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@@SJ-vv8vt no, im not lying. This was true he was sent because he had ed and after that a mental breakdown.. The sad tging he was only 11 now hes 14 with his family that happened like 3 years ago
@@SJ-vv8vt its not hard to get sent to a psychiatric facility i have been in and out of them for the last two years and they can send you theyre for probably anything thats seemed as not normal like anger issues, paranoia, hearing/seeing things, or if they think your unsafe and almost everytime they have a kid their who was spose to be going home but doesnt
I was put in a ward for depression and my experience was identical. It’s terrifying to know that depression and schizophrenia are treated so similarly when they can be so different.
Suçons I went to a Psychologist to talk about my anxiety and depression and a few days later my mom gets a call saying that I needed to be put into a psychiatric hospital. It terrified the living shit out of the both of us, my mom began to scream saying no. After that I did some research on what a psychiatric hospital is like and honestly...it’s purely weird. I don’t think anyone with, specifically, depression needs to go to a psychiatric hospital. It’s almost like a jail cell and I’m glad I didn’t go because I got healed a few months later at HOME.
They both distort perception of reality and can be similar in a variety of ways. There are still hallmark differences which indicates that more needs to be done to address the nuances in each case. The other problem is that many methods currently used are generic and dehumanizing in approach. Stay rooted, my friends!
I was in a mental hospital for 6 weeks and when she seen in the video it is definitely true they the the place I went to was the children's institute of Pittsburgh and it was not pleasant so I get where she's talking about it so yeah
I’m a psych registered nurse. I’m sorry for your experiences. I literally do my best to actually make sure my patients know that I care. I spend time with each one of them every shift and just talk and converse to help them feel better. I understand why you don’t like the psych unit. I’m sorry the staff and nurses were so forceful with you. Meds and restraints are my last resort. I’ve never used restraints on my patients I do my best to de escalate the situation. Psych patients deserve better.
Dawny K no, that is not my best. You should feel lucky I didn’t give you my best. As a psych nurse I used my better judgment to refrain myself. You can you better as a human being and mind your business when no one is talking to you.
It breaks my heart seeing the mentally ill in a hospital. I feel they are being punished for being sick (jailed) they should be treated with love & care. Bless the staff that truly care for these patients! I completely agree with teaching life skills..I have always said that about jails but def needed for pychiatric facility.
It's a tough call. Caring for a person with Schizophrenia is not easy. I had a series of consultations with a psychiatrist myself to help me to develop the right mindset when caring for my stepdaughter. Some schizophrenics can be very mobile. We live in Europe and she has turned up as far afield as Paris, Lyon, and Italy. I usually get a call from the police when this happens. I have a friend whose son does the same. He tells me that he always carries his passport and documents because he never knows where his son might have gone. His son once spent several days driving around the Paris periphery because he was convinced someone was following him. And they get very inventive when it comes to suicide. When confined, my stepdaughter can sometimes get a release form that permits me to take her shopping in the town. "Back by four or we call the police." And they mean it. Once, when returning, the staff insisted on inspecting her purchases. They confiscated her new belt and a metal nail file. I have no issues with the staff taking the stuff (she is suicidal) but I did object to the brusque and aggressive approach. She was very upset and embarrassed. In their defense, it's good to remember that the staff has to deal with very different conditions and very different people. On another occasion, I was making to leave the hospital and got blocked by a man that would not have looked out of place in full Zulu battledress in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province. One magnificent and beautiful example of what the human body can be. Save he was naked and staring a little too hard at me. I'm pretty sure Chuck Norris would have turned tail at the sight of him. It was a five-foot-nothing nurse that ordered him to his room. He obeyed without a word. Without that uncompromising and authoritarian approach, then there will be less control over potentially dangerous patients. And you simply do not know what a patient may do next. This makes for rooms that are devoid of interest. This limits the provision of interesting things that can be used to harm or self-harm. And, the deal-breaker: You always have to be ready for the bad and worst news. You have to be able to love the person and still be sufficiently detached to function properly yourself. Of the psychiatric hospitals I have visited, all are grim places. If there is a common ailment for all patients then its loneliness. People fear people with such problems when they are often the best placed to help.
@@nickallen-friel889 because I truly believe most people do not really want to die they just want the pain to stop or and are fighting a mental illness that gives them suicidal thoughts.
@@nickallen-friel889 In the case of a schizophrenic in psychosis, the desire for suicide is usually temporary. In the case of a terminal illness with only the prospect of progressive disability, pain, erosion of all self-esteem and dignity, then yes. A choice we can respect. Indeed, for people in Europe, the choice is open to them.
Mentally ill people get treated poorly alot not only by staff at Mental facilities but by police ambulance staff Drs medical staff neighbors who victimize them harrass them its a weapon used to threaten those who suffer to do what others want them to by placing them in a facility. A spouse may suffer if his wifes mental illness progresses after trama abuse and the loss of a child but thats where the vows you take come in sickness and in health till death do us part. Those suffering need love kind words support and patience and for thete spouse to remain faithful. Awareness is very important about mental illnesses jusr because someone lokka the same doesmt mean trama and other events didnt effect a petsons mebtal state of mind. Suicide is on the rise i see why people need to educate themselves and interact with those suffering with good intentions the correct words and compassion. Judging and attacking who someone is could easily end in suicide
A psychiatric hospital is the 21st century crime against humanity, a living hell, a torture place, a place where psychiatric staff will openly abuse you and bully you and still get away with it with even more bullshit. NEVER GO THERE. 😡😤 and dont listen to those who say not all psychiatrist are bad, no theh only play good cops bad cops but ultimately they will drop you and behave like the thrash they are towards you. Dont be fooled, have some sceptiscm and some discernment to protect yourself and your life. Dont let them rob you of your precious years only to lock you up again and again at their hell wards. Love yourself by not trusting them.
Its amazing how this sounds like my jail experiences. They shouldn't treat mental health issues so roughly. Jail I deserved you didn't deserve such harsh treatment
I am afraid to express some of my feelings for the fear of ending up in a ward and being treated like a prisoner because of a disease that I don't ask to have.
right? i was looking at videos about it. i thought they where a safe space but there are soo many bad experiences with them. if i ever went it would be low risk probs and i would hope it would be home in Australia. maybe that changes something? idk. it felt like a viable option but with all these vids out there, i don't know
If I wasn’t paranoid, suicidal etc before they strapped me to a bed I surely would be after that.. Being in a straight jacket or strapped to a bed is my greatest personal fear.
