{"id":8093,"date":"2019-09-06T12:59:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T17:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/what-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital\/"},"modified":"2019-09-06T22:30:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T03:30:58","slug":"what-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/what-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is It Really Like to Stay at a Psychiatric Hospital?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/72gFkxPXkSo\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/psychcentral.com\/lib\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/pexels-photo-263402-e1567520546881.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-57953 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/files\/2019\/09\/pexels-photo-263402-300x199.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>Most of us have very specific, vivid ideas about what staying in a psychiatric hospital looks like. These ideas have likely been shaped by Hollywood or sensationalist news stories. Because how often do we hear about someone\u2019s real-life stay at a psychiatric facility?<\/p>\n<p>If going to therapy is rarely talked about, the conversations surrounding psychiatric hospitals are virtually non-existent. So we tend to imagine wild, worst-case scenarios.<\/p>\n<p>To provide a more accurate picture, we asked several individuals who\u2019ve been hospitalized to share what it was like for them.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, every person\u2019s experience is different, and every hospital is different. After all, not all medical hospitals, medical professionals, and psychotherapists are created equal. As <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gabehoward.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gabe Howard<\/a>, a mental health advocate and certified peer supporter, noted, [hospitals] range from quality care to overcrowded warehousing of sick people\u2014and everything in between.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Below you\u2019ll find different stories of hospital stays\u2014the realities, lifesaving benefits, surprising experiences, and sometimes the scars a stay can leave behind.<\/p>\n<h3>Jennifer Marshall<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jennifermarshall.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jennifer Marshall<\/a> has been hospitalized five times. This included stays in October 2008 for postpartum psychosis and April 2010 for antenatal psychosis when she was 5 months pregnant. Her last hospitalization was in September 2017 following the sudden death of her co-founder at <a href=\"https:\/\/thisismybrave.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">This Is My Brave<\/a>, a non-profit organization that aims to bring stories of mental illness and addiction out of the shadows and into the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>Marshall stayed anywhere from 3 days to one week, so she could get back on her antipsychotic medication to help stabilize her manic episodes.<\/p>\n<p>Her days at the hospital had a specific structure. She and other patients would eat breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and start group therapy at 9 a.m. They\u2019d eat lunch at 11:30 a.m. and then have art therapy or music therapy. For the rest of the day, individuals would watch movies or do their own artwork. Visiting hours were after dinner. Everyone was typically asleep by 9 or 10 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Marshall noted that being hospitalized was \u201cabsolutely necessary for my recovery. The first four hospitalizations I had were because I was unmedicated. Being hospitalized allowed me to realize the importance of my medication and also the importance of self-care in my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marshall was reminded of how much activities such as painting and listening to music relax her\u2014and today she\u2019s incorporated them into her daily routine.<\/p>\n<h3>Katie R. Dale<\/h3>\n<p>In 2004 at 16 years old, Katie Dale stayed at a juvenile psychiatric unit. Years later, at age 24, she stayed at two different hospitals. \u201cI was exhibiting extreme manic-psychotic behaviors and needed monitoring to help administer medicines that would bring me back to reality,\u201d said Dale, the creator of the website <a href=\"https:\/\/bipolarbrave.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BipolarBrave.com<\/a>\u00a0and the e-book\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/bipolarbrave.com\/resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GAMEPLAN: A Mental Health Resource Guide<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>After having her medication adjusted, her psychotic behaviors subsided and she was able to attend an outpatient program.<\/p>\n<p>Dale said her stays were beneficial\u2014and super stressful. \u201cIt\u2019s stressful to stay in a confined, secured place with many other people in the state of mind you\u2019re all in. I didn\u2019t enjoy the stay. It was hard to be as patient as I needed to be to get the care I needed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Gabe Howard<\/h3>\n<p>In 2003 Howard, co-host of several <a href=\"https:\/\/psychcentral.com\/podcasts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Psych Central podcasts<\/a>, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital because he was suicidal, delusional, and depressed. \u201cI was taken to the ER by a friend and I had no idea I was even sick. It never occurred to me I\u2019d be admitted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Howard realized he was in a psychiatric ward, he started comparing it to what he\u2019d seen on TV and in the movies. