitals or stand alone private or stand alone public which includes crisis and state hospitals. and of course private residential types.

haha insurance is quite compliacted to me.
theres no national health care in the usa.
i mean...becuz u said no one u know pays private. tons of people here pay private. and then some people have government funded health care. still quite confusing to me. maybe someone can explain insurance better than i can for the USA.

I have been in several different ones for different things. None of them are easy, and some are better than others, but it sounds like it might be helpful at least as a starting point for getting help.

I am happy to go into more detail or my experience, just let me know if it would be helpful. Best of luck.

I am on the border line of going in voluntarily or not. I am scared of the unknown, but on the other hand, I believe this is what is going to be best for me. I have done the research on this program and have heard many good things about it. I know there is a strict schedule and you are busy all day with groups, meetings, doctors, etc. I am 50 years old and never thought in a million years I would ever be considering this. I have been abusing drugs all my life. Now that I am 6 months clean, I have to re-learn everything. My coping skills are not what they should be and I can't think straight out here. I am hoping they will help me with this depression, self esteem, wrong thinking, etc. Any one have any advice?

Every Hospital is different. Some are more strict than others. The group therapy I received was not that great however for once in my life I had no choice but to get away from everything and saw that nothing terrible happened. The world did not end without me. It was hard to be grouped in with cutters and people pacing the halls talking to themselves however, I made the best of it. Quit smoking since they did not allow it, lost 7 pounds because the food was terrible and learned that I do not have to be so anxious about everything because things will get done without you there. So all in all I would say it was more "pro" than "con" I did ask to shave and a lady stood outside my shower and talked to me the whole time. By the time it was over I had no desire for cell phones or computers and was able to focus on getting better.

Here, the quality changes from state to state also. Overall, since HMO's took over the health care industry the availability of therapeutic hospitalization has gotten harder and harder to find outside of very expensive private hospitals. Most hospitals covered by ordinary insurance are run as crisis centers. They are mostly stripped down to the wire for medication stabilization and no longer offer things like going outside, art, music or recreational therapy, why should they? They rarely keep anyone longer than a week or two, often those that used to be in longer are just referred to IOP's where they may or my not be able to show up depending on their home circumstances and transportation availabilities. The hospitals see it as deniability; we recommended IOP or partial hospitalization we can't be responsible if they don't show up! This often leads to a revolving door where there is no real stabilization and many are homeless because it is not a part of the care but seen as a separate need. Whether people understand it or not we need the affordable care package that the government is trying to get though so we can start the change to better quality health care especially in mental health care. The Obama health care is not perfect and needs work but it is a start in the right direction.
There are better hospitals here and there that do great good but it depends a lot on which state you live in.

@sidestepper

and im in TX! i believe its #49 or #50 as the worse mental health care.

sidestepper/ I see a lot of that , homeless free loaders , using the loop holes in the NHS to get a free bed and food, buy flitting in and out mental hospital while under outside detox but in reality there still using, and storing up the benefit money to score more drugs , these people are scum they should tell the benefit people when there in hospital but don't . you see they cut benefits if you have nothing to pay out. Im just worried that these sign yourself in pay hospitals are money machines to people not going through such a tough time has they think but the hospital is willing to take them and there money. Has I said before to walk in a nhs hospital and get a bed there and then , you would have to shoot 3 of the staff to get noticed

I said that badly, what I meant was that part of the care for mental health needs to focus on the whole package, if someone is homeless then to help stabilize them they need homes. This should be part of the social help in a hospital, but things have been allowed to go on for so long now that the numbers of homeless MI is so large that it will take enormous resources and no one seems to even want to begin tackling this issue. The need is for Real homes not a bed in an unlicensed half way center, that over, here strips them of all their money, but a safe place that is appropriate to their needs.
Those that seem to be using the system have been trained to do that by the system, their behavior is part of the addiction cycle and as long as the system maintains that revolving door their addictive behavior will be rewarded, and the hospitals overwhelmed by the numbers of under-treated and untreated mental illness. The only way things are going to change is when nations decide to stop ignoring the problem of poor mental health care and start addressing it, all aspects of it. Stigma, a stable base to call home, therapy, jobs & the freedom to the pursuit of happiness. One can not look for happiness when ones basic needs are unmet.

Got your point, there is a hard core load of free loaders hear that give mental health a bad ride. in England the benefits are more for illness than out of work , mental illness is easy to fake if good

hospital held me for 4 days/also for self harmwatch. I got more meds from my pdoc, turns out I also have a abnormality and I basically had heart attack but, doctor says I'm perfectly healthy and no one understands what happened to me. I'm on a beta blocker now from the heart doctor.

Welcome back!
Good to hear that you're okay.

Thank you.

Good to know you are out. The beta blockers will be good for you as well.

Bravo- you are extremely strong and brave. In my opinion, what do you have to lose? I would sit down with a pen and paper and make a list of 1. pros of going. 2. cons of going. 3. pros of not going. 4. cons of not going. Then see where you are. Having it on paper, might help you get the mess in your head out in some tangible organize way, I know that helped me decide whether to go or not. Ultimately, I based my decision on whether I wanted to continue getting by in my life as it is or worse, go back to where I was, or to give myself the chance for something better.
There are absolutely cons of going in-patient, no matter where you would decide to go, there are absolutely cons. I would just chart to see if the pros of going outweigh the cons.

Keep up the GOOD, HARD work...you are truly courageous. Keep us posted (hugs)