urban survival , the psycho ward

Myal

Myal

Joined
Jun 7, 2003
Messages
1,850
how to survive the psych ward

this is written from my perspective as husband of a girl who is currently in a psych ward .

the best way to survive a psych ward is to simply do not get sanctioned , stay the hell out of the place

But if you do get in there somehow , this is stuff I observed so far

dont be happy or chatty with the staff , my wife is naturally bubbly and chatty , it was pointed out to me by the nurses that they thought that she was too chatty and were noting it on her assessments ... its not good
She was chatting because she was happy to have people to talk to her besides me ...

Dont tell the doctors you feel normal till they ask , they will ask a typical university style question as "if you were to rate being extremely happy as 10 and being very sad as 1 , what number would you give your emotional condition at present ?

This is when you say 4 or 5 , its psych speak for how do you feel ? you do not want to feel happy or you are in need of further treatment , you are allowed to feel a little bit sad or depressed as long as you state that its because you are away from family or some similar excuse tho .

watch out that you dont pace or walk in a set path even if you are bored silly , its psychotic behaviour and if a nurse sees it she will note it in her assessment and you will get further treatment for it , that means staying longer in the nut house and being more bored , eventually you learn not to display bored behaviours since they are also psychotic behaviours

there is a rec room at our psych ward with an exersize bike , a whiteboard and some crayons , we draw and color in the pictures , it passes the time and I found Im not actually that bad at drawing either ...

singing and music are kinda out , too extro verted , means need more treatment .

sleeping in your bed is out during the day , the nurses will come nag you till you get up and go sleep in the TV room , that is OK , it counts as social interaction .

the hospital provides a lot of mental health education stuff thru the week , this is for paitents only tho , carers and partners have to find what they need to know about caring and coping on their own unless they get sectioned too , then they are inmates as well ...

I was acting as if I was a visitor when I went the first couple times , now I act as if Im an inmate , and since Im there all day as well , its bugging the nurses now because they are no longer sure of who is inmate and who is visitor , and they are treating everyone nice till they work it out .

I have been waiting for cup of tea time for the nurses and then asking for stuff , paper , pen , towels whatever we want at the time , just because they usually tell me to wait on the chairs till they are ready , I dont , I just stare at them like they are idiots untill they get a bit agro and come closer to shout the orders at me again , when they finish I just quietly tell them "Im not your patient , Im a visitor " and they change their tune real fast and get all apologetic and embarrassed
with three shifts a day , and the shifts just swapped from weekend to weekday shifts its been a lot of fun doing it to them , lotta new victims to do it to , one of the social workers told me its not good because the nurses are getting nervous about it now .

I do it tho because I needed help for my wife who was haing severe distress and needed help , the nurses told me to wait till they were ready , not wanting to risk being sectioned myself and wanting to at least ease my wifes problems , I swallowed my anger at them , and went back to comfort her for the next hour or so till the nurses came looking for her to give her her medication when they saw me with her trying to calm her down they realised what had happened earlier

Im not going to let their cup of tea time go uninterrupted for the entire time we are there now because of that , and Ive made a point of asking every doctor I have spoken to about how bad the staff treat the visitors , and how much worse they must treat the patients ...

my personal vendetta :)

be polite to the staff , the cleaners can get you stuff that nurses wont , the nurses will be heaps more willing to help , the security staff will be nicer to you if you are nice to them ...

assume the rank of subhuman
you have no rights when you have been sectioned , you are nuts , legally until proven otherwise .
you get a towel , blankets a bed to use a shower to use and toilet as well with teflon toilet paper to wipe with , thats it , you need friends to get extra clothes , you NEED extra clothes , if you show up for interviewing with your assessing psych , and you smell like you worn the same jocks n socks since you were sectioned , you obviously need more treatment

people treat you like you are weird potentally dangerous , be meek n mild and humble and they will be OK with you

Be nice to the nurses , they assess you several times a day , it pays to be nice to them unless you really like your stay , DO NOT take them into your confidence tho , they tell the doctors their versions of everything you say that they deem "important" to your case , naturally positive stuff isnt near on as important as negative stuff

they will try to gain your trust and confidence , its their job .

this is likely to be an ongoing work , but its what I seen so far .
 
I hope I never need this info. but thanks for posting it and I sincerely hope your wife is home soon, this has to be a really tough ordeal for your family and friends.

Good luck with it all.
Helle
 
thanks , its not easy , but I reckon we will make it thru
I would never wish this onto anyone
 
Myal i do wish that your wife gets well... Its cant be easy for you as well. Dont forget to take care of your self as well..

Sasha
 
I can't imagine what a nightmare this must be for both your wife and yourself......I wish you both good luck in getting your life back as it should be !!!!
 
That is a hell of a post.

Back when I was in university I took some sociology courses that dealt with institutionalized behaviour...they essentially said that once you're inside, proving you don't need to be there is impossible.