Straight jackets aren't commonly used anymore outside of worst case scenarios. People are strapped down because they are insane and violent. It is only done on a temporary basis, for a couple hours at a time. Once the patient is grounded and calmed down, they are gradually released, one arm or leg at a time. It doesn't make people suicidal. It allows them to calm down and rest, while burning through their energy.
Lord Bretman That’s a bunch of shit, that it helps calm people down. Sry, that I have a strong opinion on this topic, but it is not just about calming people down. Some of the staff seemed to enjoy seeing me strapped down, because I was a nuisance. In some ways it is horrible to be strapped down, in other ways it doesn’t matter. I thought about breaking my hand to get out of it. You can’t even scratch your head, lay on a side, drink or go to the toilet. Had to pee in a bottle. -Didn’t make me calm to be treated worse than a prisoner. I don’t mind lying down and I could deal with all of the above. But what do you do if someone would go into your room with ill-intent or if a fire would break out. That is the real problem, that you are at merci off other people. I was so angry I tried to throw the plastic bottles at the „iron lady“ and I wasn’t „serviced“ often, that day. You need to drink a lot of water on medication, because your body needs to breakdown these chemicals. The same as drinking coffee or alcohol. I was really thirsty that day and they were mad at me. I thought I was dehydrating and very late I was ringing the service button over and over, because I needed to drink a sip for my desert mouth and chalk-dry crumbling lips and no one was coming. Too many patients for little personal to save some money. I was so thirsty I drank from the pee bottle, which took half an hour to get to my mouth with the limited movement. I remembered that you can drink your own pee, but it had a horrible taste and smell. I was using the bottle the whole day. I almost puked, but it moisturized my mouth and could sleep. Was a bad experience being strapped down. But it was worse for my mom seeing me strapped down like this. I would never get a trauma from this and I might be though some ways. But calling it, calming down people, is not really right. It is infuriating calling it that way and you can still injure yourself. Still I liked keeping my arm in mint condition, but you can seriously hurt yourself and develop enormous strength in those situations. I know it is hard to enforce, but a situation should be resolved through conversation rather than physical „methods“. There is no need to fear being strapped down, but I cannot recommend it. I don’t remember much of my stay. I just know I can’t be mad for paying taxes for quite some years and I will never go there again. Even if I had a mental issue I would act normal to not be taken there. I am very fine now, no medication since a year and still fine. Studying again and living in sanity again. I deserved being fixated for ramming a hospital bed through a locked glass door, which was quite creative, but it wasn’t a pleasure. So if you are careful not to ram beds into glass doors to escape or you are not suicidal, you probably never get fixated.
You look such a picture of health. You're a classic example of never judge a book by the cover, I don't mean that negatively, but I myself always appear happy and content on the outside, but inside its a different story 🤐
I recently had a friend told me they were planning on committing suicide. As a friend, I really cared about that person and couldn’t let something like that go so I contacted their parents about what was going on. They took them to the hospital and they are going to a psych ward. I’m very worried about my friend and I don’t know what to do. I hear very negative things about psych wards and I just hope they get the help they need.
I used to work in a hospital as a security guard; it was one of the worst jobs I have had. It made me so depressed for the situations I was put in, getting yelled at by people I worked with, and how people talked and treated the people who needed help.
i've had many of run ins with people like you who walked around with you're partners always looking conflicted when you do your rounds through our wards...yet your partner always looks so confident like a king walking past trash and peons I've always wondered what was going through your head because while I'm getting help down by your cocky buddy and he's shouting and getting spittle on my face yelling to stop struggling even though I'm only laying there with him on my back and you on my legs while getting a forced shot in my ass your grip on my legs are always looser then his, is it because you know I'm not fighting? is it because you know I'm in the right and the only reason I'm getting a shot is for refusing to go to bed because i have insomnia.....i really wonder sometimes whats going through that head of the conflicted guard whose always paired with that asshat...
In the USA the main emphasis is on preventing suicide rather than creating an overall therapeutic environment, and it sounds like Canada is the same. The activities provided are often a joke -- adults spending their hours on coloring books????
This is so true the adults i was with were either asleep because they were forced to take medication not knowing their rights they were stuck watching the same 4 channels or fighting eachother
Drawing is therapeutic, and often is a part of therapy with a well-thought out background. I don't know whether it's the case for psychiatric hospital-managed activities.
HANNAH PETCOVIC When I was 10 the dr wanted to give me a shot (immunization) and I struggled so much it took 6 to hold me down and do the injection. If you think about it, a person who is wriggling and trying to “snake” their way out of a hold...and add in a syringe with the potential to do some damage if not applied correctly...yeah, 6 sounds about right. 1 for each limb, one for torso, and one with the needle in one hand and holding the target area stable.
they treat patients like criminals, they are horrible towards nice people and super nice towards horrible people which explains why they always bully patients and are so nice to their colleagues who bully us
they also like to bully people weaker then them. whenever they want to lock me up at their hell wards they will get 2 big burly men to grab me from my house. I am only a petite girl. the ambulance dare to tell me “ yes you know I am a man and I can grab you, so you better come with me”
lmaoo, when i was diagnosed with diabetes at 3, i had to have my first injection and i did not like needles back then. so i kinda just...ran. it took five doctors to catch/find me and three to hold me down while one injected me. loool
The hospitals always offer proper help. Nothing to be afraid of. The people telling horror stories are the worst patients in the psych units. Like a bad kid at school who complains that "school sucks" constantly. It doesn't suck if you try to get along, and actually cooperate and try to get the help you're there for.
@Morphing Taxi No hospitals are torturing their patients. They're treating them. Psych patients, being in an altered state of reality due to their illness, believe many things about the hospitals that aren't true. Simply put, they'd be complaining no matter what. There is literally nothing that would make them not bash the hospitals.
It was worse than this for me. a staff member went into the bathroom when i was taking a shower and dragged me out because i was taking too many showers. I was a minor at that time aswell. I live in America/ the USA so it might be better where you live. I was always admitted and i never choose to be there. I was picked up and thrown on the bed by a single male police officer because i was trying to leave the room. I was not delusional at that time i just wanted to leave. I had officers male officers grabbing my body and laughing while i was having a breakdown at 16 i was only 120 pounds but i had 8 male officers struggling to restrain me and i broke out of my restraits and the drugs they were injecting into me were not working. I was fighting like hell to leave. Its very tramatizing to even speak about. The worse part is being alone with the officers expecially the male ones.
