Did you make friends on the ward?

Just wondering if you made any friends on the ward? I made many friends and found they were more honest and authentic,deeper friendships.I also fell in love with other patients at least four times on the ward usually some guy I’d get involved with,and I fell for two of my psych nurses I was there often and for a long time.

i've never really made friends with anyone I met in a psych ward. There have been people that I liked, and got along with well, and we'd sort of hang out as a group and do things together, but we all deliberately kept it sort of superficial. I've never kept in contact with anyone I've been hospitalized with.

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The one time I was in an adult ward, I fell for a girl that was there.

She was in there because she was suicidal. Her boyfriend was abusive to her and she was struggling with depression from it.


We clicked early on and started talking a lot and holding hands. The only thing that kept her from wanting to be with me was our age difference. At the time, I was 21 and she was 28. She said if I was a few years older she would probably be hitting on me.

I was one of the only guys there who was nice to her in a non creepy way. She was attractive so a lot of guys were hitting on her and making sexual jokes and other weird stuff. I tried my best to comfort her and make her feel better. After I left, we parted with a hug.


We were going to keep in contact outside of the psyche ward. I only heard from her once after we both discharged and she seemed to be doing alright. She fell off the face of the earth soon after though. Sometimes I still worry about her. I hope she found a guy that isn't an abusive prick to love her because she was a sweet girl.

I have made some really good friends in the psych ward, who I continue to stay in touch with, and it's been over 5 years since I got to know them.

The first few times I felt like the kids were a lot more nicer and understanding then the kids in my Jr. high. After that, not so much. Although that was pretty much my fault. I used to see some of them around years later and they were still jerks.

98% percent of hospitals within a 60 mile radius of me are horribly abusive places. The yelp reviews are really bad. There’s one great hospital which is the best mental health hospital in the surrounding states. That’s where I go for therapy and where my doctor is. But good luck trying to get into the actual hospital. You usually have to be put on a waiting list everytime you try to go. You sometimes have to wait for days. And if your involuntary you just get sent to one of the bad ones since they always have plenty of beds.

Are the hospitals in other states better? It seems that way based on people I know. All I know is I am downright terrified of going to a hospital based on the options I have.

I made a friend the first time I was hospitalized and we stayed friends for years until she died.

Otherwise, I have not met folks I could relate to. Too young, not much in common, too disturbed, etc.

The last time I was in, I didn't make any friends, since I didn't want the hospital to be a part of my life after I left. In the past I have made a few friends there, but none of those friendships lasted long, because they were all related to the 'psych subculture'. I found it hard when someone would call telling me that they were suicidal. For some it was chronic. It was too much for me, so I had to distance myself.

All the people I met there have passed away between the ages of 35 and 44 from natural causes and suicide. Sad.

I'm the veteran of almost 30 inpatient admissions, including one that lasted an entire year. My therapist made a rule after several destructive "friendships"...do not make friends inpatient and then bring them outpatient. It was a wise rule. Bonding over an illness when we're in a closed environment is natural. On an inpatient unit, other patients are our only social contact. However, for me, illness is not the reason to bring someone out of an in-patient unit and into my child's life. As much as we think we might know someone who shares our hospital stay, we don't know them. We only know what they tell us. I brought home people who were stalkers and people who turned out to be dangerously manipulative. However, to me, they seemed like soul-sisters in-patient. You can't truly know someone when everyone is in a controlled environment and everyone is extremely ill. Be very cautious.

I've had numerous hospital stays but only made a friend once...we were inseparable while i was in the hospital....we really hit off and became close. i kept in contact for a little while after discharge but lost touch when she went to a new group home. other than that i've kept to myself during my stays

It easy to bond with others in a clinical setting. People often have the same issues and much in common. I don't tend to contact people outside of hospital though the invitation has been there. In one of the outpatient programs I have been to a guideline that has been set that people don't contact others in the group as each person is dealing with their own issues.

Ive made friends while on wards but I dont normally keep in touch. I have added a few people on facebook as well.

Nope, never did. In fact in one hospital it seemed most of the other patients didn't like me very much. Oh well.