They also talked about some studies in which people who were perfectly healthy went and feigned mental illness to see if they would be admitted. They generally were and then recorded the experiences inside and it took them forever to get released, even once they came up with documentation showing their participation in the study..."extremely paranoid behaviour with hypergraphia..."

I really feel for you. One of my long-term nightmares is ending up institutionalized, exactly because of the situation you describe. Normal behaviours are now symptoms, activities are symptoms, expressions of emotions are symptoms...and the staff behaviour seems designed to push anyone over the edge.

I once got into an argument with airport staff and everything I did was then assessed as "agressive" or "combative" behaviour. I don't enjoy thinking about how much harder it must be in a mental institution.

I really hope things work out for you and your wife. I'm not a praying man, but I will be thinking of both of you.
 
I will avoid getting into this position, Because I hear that they don`t allow the clients to have knives.Not having my knives around to play with would make me crazy. Don`t tell any body, But sometimes I sharpen my knives to relax.
 
wow.. what a post...:o those are some interesting observations...

i hope that the misses gets better soon and you 2 come out of this just fine...:) we're here for you man...:thumbup:
 
Myal,
Thanks for the post. We all wish a rapid recovery and return to home and happiness for you and your wife.
Keep us posted with your thoughts and observations.
Ira
 
Best of luck to your misses! hopefully the stay wont be very long and everyone be on their way buying new knives to show off :D
 
Myal said:
assume the rank of subhuman
you have no rights when you have been sectioned , you are nuts , legally until proven otherwise .
Click to expand...

You need to keep quiet. You are embarrassing yourself with your ignorance. Of course, there's more to it than this quote, it's just a nice illustration of the depth of your ignorance. I hope your wife feels better soon.
 
Myal, you both have my sympathies.

I worked my way through college as a psychiatric technician. Hospital jargon for nurses' assistant/auxilliary direct care/auxilliary security/anything else they tell you to do. I've sat suicide watches on people who tore their bodies open. I've had long talks with pts. Played a lot of pool with them.

It really can feel like an "us vs. them" situation, unless the care provider is wise enough to remember two things: 1 - not everybody who goes there really needs to be; and 2 - the world can spin out of control for anybody, including me.

That helps keep the perspective that the pts are people who need help, not just "dangerous psychos" we warehouse to protect everybody else.

I've seen some serious institutionalized behaviors, and some of the obsessive compulsive behaviors that get confused with it -- the pacing, talking to yourself, etc. It's pretty easy to tell the difference most of the time, though, once you actually get to know the pt a bit.

Good luck to both of you. I've seen this kind of thing tear apart marriages, too. Be there for her.
 
Wow... Where in the world is this psych hospital? I'll make sure never to go nuts if I'm in the area!

Sounds real stone-age when it comes to psyciathric treatment. That's the stuff you can read from Norwegian institutions in the 60s and 70s. Thankfully the world has progressed here, or at least it had when I worked in psych. as a nurse 5 years ago.

Best of luck to you and your wife. This actually can happen to anyone! Being "normal" is walking a knifes edge. Falling down happens a lot easier than most of us imagine.
 
God brother smoke and prayers up. When I was homeless I never made it to the wards, but they did decide that I had a personality disorder due to the fact I dressed down a psychiatrist for being rude and making people wait too long past their appointment times. Those people are often sicker than the people they are supposed to be helping. Hang in ther and get your wife home. Namaste
 
Guys , thank you for your words and thoughts ,it means a lot .
Its seriously not easy on a whole lot of levels . We will do this tho and I will be bringing her home , just getting thru the time in between now and then is getting to be a drag .
 
Myal,

Best of luck to you and your wife. I went through a similar experience with my first wife. You hit it dead on about home the system treats the families. I did not have a clue about mental illnesses and it took me a long time to find a support group. In my case my ex's family blamed me for her problems and destroyed the marraige through manipilation of their daughter. I'm sure your situation is different but do what you can to get yourself some help and education. I don't know where you live but there is a group here in America called NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness. http://www.nami.org/
They were very helpful and supportive and were a great educational resource as well.

Keep up the good work and keep supporting your wife. Don't forget to take some time for yourself and have someone you can lean on when you need strength.
 
We'll definitely keep you and your wife in our prayers. This is truly a scary situation and I couldn't imagine what she or you have had to go through. I fear that one day we will get closer to classifying anybody with a "mental illness" just because they had a bad day or series if problematic issues...we have several Soldiers with PTSD who are currently struggling and it continues to be a stigma of Soldiers who can't deal with post combat stress. I applaud you for hanging in there with your wife...it's too easy nowadays to "pop smoke" and divorce yourself from the situation or commitment. You're a true testament of what a it means to be a husband. God bless you and God speed to both of you getting over this troublesome time,

ROCK6
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top