Also i was never told my diagnosis and i still dont know even though im on meds. Im 19 now last time i was hospitalized was when i was 17. 2 out of 3 times i was put in an adult ward. I dont know if me being black and my mother being an immagrant has anything to do with my treatment but this is unacceptable.
@@arachnidfingers I sure have! Like she says, not all hospitals are the same. I have been hospitalized 6 times, and I checked myself in voluntarily all 6 times (well, I called 911 once and the police brought me in, but it was my initiative). I will state unequivocally that 4 of my 6 hospitalizations, including the one that ended just a week ago, were positive, healing experiences. Nearly all of the negatives she described had been addressed at the hospitals I've been to, and I suspect location makes a huge difference. My hospitalizations were all in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, an area that is known for being rather progressive with mental health care. Yes, they physically restrain patients who are about to hurt someone or themselves, or are actively trying to, but the police do that everywhere, and I think that's ok, as awful as it is. The drugs given during restraint (by a medical professional in a hospital environment) reduce the risk of injury during restraint and sedate the patient, which reduces panic and anxiety. Avoiding injury is the whole point, and our presenter in the video (I don't know if she ever gives her name - I've only seen 3 of her vids now) was actively trying to kill herself by strangulation with her hospital gown. Does anybody disagree that she needed to be stopped, by force if necessary? (Does she disagree?) I've never been restrained, and I'm glad of it because it looks like a horrifying experience, and I have panics and anxiety attacks easily. I think I would welcome the sedation, at least once it's taken effect. (Knowing I'm about to be drugged against my will, especially if psychotic, would be the worst.) For me, my fear of a panic that I cannot escape from is worse than my fear of drowning or choking (both of which I've experienced, having been rescued after I gave up and began to lose consciousness). Being admitted through the emergency room is never fun. There is indeed a lot of sitting around for hours in an empty room with big, beefy security guards outside the door, and if you "self-admit," they are just as likely to send you home after all the waiting if you don't come in bleeding (which has been the reason I went in bleeding twice). The best way to be admitted, by far, is to have an outpatient psychiatrist who has admission privileges to a hospital with a psych unit, and s/he can admit you directly. When I was able to do it that way, I just checked in at the ER, and in 20 minutes someone from the psych unit met me in the ER waiting room and walked me right up. One bad experience I had was staying in a unit with other patients who had created a prison culture, complete with a hierarchy who called all the shots (what we'd watch on the TV, what lights they wanted turned down, things like that). They treated the staff like mortal adversaries, despite the fact that nearly all of them were really nice. That was not a healing environment, but it was very unusual, and I'm not sure what the staff could have done differently. In all my other stays in the psych units, we really did have a camaraderie. Patients in the psych unit can be the funnest people! It always seems to happen that groups will form for an informal chat over the all-important snack (she is right about that!) and compare the funniest things they've done during a psychotic episode, or the stupidest thoughts we'd had during a depression, or even compare notes to see who heard the funniest voices! Or the perennial favorite, who has had the stupidest hospital psychiatrist. One fellow patient and I used to take our Ambien (zolpidem) a half-hour before lights-out and then play a game of cribbage. It was like ending the day with a couple drinks at the bar with an old friend, maybe even more fun. Of course we were careful to behave ourselves so they didn't have a reason to cut us off, and the nurses always had their eyes on us. (I would NEVER use Ambien like that outside the hospital because it's not safe. You can do dangerous things and forget everything, but it's very difficult to find dangerous things to do in a psych unit.) It sounds completely counter-intuitive, but several of my stays in psych units have been really great experiences. Remember, we all go through life-changingly PAINFUL and DESPERATE experiences to get there. I usually feel safe and hopeful for the first time in months or years in the hospital. I feel relief! And I feel surrounded by people who really get it. I can only speak for two hospitals in my area, but they were both like I've described. Our state health department regulates them very tightly. I think our health dept is also the reason we never had mandatory bedtimes or wake-up times. They only turned the lights out in the lounge and dining room, turned off the TV, and disconnected the phones (both of which they also did during group times). We were free to sit up all night and sleep all day, but if we slept through meals, they would take the food back to the kitchen for disposal and not give us any more food to make up for it. We could leave the lights in our rooms on all night if we wanted to, and they provided wireless headphone radios to anyone who asked, as well as white noise generators. During this last visit, one guy with schizophrenia sat quietly in a chair in the lounge all night, every night, because he thought they had hidden some device or something that would hurt him in his room. They honored his right (and everyone's right) to refuse non-emergency medications (yeah, restraint is a "behavioral emergency"), so no anti-psychotics or sleep meds for him. (I felt for him, I really did. How could he ever get help if his voices are constantly telling him that the treatment is an attempt to poison him?) The psych unit is not inherently a place to fear, but obviously there is a huge variety in the quality of care (and aftercare) available. If possible, I strongly recommend talking to other patients now, when you are not in an emergency situation, and finding out what the best hospitals are. Even when I called the police and they brought me in, they still gave me a choice of which hospital I wanted to go to. (Oddly enough, that was the only time a St. Paul police officer has ever spoken politely to me. They have all had training for psych emergencies. They just don't know how to be civil with people who are not mentally ill and in crisis.) Therapy groups, day treatment, partial hospitalization programs, and drop-in centers for the mentally ill are good places to meet other patients, and I learned a ton about the hospitals in my area. There are two I will never go to, two I will go to whenever I need help, and one that I don't know much about. That kind of information from other patients is invaluable. OMG! As I'm writing this, I just realized that my girlfriend who committed suicide nearly 12 years ago did so within 3 months of her last discharge from the psych unit! I'd never heard that statistic before this video. Get help if you need it! If you're in doubt, err on the side of safety!
Nick Allen-Friel I have been sexually assualted by psychiatric nurses too, they keep putting dirt in my underwear when I sleep. Sometimes they put some itching powder too. it is horrifying. it feels like we are mere experiment subjects to them.