There was always one or two people I was comfortable with and friendly with in the hospital. I wouldn't go so far as to call them friends, and we certainly didn't maintain contact after discharge. Not generally a good idea.

I have made many friends in my stays. All but one were short term inpatient friendships though. Still I look at them as that. I dont have any real friends so a deep connection is rare for me even though I can get along with pretty much anyone. I think I am too much for myself and others when not on a psych ward. I enjoyed having people I could be 100% honest and open with and have mutual understanding of each other.

The one friend I still keep in contact with doesnt live near me. We have never visited outside the ward but talk online still. It is hard and we continue to talk less and less becuse one of us seems to always be IP at different times or hospitals and yes it can be triggering so more of our conversations have turned into being about pets and jokes and stuff which is nice.

once when i was inpatient i made a very good friend and we hung out the entire time we were in but after some things about him became clear and i had to cut off the friendship.
Many years later an RN on the unit sat down with me and explained that ppl on the unit sometimes have criminal records or are awaiting trial for many unsavory issues. She said you have to keep in mind we can have rapists, child molesters all kinds of ppl up here and you don't know because no one can tell you to steer clear. I thought about that and the friendship i struck up with the guy so many years before and realized i might have just lucked out as he was put in jail after he got out of the unit for abusing his wife and kids.
So yeah i will strike up about 3 friends just enough to play friendly games of euchre when we were not in groups or eating dinner.
Just use good judgement and don't give out your address or phone number.
BE SMART!!! Tams

When I was hospitalized as a teenager, I made a lot temporary friends from my stay that ended up on social media with me. We weren't ever that close, but for a while there was some contact before it fizzled out eventually.

My recent hospitalization was a lot different. I hung out with one other student, he was the only other student and only one my age, and a woman that had suffered through a lot of the same things I had. Everyone else had been there a lot longer, were very messed up. I was glad to leave and forget it all by the end of it.

I was talking with my mom about this today. I mentioned that at the really bad hospital I went to the kids were the nicest for the most part, but the best hospital I went to the kids were really mean. She said it’s because at the good hospital the parents were probably paying privately so the kids were snobs.

I didn’t label the hospitals good and bad based on the patients though. I labeled them good and bad based strictly on the staff. But yeah looking back on it 12 years later that “good” hospital was just as ****** as the bad hospital. Which is why I do not understand why some people just love the hospital.

I made many friends in the wards when I was hospitalized but I never stayed friends with them afterwards.

The last time I was in I made real bonds with the staff and patients and even fell in love with a guy there. But all of it when down the drain when I left, and I don't even know what happened to that guy either other than he took a turn for the worst.

I did a few times but I’m not still in contact with them. No crushes. I’ve had around 30 hospitalisations and in almost all I keep to myself due to the severity of my symptoms. I get paranoid and making friends can be impossible. Also I’m so obsessed with my demise that other people are of no concern to me. Mixed states with and without psychosis don’t really make you friendly.

I met my daughter's father in a mental health facility 22 years ago. Most recently, I met two ladies and we exchanged contact information, but never kept in touch.

Yes but mostly people stay in there own space and not talk,the smoking area always has people around not bothering anyone else.

Got out of last long-term hospitalization in late 2016. Made a friend who is a great guy and we have stayed in regular contact since.

Yeah, I made some friends. I was pretty good friends with one of them until she deleted her Facebook and now I have no way of getting in touch with her, which stinks. I always think that maybe she deleted her Facebook because of me, but I don't think that's true. She probably had her reasons. I always felt pretty cautious about that relationship though since we were both so vulnerable with each other. And I never thought of getting into a relationship with her. (Actually, I did, but I think I made the right choice for me at that time, which was not to do so). She was pretty much the reason why I got into philosophy though. So that's a pretty cool story.

When I was admitted a few months ago, I've gotten in touch with a very troubled man. He meant a lot to me while I was there. I felt so alone and scared, and hearing about his life made me appreciative of my own and wanted me to do better. Unfortunately the contact info he gave me is illegible.. maybe sometime in the future I can find and befriend him. I wish to talk to him again.