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t even remotely the same. Pop culture got it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead of being dangerous or prompting a spiritual awakening, Howard said, the hospital was \u201cvery boring and very bland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA real psychiatric hospital would show a bunch of people sitting around bored wondering when the next activity or meal was. It\u2019s not exciting\u2014that\u2019s for our safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Howard unequivocally believes that being hospitalized saved his life. \u201cI received a diagnosis, I started the process of getting the correct medications and the right therapy and medical treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And it was also traumatizing: \u201c[I]t left scars that probably will never heal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Howard likened it to his sister, a veteran, living in a war zone for over 2 years: \u201cShe\u2019s now a college graduate, married, and a mom and, well, frankly really boring\u2026It doesn\u2019t need to be said, however, that being in a war zone changed her. She\u2019s seen things and felt things that she can\u2019t forget about. Being in a war zone is traumatizing to everyone\u2014it impacts everyone differently. But no one would think that my sister\u2014or any military veteran\u2014wouldn\u2019t have scars that just won\u2019t fade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like that for me as a person who was taken to a psychiatric hospital against his will,\u201d Howard said. \u201c[I] was locked in a ward and told that I can\u2019t be trusted to sleep or shower without supervision. That I must be watched because I can\u2019t be trusted with my own life. That leaves a mark on a person.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Suzanne Garverich<\/h3>\n<p>Suzanne Garverich\u2019s first hospitalization was after she graduated college in 1997. She was attending an intensive outpatient program at the same hospital but she became actively suicidal and had a suicide plan. That was the first of many hospitalizations until 2004. Today, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=72gFkxPXkSo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garverich <\/a>is a public health advocate who is passionate about fighting mental health stigma through her work on suicide prevention as well as telling her story.<\/p>\n<p>Garverich was fortunate to stay at top-rated facilities thanks to having health insurance and parents who could afford the out-of-pocket costs. She found the staff to be very kind, caring, and respectful. Because she stayed at the same hospital almost every time, they also got to know her and she didn\u2019t have to retell her story.<\/p>\n<p>She was surprised, however, at the ineffectiveness of her discharge plans after some of the stays. \u201cI found myself sometimes only leaving with a plan to see my providers. I often felt really unprepared to leave the hospital.\u201d During other stays, Garverich immediately went into an intensive outpatient program, where she learned invaluable skills and tools to stay safe and deal with underlying issues.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, Garverich\u2019s stays were vital. \u201cThey allowed me a place where I didn\u2019t necessarily have to think about my safety, because it was a place that was designed to keep me safe, so I could take that off the table and deal with the issues that were leading towards my wanting to die. It was a safe place to do medication changes, talk about treatment changes, and just really focus on self-care\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garverich also met some of the \u201cnicest people\u201d (a stark contrast to the common myth that really \u201ccrazy,\u201d dangerous people stay at psychiatric hospitals, she said). They were your \u201cneighbor, mother, father, friend, sister, brother, co-worker. They are people you freely interact with on a daily basis. Even though they are struggling, I found the people in there to be very compassionate and caring and gave me hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another myth, Garverich said, is that you\u2019ll have to endure arcane medical procedures. During one stay, she received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which was an informed, voluntary decision that she and her providers made. \u201cI was treated with care and the utmost respect by the ECT team. These ECT treatments\u2026greatly increased my mood and aided in my stability\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>What If You Need to Get Admitted?