I’m 18 and have a strong passion to help those who struggle with mental health issues. This has really inspired me to do something with my life to make a change and help people like you. I promise I will do everything I can to make sure your voices are heard and change is made. People should not be leaving a place meant for healing with more trauma :(
Thank you for your bravery. I’m a MH Therapist. You mentioned,”Trauma,” several times. This is a key area of study & practice for me and if there is one obvious thing that I’ve learned, it’s that no professional of any kind should be promoting & enhancing trauma for anyone! I’m sorry you encountered this & it’s horrible that those persons who are in this field to help...are themselves some of the worst offenders. This is widespread. To add, most are so confident, “It’s what they need.” This shallow ignorance has led me down my own path; to do things in a concerned, compassionate way that sees directly another’s pain and counts them as of inherent value and needing another to walk beside. It’s all about relationship that we all desperately seek & need. Find anyone you trust & find strength in who they are to you and all they mean in deep times of trouble. Best to you and thank you again. I’ve learned something tonight. James
Snack time, group time, and smoke break outside was heaven... And the bonding with other patients❤ Those were the best parts of being there for me.. My husband says that that's exactly what jail is like..he's been in jail in the past. You cant leave , the room is FREEZING, you're woken up at 7am, you have breakfast, you go to group ,then smoke break , you have decaffeinated coffee, you have lunch, smoke, snack ,rec room tv and hang out with others , there are screams coming from other hallways .. Its humbling I've gotta say..wow
wait your psych place let you have smokes?!?!?!?! friggin lucky none of my stays let you have smokes, made every day hell for 90% of the people in there because lets face it if your suffering from depression or anxiety at your core most likely you smoke and or vape just saying nicotine is a HUGE vice lol
@@alinalemanska2029 just an example. There was a kid who was tackled by 12 grown men, he was stripped naked and then pepper sprayed. Why? Cause he was too loud in his cell. He was only 14 at the time.
As a psychiatric nurse, I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. As older mental health professionals retire, my hope is my younger generation reform the way we treat our patients. Wish you well 💕💕
As a family of someone with mental disease, it is so helpful to listen to your point of view. My family member refuses to talk about the condition, symptoms or anything, really, so I tried to learn as much as I can from you, in order to understand and help. Thank you so much for your honesty and insight.
I'll never forget the faces of the two psychiatrists, therapist and social worker when I sat in front of them the morning after trying to slit my throat, with big stitched slashes on my neck, articulately explaining to them why I was actually completely fine and the incident was actually just a one-off that definitely wouldn't happen again. I still don't know what the hell I was thinking but I was convinced
You spoke about the camaraderie that develops between the patients staying at the psychiatric hospital. This has been my experience as well, as I met my future wife at a facility back in 2011, and now we're getting close to our ninth anniversary. I suppose that generally it is not recommended to pursue romantic relationships with fellow patients, but it did work out for us.
I am in school for social work, and I believe real experiences like these are so important for everyone to hear. Thank you for your bravery -- sharing isn't easy but it makes a world of difference.
I want to add that I am really impressed with your courage in sharing and being so articulate about your experience. My experience comes from the other side, being a staff person in residences and respite triage services. Part of me wishes that I had access to your's and other's experiences in order to give me a greater understanding. The fact is that we all are trying to learn how to navigate the world in a more compassionate way and how our conditioning and the lack of social resources limit that learning process. If you were able to access the inner intentions of the representatives of what is an often cruel system, I believe that you would find that many of them were on your side and just as upset about the institutional failings as you were but also stuck in a predetermined role. I personally am not aware of being part of the negative-type experiences that you describe, but I do realize that when I was working with disturbed children there were parts of the "protocol" that I would never agree to be part of today. It is a learning process for us all, and despite what it seems we are more alike and in the same boat despite what seems to be opposite sides.
This is why it is so great to hear from patients like Lauren so that we can all try and progress and learn what helps and what doesn't. Like in any walk of life there are good medical staff and not so good medical staff, but to have a willingness to listen and learn is the min thi g and to treat each patient as an individual is important as no two people are the same. That said, I appreciate all staff who work in MH, it is the least 'glamourous' area to work in and I don't think I could do it personally, so I truly appreciate the vast majority of you who do.
We also need to remember that there are all types of people in that field, those with good intentions and those feeding themselves in unhealthy ways from the treatment of these patients. Fortunately, I do believe most are in the field to make a positive change.
The fact that you can sit there and share your story and critics in such an eloquent, truly constructive way is absolutely incredible. If you've been through that hospital experience and can still sit here and act respectful and kind, it truly shows how absolutely terrific you are inside.
I remember patients shaking, quivering, and zonked out from side effects of toxic medications. I particularly remember two ladies with severe, Tardive Dyskinesia. Very sad. Also, many patients shuffling around with unbearable Akathisia. Beyond hell. Most people try suicide because of the WICKED side effects from antipsychotics. Those drugs destroy people.
You are a gem. I suffer from psychosis as well. Literally been through what you have a bit but I totally get where your coming from so I hope you never feel alone. Spot on everything. Keep it up and you're very pretty!
I am always surprised by how open and honest you are. I can imagine how difficult it must be to expose your most dramatic experiences for the sake of educating others and offering some comfort to those in the same situation. I really admire you for sharing that. Be well my dear.
I have been hospitalized and involuntarily and unnecessarily committed to a locked down psych hospital as well. Your vid brought all the bad memories crashing out. I will try to get your courage to tell my story here too.
Lauren, thank you for being frank and to the point about your experiences. I hope the people in charge will listen closely to what you and others have to say about how they are treated or lac thereof. Perhaps if we treated people with mental illness better, more people would be willing to seek help. I plan on writing to the minister of health here in Ontario Canada and ask for the government to review how we treat people. I hope they look at your videos to help them understand. God bless you and thanks for educating me.
Procrastination can be a terrible thing, you should have written your letter under Kathleen Wynne, and while she likely wouldn't have gotten much done either, at least focussing on her for change could have been fair reason for your optimism, not so with the likes of Doug Ford at the helm, chop, chop, chop is all he knows.
I have no idea why this comment is upvoted at all by anyone. Lauren clearly stated she tried to strangle herself with her hospital gown. The only sure way to ensure Lauren cannot kill herself is the strap her down. The hospital simply cannot dedicate one nurse to watching one patient the entire time. Being injected with medication against your will to cure your mind is the best thing that can happen. What are people complaining about?
Kelvin Tse you said the hospital cannot dedicate a nurse to watch a patient all the time which is obviously and admittedly true. But this is exactly what these patients need: more attention, time and loving compassion. This is why we feel sorry for the shortcomings of the health system. The treatment in hospitals is usually stripped from love and compassion.
@@kelvintse2354 I completely agree with you. When you are danger to yourselves or to others you have to be forced to do things against your will to save your life and keep others safe. Because you are not thinking logically. I see nothing wrong with that.
This is vanilla psych ward protocol, with staff more or less following protocol to the "t". If a patient attempts to hurt themselves and/or others, it's get the 4-point restraints and fill up the jabber with Ativan and Haldol (and maybe Benadryl if you want to minimize risk of dystonic effects). She was extremely fortunate to not have been raped or sexually assaulted, which isn't uncommon in these types of places, especially with a drugged up patient who has limited comprehension of their surroundings, and where raping someone is easier than shooting fish in a barrel.
