Being committed

Has anyone here ever been forcibly hospitalized by your pdoc or other doc? What exactly happens? How long can they keep you? This is something I’m facing and I’m scared to death.

Many times. Where I live they can hold you up to 72 hours, 3 days. The 72 hour hold is relatively easy for them to get. If they want to hold you longer than that they take you to court. It's a longer more formal hearing in front of a judge and you have a lawyer.

Me. 10 days. Horrible.

Crazy, inside and aside

"Outwardly: dumbly, I shamble about, a thing that could never have been known as human, a
thing whose shape is so alien a travesty that humanity becomes more obscene for the vague resemblance."
I have no mouth and I must scream -Harlan Ellison-

Not by a pdoc or doc specifically, but by the police. 3 day hold, then they asked me to sign the papers to stay voluntarily. The pdoc would have taken me to court otherwise, so for me, I didn't really have a choice but to stay longer.

Diagnoses:
PTSD with Dissociative Symptoms, Borderline Personality Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain

There isn't much to say. They just do it and if you won't go, they will arrest you and take you by force. Sorry, but that's how it works here in Oregon. I imagine it is not all that different in your state, though specific details could slightly differ.

Back in 2004 my Neurologist called and said I want to admit you to the hospital for some tests ,I said fine ,no problem ,the next day I reported to the hospital , that night I took my sleeping pills ,suspecting nothing .

When I woke up I thought wow ,I went to sleep in a white room ,this one is blue ,and I don't smell paint ,it was confusing, I walked into the hallway and it was completely different and I saw a door but couldn't open it ,saw an elevator walked over pressed the button it lit up ,nurses then realised OMG ,hes awake.

A small group of nurses approach and say the elevator is not coming because its locked ,they then tell me my doctor needs to talk to me ? I say "this is kidnapping ,I will have all your butts in a sling " the nurses didn't care and kept repeating your doctor just needs to talk to you, I finally said "I don't care if he wants to tell me that dream of being anally probed by aliens wasn't a dream " not even a trace of smile , then i start quoting chapter and verse of mental hygiene law ,and how illegal this was ( before getting on fire department ,I worked as a mental hygiene police officer in a near by state),`nobody cared , reflecting back on that day i know they had knowledge of what was going to happen ,and not being homicidal suicidal or threat to anyone was going to change very quickly ,once doctor had his talk , and yep I went from zero to mach 5000 in the blink of an eye,and need all of there support ,I spent 2 months there adjusting to my diagnosis .

The doctor was right to protect me from what he was going to tell me ,unfortunately he didn't coordinate with anybody and really couldn't, so I was defenseless and all my usual supports where doing other things,my mom was teaching Psycho drama workshops in Europe , I couldn't call her and tell her over the phone ,but I called my aunt ,she felt this qualified as an emergency ,so she broke the horrible news to my Mom and she basicly moved heaven and earth to get back here ,she sweet talked air traficc control she was 5 minutes from the airport and couldn't wait 18 hours for the next flight ,then once in the air she went to work on the pilot ,convincing him to declare an in flight emergency so he could drop her off in Buffalo instead of at laGuardia buffalo was closer to me and my aunt would be wauting at the curb motor running .

The people where very helpfull and nothing was done in a mean way , I have the benefit of the great equalizer TIME , that I would otherwise not ,people often make hasty decisions in the position I was about to be in ,they kept me safe and alive long enough to have the super nerd rare disease doctors a chance to correct my diagnosis ,originaly I was given less than a year to live ,obviously it isn't ideal ,I am still dieing but not at the breakneck pace originaly given .

If you get hospitalized remember they have your best intrest at heart ,they want to try and help,some staff will not be as friendly as others ( but we don't make friends with everyone in the real world either)
If it happens the better and open your mindset ,the less dramatic or traumatic it will be . In many places boredom rules as they have limited TV and no WiFi in most places, but that's a real easy concept focus on you ,not the world ,you would be surprized what you can do in little time ,when you don't have to do anything like make a living or even cook dinner ,on that final note the food is usually good and plentiful ,as good food helps to motivate everyone ,not just men .
They can keep you in most places 72 hours , before you either sign in as voluntary or you refuse and a hearing is set on the unit where a judge comes and listens to the doctors view and your view and makes a decision ,if the judge decides the doctor is right in most places they can keep you up to 3 months before another hearing ( doesn't mean they will ,just they can if they feel you need it) spending more than a week is rare nowadays due to financial pressures by insurance companies , all they want is you to be stabilized and discharged as soon as possible .

Yes. I mentioned "not being able to live" with a certain situation. Some cousin of mine who barely knows me took it as a suicide threat and called 911. Cops showed up, handcuffed me (even though I was entirely cooperative), acted like I'd committed armed robbery. They took me to a psych ER, where I was held for 20 hellish hours until I convinced the staff that I was not suicidal. It was horrible.

The other times I've been IP, I had requested to be IP.

It is 180 days in this state and insurance has absolutely no bearing on the process here. The state picks up the tab, gladly, if there is no coverage. In that case, they transfer you to one of our two statewide hospitals for the duration. My commitment was 4 1/2 months.

I was committed at the ER. I was held for a day and a half at the ER and then another 4 days at the hospital. After the 72 hours was up, they asked me to sign voluntary or else they would put me on a 5250 hold which means they could hold me 7 to 14 days I think, but you get a lawyer and a chance before the judge, but I didn't want to take that chance, so I signed voluntary. All I did was self harm, and not even in a "typical" suicidal place like the wrist and the ER doctor flipped out, told me I wasn't going anywhere and he got the ball rolling for my commitment. It sucked. The hospital itself was okay. Not that clean. Food was good. Saw the Pdoc maybe a total of 25 minutes the whole time I was there. Saw the social worker for maybe 30 minutes the whole time I was there. I watched a lot of TV in the lounge and participated in whatever groups they offered.

I've been voluntary every time but two times a crisis worker told me that if I didn't go voluntarily they'd get a 72 hour hold on me and go to court to get an order from a judge. That was in the emergency room.

While in one psych ward I said I wanted to go home after two days during one of those times and the social worker said they'd get a 72 hour hold and go to court to involuntarily detain me. But that didn't happen because I stayed and later my suicidal feelings and plan went away. Each time I was told about the 72 hour hold and the court, if I didn't go voluntarily it was because I had a plan of suicide.

Where I live there aren't a lot of circumstances where they can involuntarily detain someone. Mostly it's when someone attempts suicide threatens suicide or has a plan of suicide, attacks someone or threatens to attack someone.