<\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re considering checking yourself into a psychiatric hospital or you\u2019ve been told you might have to, think of psychiatric hospitalization as any other kind of hospital stay, Marshall said. \u201cOur brains get sick just like other organs in our bodies get sick or injured from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Howard suggested asking different friends and family to visit you every day and being honest about your struggles, fears, and concerns with hospital staff. \u201cIf you think aliens are here on earth to harvest your organs, share it. This is what treatment looks like. People can\u2019t help you if you aren\u2019t honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garverich wanted readers to know that you\u2019re not a failure if you have to be hospitalized. Rather, hospitalization is \u201cjust another tool in helping with living with mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dale noted that the \u201ckey to getting good care in a facility like this is to be patient, be willing to work with the staff, and treat other patients as you would want to be treated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Howard also wanted readers to know that it takes time to get well. It took Howard 4 years to reach recovery. \u201cAnd when you get well, you can help others. If you don\u2019t want to get better for your own well-being\u2026get better so you can make someone else\u2019s life better. We need more allies, advocates, and influencers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imgt.psychcentral.com\/piwik.php?idsite=1&#038;rec=1&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Flib%2Fwhat-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital%2F&#038;action_name=What+Is+It+Really+Like+to+Stay+at+a+Psychiatric+Hospital%3F&#038;urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Flib%2Ffeed%2F\" style=\"border:0;width:0;height:0\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"likebtn_container\" style=\"\"><!-- LikeBtn.com BEGIN --><span class=\"likebtn-wrapper\"  data-identifier=\"post_8093\"  data-site_id=\"63347fe36fd08b6c05de3d9e\"  data-dislike_enabled=\"false\"  data-icon_dislike_show=\"false\"  data-white_label=\"true\"  data-style=\"\"  data-unlike_allowed=\"\"  data-show_copyright=\"\"  data-item_url=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/what-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital\/\"  data-item_title=\"What Is It Really Like to Stay at a Psychiatric Hospital?\"  data-item_image=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/files\/2019\/09\/pexels-photo-263402-300x199.jpeg\"  data-item_date=\"2019-09-06T12:59:00-05:00\"  data-engine=\"WordPress\"  data-plugin_v=\"2.6.59\"  data-prx=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=likebtn_prx\"  data-event_handler=\"likebtn_eh\" ><\/span><!-- LikeBtn.com END --><\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/psychcentral.com\/lib\/what-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital\/\" target=\"_blank\">Visit Original Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of us have very specific, vivid ideas about what staying in a psychiatric hospital looks like. These ideas have likely been shaped by Hollywood or sensationalist news stories. Because how often do we hear about someone\u2019s real-life stay at a psychiatric facility? If going to therapy is rarely talked <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/what-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital\/\">Read More<\/a><br \/><img alt='' src='\/\/www.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71857d9e5738cbd80c1df1b1319edd2d?s=32&#038;r=g&#038;d=https%3A%2F%2Funitedresourceconnection.org%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2011%2F08%2Fcandlesburning.jpeg' srcset='\/\/www.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71857d9e5738cbd80c1df1b1319edd2d?s=32&#038;r=g&#038;d=https%3A%2F%2Funitedresourceconnection.org%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2011%2F08%2Fcandlesburning.jpeg 2x' class='avatar avatar-32 photo' height='32' width='32' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>  Shared by <a href=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/membership-directory\/margaritatartakovsky\/profile\">Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., Contributing Blogger<\/a>  September 6, 2019<\/p>\n<div class=\"likebtn_container\" style=\"\"><!-- LikeBtn.com BEGIN --><span class=\"likebtn-wrapper\"  data-identifier=\"post_8093\"  data-site_id=\"63347fe36fd08b6c05de3d9e\"  data-dislike_enabled=\"false\"  data-icon_dislike_show=\"false\"  data-white_label=\"true\"  data-style=\"\"  data-unlike_allowed=\"\"  data-show_copyright=\"\"  data-item_url=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/what-is-it-really-like-to-stay-at-a-psychiatric-hospital\/\"  data-item_title=\"What Is It Really Like to Stay at a Psychiatric Hospital?\"  data-item_image=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/files\/2019\/09\/pexels-photo-263402-300x199.jpeg\"  data-item_date=\"2019-09-06T12:59:00-05:00\"  data-engine=\"WordPress\"  data-plugin_v=\"2.6.59\"  data-prx=\"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=likebtn_prx\"  data-event_handler=\"likebtn_eh\" ><\/span><!-- LikeBtn.com END --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1105,"featured_media":8094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5630],"tags":[10105,4144],"class_list":["post-8093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clinicians-blog","tag-archive","tag-clinicians-on-the-couch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/goodyear-village-az-cdp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}