I have never resonated more with a video, my hospital experiences were exactly like yours. I have been diagnosed with Bi-Polar (Rapid Cycling), and there is a long history of mental illness in my family. Thank you for making this.
I've always had the same feeling of wanting to leave the hospital as quickly as possible. "Against medical advisement." Your experiences are so traumatic and I've experienced similar bad times. I have a chance to go back to a research hospital, mainly for medication and money. Yes time and reality do get warped, and my discharges from the hospital have felt like returning from war, not knowing how to get along in society and the cycle starts over again.
Now imagine been locked in worst environment for 2-5 months at a time for over 8 years and being terribly assaulted getting two nervous cut by a nurse while getting an injection your third time and then you have two stay there like all “safe” and getting “helped” while your completely numb, freezing while getting tortured like it’s in humane.
You’re sooo articulate Lauren! I like the way you look straight forward to the camera. It’s a sign of your sincerity and honesty. Thank you so much for sharing with people your personals experiences on this matter. You help a lot in such a nice way. Keep it up dear, we love your channel ❤️ I have been working for two years as a secretary in a psychiatric wade at the past in a public hospital in Greece. I think it’s unusual to meet stuff and even doctors compassionate enough to make patients feel comfortable. I wish I was a doctor to be able to help all these patients I feel so compassion for. Thanks again Lauren.
Hey Lauren, this is Rachel, we went to ESSMY together. My short hospital visits have been a nightmare... In March I was taken in to emergency by police because I hung up on the distress line. I was discharged without much to go on except a months long waiting list for therapy. It seems like many don't want to or know how to help someone who is suicidal. Yet I'm being asked to go back if I act on it. It's a messy system and I felt like I wasn't taken seriously. The medications they gave me, I hated them. I feel like I was doped up for a few days then let go to fend for myself again. I understand everything you mentioned in this video. Keep 'em coming please. More people need to know what the fuck it's like in the hospital.
I remember I was so angry that I got admitted to a psychiatric hospital that I started bashing my head against the wall and tearing out my hair. I’m not very strong, but since I was a gymnast I was easily able to wiggle out of their grasp with my flexibility, so it took four people to hold me down. They carried me to the “quiet room” which had concrete walls and floors with a single mattress bolted into the ground. They lied me down on my stomach on the mattress, and had one person sit on my back, and another on my legs. I was thrashing around and trying to get them off me. The nurse came in, pulled my pants down, sanitized the area with an alcohol wipe, and injected me with something that sedated me. I don’t remember much after that except crying in a fetal position. I felt absolutely humiliated. After a week in acute, I was sent to residential. I stayed there for 5 months and 20 days. I remember everyone being so touch starved that they would harm themselves just so they could be restrained by staff. (We weren’t allowed to touch another person) It was absolute hell.
holy fuck that sounds horrifying, the restraint/injection is almost like rape. so sorry that it happened. if someone does that to me i will kill myself 100%, there is no way i can handle that kind of trauma. these people are monsters, period.
That sounds like a concentration camp brutality. The research facility force experiments on people like the lab rats animals. Only praying to Jesus and accepting Him as our King forever can save us from that hell. If all of us pray together this hell will end. Our suffering is not wasted if we offer it to God for His Kingdom, just like Jesus did. We do not need drugs. We need to be respected and make our own choices. It's a crime to force treatment on a conscious person who can talk for themselves. How were they starved, can you say more ?
I spent 3 weeks in a hospital for psychosis and I’m so thankful that my experience was different. There was no isolation, the intake was a room with TV, snacks, and books. I did experience a forced injection which was scary as heck! But during the day we had therapy, workshop groups, art therapy, gym time... I actually didn’t want to leave because I finally felt understood and heard. I’m so sorry you had such a traumatic experience.
I experienced an admission to the local psych ward that was traumatic. Strikingly similar to yours, in fact. So I know how scary and difficult to talk about it is. The stigma of mental illness is hard to live with. Thank you for stepping up and being a voice of reason for us all.
I'm a student of psychology and this is my exact experience with psychiatric wards and psychosocial rehabilitation centers and this is why I have become so disillusioned with the field
thank you for being so honest! most psych students I have encountered on youtube comments think they know it all and can even accuse everyone of being delusional and mentally ill which is so wrong. after interning a little bit they can go around thumbing victims of psychiatry down, accusing them of being liars and mentally ill, while claiming psychiatrist are the most empathic doctors ever, seriously contradicting themselves.
Lauren I really enjoy watching all of your videos on the you, hope you keep posting more of your videos on the you tube, hope you enjoy the rest of your day ❤, and you are the prettiest woman on the you tube ❤
I'm so sorry that this was your experience. I just graduated nursing school and will be starting my first job as a nurse on a psychiatric unit in about a month. I like to believe that no one goes into this type of work (as a nurse, psychiatrist, therapist, etc) with poor intensions, but I think sometimes the job can harden you and make you forget that each patient is a human being. I have struggled with mental health issues myself, and I'm hoping that this will help me to be a better advocate for my patients.
Don't except anything your not happy with if your not happy with her treatment take it from me keep sounding off and banging on doors until your happy👍
I'm very sorry to hear about the trauma and suffering you have experienced. I have been traumatized recently myself in a similar way and I can relate so much. The standard of care for mental health patients is appalling here in Tennessee. You are so courageous to provide us with these excellent videos which I enjoy very much. Thank you!
My stay was only 5 days and felt like years. I was a voluntary patient for anxiety and panic attacks. I have NO suicidal thoughts or ideations. My panic comes from hypochondria. I’m afraid to die lol. They stripped me naked and searched me for anything to harm myself. Even took my dang shoelaces lol. Didn’t even give them back. If you EVER wanted to go against the dr orders you were forcibly shot with meds. My case worker even told me she could keep me there as long as she wanted. At that point I danced to her tune just to get the hell out. It made me scared to ever go back. I’ve had moments where I’d probably would’ve benefitted from going to one but that trauma will never go away
Same here. I just had really bad anxiety and depression. I moved to a new state with no family besides my parents and siblings and now ex boyfriend and his son. Me and my boyfriend broke up. I was having a super hard time with it. I remember being so tired of us fighting all the time. Felt like I was fighting with a narcissist. I believe he was. Always messing with my emotions. I was Mentally drained. Physically drained also. I’ve never been like this before. He brought out the worst in me. Also him forcing himself on top of me to have sex. Repeatedly telling him no I’m tired. It was traumatizing... My memory is a bit spotty. I’m not sure why but maybe from the lack of sleep.but I remember the first day I got admitted to the “adult behavioral facility” they stripped me down and shoved me in the shower. Freezing cold water.... I cried. It was so uncomfortable being there . Like everyone is saying literal jail. I was so sad being there when it was supposed to be me getting mental help. I was not given a therapist or anyone to talk to. So day after day I just stayed to myself. The highlight of the day was group therapy. I feel like I deserved better. I think about the facility all the time... I get sad like why did I let myself go there . Why couldn’t I just be normal..
We only need to take orders from God. We do not need to take orders from doctors. This is the worst kind of slavery to be held captive against your will and druged with chemicals by force. A horror movie !
I think the scariest part of psych wards is when youre told that you need to be in a mental institution having never been inside. My parents have struggled to have me go through psychiatric evaluation from when I was 15 to 17 and I thought they were trying to put me in one to punish me and make me live a miserable life. When I went into one for the first time when I was 17 that’s when I realized they wanted me to get help and learn how to cope with triggers
You're very brave sharing your experience. I have a former client (a Flipino national, Canadian citizen) whose treatment in a psychiatric facility in your country was more traumatic than healing. The family decided at that time to bring him to the Philippines for short term treatment before going back to Canada. He responded well here and even visited a second time and he was doing quite well. Yes, I hope your story will be heard ...
About 2 years ago I was let out of a hospital to a shelter that had no beds available; since then I've had to do things in my life that I'm not proud of but still grateful for the courage that Gods gave me to confront animosities. What helped me the most was that voice in my head that told me; not to act.
You seem like a lovely person and you come off as very honest and sincere, so please seek help early if the voices starts to make you do things again. The world would lose a lot of you died due to suicide. My brother who i love very much, got hospitalised due to a psychosis due to drugs, i remember the first time i visited him there, there was a nurse that had to stay in the room, i wasnt even allowed to give him a hug. That was hell for me, but i kept visiting every other day for his sake. He is now on medication that works which i am so thankful for, and has been out of hospital for many years now.
It’s truly a broken system. In my experience I went in voluntarily and was caught in a 5150 and trapped in the adult ward just being 18 for three weeks. It was the most traumatic experience of my life. I went through a traumatic event two days before and just wanted help and to talk to a therapist since mine wasn’t available in the middle of the night and I was stuck in like you said, a jail environment. Thank goodness for the friends I made while I was there. But I’m so sorry you had to go through it as well. There are so many people who don’t belong there. And the fact that they charged me $250 A DAY for something I was forced to be in. I might as well have stayed at a hotel and gone on vacation. It would have worked much better than the trauma and the PTSD I got from being there to think about the traumatic event that had just happened to me for 3 days and see my parents for 2 hours a day, if that when I still felt like a little kid who just graduated high school. I’ve done a lot of healing since then but it definitely still hurts to think about. Especially the fact that “group therapy” consisted of lazy rude social workers who after I explained my situation told me that “I shouldn’t have said I was suicidal in the first place if I wasn’t 100% sure.” I was a dumb teenager going through already going through a bad time who had a seriously traumatic experience 2 days before and cops show up at my house and I’m a mess and I just wanted some help. I didn’t know I would get put in such horrible conditions. The system needs to be fixed. I remember one guy saying “well it was this or jail so I’m cool with this.” And I just didn’t feel like I deserved to be there. Basically what the hospital taught me is how illegal it is to hurt yourself and everything is about paperwork, which is so messed up. It’s my life and I went to get help at the time because I wanted to value my life again. The two friends I made in the hospital and I just got some serious trust issues. WE NEED TO FIX THIS SYSTEM
I totally agree. I'm literally trying not to end my life now because of the severe trauma and abuse that the system put me through for 13 years and I can never forgive myself for ever reaching out to them. I just want to die badly. I feel like it is all my fault. The system took my already severe trauma and multiplied it times 100. My life is totally over and ruined and I feel like I can never heal from this pain.
My Mom was admitted to a psychiatric ward for a couple of weeks during her early days with Alzheimer’s, as she had become delusional. It was my first ever experience in seeing a psychiatric ward first hand (as a visitor), and not what I had envisioned. I am lucky enough to not suffer from a mental illness, but really enjoy your videos; it is very very brave of you to share your experiences. Your insights into what schizophrenia / schizoaffective disorder were not what I had imagined at all, it has truly been inspirational to see you managing your illness so well, and sharing your story. Thank you.
I was put into a psych ward against my will when i was going through depersonalization/derealization. It was one of the WORST experiences. They forced me into a small cubicle, wearing only a hospital gown, my underwear, and socks. The bed was a hard plank of wood with no blanket in the cold facility. The doctors, nurses, and staff treated me with either apathy or disdain. When i went into a state of mutism, they tried to force a catheter into me. It’s disgusting and would rather die than go to a psych ward again. This is just my own experience. Hopefully, other places are humane.
Thank you for sharing! Your story keeps the demons of anguish at bay. You give me strength to grasp my shield and sword to keep fighting. God bless you!
You are my hero, dear ❤️I suffer from severe OCD and have also experienced really awful and traumatic experiences at the hospital. I felt as though the staff belittled patients and never took what they said into consideration and it was absolutely dehumanizing. I’m applying for a Masters in Public Health so that as someone who has gone through the mental healthcare system, I want to see if I can try to improve life planning programs for patients after discharge. I really hope that more people like you can share your experiences and raise awareness and try to improve the lives of all of those who unfortunately have to suffer in silence because of the atrocious stigmatization that exists for mental illness.
I have been wanting to receive my Master's in Public Health as well to be a public health consultant or advisor and try to write bills to change the system. I have also thought about becoming an advocate in the court of law for people who have gone through my traumas in and out of this system by getting a combo JD.However, I am so absolutely traumatized at this point that I don't even want to do that anymore because I would likely be working in or contacting with the same system and I absolutely refuse to put anyone else though the abuse and horror that I have or add to it in any way, shape or form. So ar this point I am just waiting for my life to be completely over. And I have trained it the system since I was 15. I am now almost 32.
I’ve read quite a number of stories about what it feels like to be in a psychiatric ward, and I could not relate to any of those where every story about psych wards sounded like they’re a safe and loving space to be. But I could totally relate to yours. Not all mental health care system work the same. My hospitalisations were traumatising. Your videos are so helpful.
You are awesome to talk about your experiences. I firmly believe physcology is a dangerous practice, in which they can really screw up a persons well being. A psychologist should be available to their patients, 24/7.
Wow... my experience was exactly the opposite, I must have just gotten lucky and had a good facility. We had group activities and therapy sessions that were really helpful and one of the conditions of release was going to a 2 week outpatient group to help with reintegration.
Your experience is really negative. Here in Germany rules for forced medication and shackling are more strict. My personal experience is more positive, but heavily dependent on the psychiatrist.
Fucking perverts !there is no reason that you have to be stripped naked that's GBH (grevious bodily harm and sexual assault as far as I'm concerned! I would of sued them
@@tracyprice1361 You never really can sue them, most of the time you're just dismissed because of your diagnosis, or the doctor's insurance protects them from any financial consequence. The law never offers a psych patient any real justice against their doctor. They have to bring justice themselves.
I would like to comment from the nursing side of this. I work in an Emergency Department in the USA. We have specific procedures for suicidal/homicidal patients that are for safety purposes. We do explain all of these procedures, but often are met with emotional and psychiatric behaviors that are abusive toward us (biting, spiting, hitting, kicking, etc). Many of our suicidal patients are on street drugs as well. These procedures may seem restrictive, but to maintain safety for the patient and everyone else involved, we have to do this.
I appreciate what you are saying and I know how difficult your job must be, but my daughter was injected with sedatives because she couldn't stop crying. She was not being threatening, was not being aggressive or doing anything harmful, she was just devastated that she was back in hospital but the ward nurse got fed up with her crying and instead of asking her if she would like to phone me (which she had been told helps my daughter to calm down) the nurse injected her using a drug my daughter had had a very rare reaction to in the past. My daughter was telling her repeatedly that she was allergic to this drug and the nurse jammed it in to her anyway, without bothering to phone me ro check if what my daughter was saying. Nurse then defended herself when I challenged her on this a few days later by saying 'I didn't notice any adverse reaction'. Well lucky her then, as the adverse reaction was when this drug was mixed with an anti histamine which my daughter was not on this time, but what if she had been on it, would this nurse have still gone ahead regardless without believing my daughter or checking with me first? It's experiences like this that worry parents when staff sedate patients because they are annoying them or are being a pain, to keep them quiet so staff don't have to do much. I have seen this happen far too many times and only 2 days ago I reported some bullying behaviour I witnesses to the consultant regarding a patient who does not have the verbal skills to defend himself. It was awful to witness and the staff member knew I was there observing it all and he still carried on regardless. What on earth would he have done with this patient had I not been there?
Erin Camden Abuse, disrespect, and human right's violations are common in the medical community. If your procedures are humiliating, demeaning, and traumatic to the patient, then it's time to rethink your policies and procedures. I have found the medical community to be woefully incompetent and insensitive. I have worked with SED (severely emotionally disturbed) children and young adults for years, as well as low-functioning children and young adults, and I have never encountered anger and frustration towards me. I was respectful towards them. I was kind to them. I was sympathetic to their situation. I understood their vulnerability, but I didn't exploit it. They sensed that. They trusted me. They felt safe with me. Show respect and empathy, and maybe you will get better results.
When I first started working with kids with autism I had a lot of fear because I didn’t know how to prevent violent outbursts. Once I read a Kazdin Method book, I had a better understanding of how dramatically I needed to change all of my behavior. The fear dissipated because I had the tools I needed to create a successful, calm interaction. The key is to do no harm but currently it sounds like your hospital’s protocols violate that oath. It sounds like you currently don’t have the tools you need. I would encourage you to seek out more support and learning.
My experience in a ward was a very scary thing the first day but i realized that I needed to go because of my mental health. I had a group of people that made my stay better. I became friends with some of them and now we all give support to each one of us because we feel that we need that support to carry on and make things better.
Ugh so sorry to hear about your experiences. I currently work in a psych hospital as a discharge planner. I don't know if its because I'm the U.S. but we have guidelines... For example we HAVE to have aftercare psych appt and a medical/primary care appt scheduled within seven days of release. My hospital rarely uses restraints excepts when absolutely necessary. I think in the last year they only did about one time. Anyway, I hope you never have to relive an experience that like again ❤️
Here in MN, my care has been far better than her experience in the video. However, restraints are more common than that. At the hospital I just left, there was one patient out of 13 in my unit who was restrained once during my 2 weeks there, and I think over a similar period there are usually 2 or 3 in a unit that size during a stay about that long in my previous experience. I applaud the staff during that recent emergency. They let the man rage and scream all he wanted. They didn't call the behavioral emergency ("code 21") until after he began threatening people, and they didn't restrain him until they absolutely had to. They talked to him the whole time. He even threw two chairs, but they didn't restrain him even then, I think because he threw them away from people, not at them. (He is a super-nice guy who I'm sure didn't really want to hurt anyone. He'd just absolutely lost it when he learned he wasn't going to be released that day.) They really waited until he gave them no choice. The normal procedure is to lock the patients in our rooms during a code 21, but most of us were in a group at the time. The therapist locked the door, but the wall between the group room and the rest of the unit was glass, and we could all see what was happening while still seated around the table. I know watching such a thing can be really upsetting to us patients, especially since we'd all become friends with him, but I'm glad I saw it. They treated him with as much dignity, respect, patience, and safety as they could. I never worried for his safety, and it was very clear the staff wasn't being abusive. Yeah, it was upsetting to see my friend go through that, but I found it more reassuring than anything. I don't like restraints being a big mystery. That only makes me more afraid of them, and of the staff.
Kristen R I’m in Canada, and and it’s only allowed in situations where if not used, so,some will experience harm and nothing else will help. restraints are rarely used. They need a medical order, and people can’t just use restraints. A doctor has to prescribe it.
Thank you for speaking out about this issue.. as a caregiver, the horror stories of such Hospitals is the reason why we don’t want to admit our family member but we know she needs that support or community because really, everyone - friends/family retaliate and there’s a huge sense of loneliness that they feel with no one to talk too or no one to listen who is not a medical professional. They want to do so much - learn, work, socialise but people without the illness can’t understand or sympathise, neither do they have the patience with such busy lives. I wonder if there is a way, we can give people with the illness a space no matter where they are to make friends who experience the same symptoms or counselling by social worker for free or at least more affordable. The second thing is that psych wards don’t divide based on the type of illness or the spectrum of their illness. It’s mental health, house them all together -drug induced or trauma or born with it.. the spectrum of help should also differ in the mix of health services they need aside from just drugs and therapy. What’s your view on this? Because you look great :-) and you’ve come to terms with your illness, taken action but not everyone does unfortunately.. sometimes it’s like dealing with an 12 year old... like the time they were at their worst was time frozen and they didn’t really grow up since. How can we help them too? What you’re doing here is a first great step! I must also say you’re fortunate in Canada but other countries in South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia - it’s horrifying beyond anyone’s imagination. Such terrible forms of care need to be addressed and shamed. It’s so inhumane. Sorry, so much in one comment but honestly, there is so much to talk about in this space. As a caregiver, I’m also helpless at this stage and worry about the future.
Being in the holding cell was traumatic for me because none of the nurses would talk to me or give me my meds. Being in the hospital itself, at least for me, varied between hospitals. One hospital was pretty nice because they separated the units between violent and non- violent patients. There was a lot of group therapy and activities to keep busy with. Recently I was in one that was horrible because there were several violent patients on my unit, and minimal interaction due to COVID. I feared for my safety, which increased my paranoia.I became convinced that the nurses and doctors were trying to hurt me. Not being allowed to leave made me feel incredible trapped. While luckily I never had to be restrained, I had to watch so many restraints and hear the screams of the patients being restrained. I left before I was really ready because I felt so unsafe in the hospital.
Five days for me. Luckily for me, my Mom got out of "that place" before she died from a ruptured blood vessel onto her brain. #ripMomiloveyou 10/11/1964 - 06/30/2020
Thank you for sharing your experiences, your channel is wonderful and I love that you are helping to break the stigma around mental illness. I’d like to share the perspective of a loved one who has had to commit a family member, which is another was that a person can end up in a psychiatric facility. My mother had schizophrenia and we had to check her into a facility several times. She was in full psychosis, sometimes she was suicidal but other times her negative symptoms were so oppressive that she hadn’t eaten in days or weeks (despite our efforts). Every time we checked her in was heartbreaking and traumatic for both her and us. However, ultimately we felt like we had no choice in the matter of saving her life. I’d also like to share that physicians in some instances are uncooperative in helping families deal with their loved ones who live with schizophrenia. We were often turned away from hospitals the first or second time because my mother was not “actively seeking to harm herself or others”. So we were left to wonder, is she going to wake up tomorrow, she hasn’t eaten in 14 days. While she was not actively attempting suicide in the traditional sense, she was so taken over by her hallucinations and delusions that she didn’t speak or eat or bathe and left in that state she would die. We always had to fight both with her and the hospital. I wish the facilities had more empathy and compassion and willingness to work with those who love individuals living with schizophrenia.
Yes I agree, the professionals need to work with the families and carers of the patient as we are the ones who know them best and we can give the professionals insight into what works for them and what to avoid. I think professionals sometimes forget 'one size does not fit all'. I know they are over stretched and under funded, but working with families not against them helps everyone not just the patient.
I am in and out of psychiatric units myself in the states due to suicidal thoughts. I can relate to a lot of what you're saying, especially the boredom. I frequently find that intake staff and drs expect me to answer embarrassing questions but don't seem to care about me or anything I'm going through like I'm just a number and a paycheck to them.
@@macurban7946 this is why gonna choose a good suicide method, so they won't be able to stop me and violate my body like that. my heart just breaks for you and others who had to experience such treatment, it's degrading and inhumane.
I’m soon to be the head of a psych hospital and have decades of experience but not at this top level. I am going to try to be an advocate for patients and treat them and HAVE my staff treat them with respect. I know but yet don’t fully know what a hard job I will have. I hope I can handle the stress and can manage staff well. Scared and excited at the same time. Bless those who have shared and remember you have purpose and are valuable.
I'm glad to say that I was only strapped down and stripped and forcibly changed into hospital approved street clothes once. That was my first hospitalization when I was in Germany and in the throes of a mixed episode with psychosis and sought help from a police station myself. The strictly organized nature of hospitalizations was less of a thing in Germany. Instead therapists would just come to you and if you weren't a danger you could have what's called Ausgang and could leave as you wished and come back until you figured out an outpatient plan. In the United States my experiences were more similar to what you described. I personally never felt the bonding as you described it. I would have fleeting friendly interactions and that was it. My level and quality of care has varied from hospital to hospital. A university hospital I went to a couple years back was very good at making me feel cared for. When hospitalized I sometimes put myself voluntarily into the isolation room. I'm an introvert so I sometimes need distance and to be alone. At the university hospital the positive emotions of being cared for were so strong that I needed the isolation room to kind of process and just feel the emotions. If I'm in a really bad depressive episode I sometimes want to idly hospitalize myself just to feel that way again but I typically resist the impulse and try to self soothe.
It's good that you resist the urge, and that you're able to self soothe. There's a bit of an issue, at least in the US, of people relying on hospitalization as a way of coping, and I'm glad you're able to avoid that cycle. Good luck with your bipolar, I hope you'll be okay as much as possible.
I have recently been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder after initially being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. My two involuntary 'stays' in the state hospital were similar to your own. I found it to be less about rehabilitation and more about detention. As an example, techs, who are really better classified as guards, enter your room every thirty minutes (or more frequently if you are on suicide watch) 24/7. Invariably, you are awoken and denied proper rest. I rushed a guard early one morning after getting fed up with the disturbances and was tackled by half a dozen guards, involuntarily injected and placed in isolation with my wrists and ankles strapped down. I have no idea how long I was in there. The hospital in my state is adjacent to the prison and shares a kitchen. The nutrition was terrible and I subsisted on apples and bananas, trading my nasty carbs with other patients. Patients who are better classified as inmates. You do form bonds with other patients but they vanish the minute you are discharged. We all live in fear of being hauled back into a psychiatric ward. In the back of your mind you worry that the next time you are detained, you may never be released.
Dear Young Lady, . Life is very fragil and experiences are unique, but my hope is somehow you will overcome to a point that you could enjoy more. Take care...you are precious to many ))
Thank you so much for this video. I used to work in a psychiatric hospital. I loved getting to interact with the patients and families, but since I worked at the front desk, I did not see what was going on back on the units. I'm sure every hospital is different, but still, thank you for giving us this insider look. Much love to you!
I greatly appreciate your channel and authenticity in your videos. I am a psychiatric nurse and your videos provide me a different perspective, it's profound to hear the patient experience (especially articulated so well). Although our mental healthcare system is the best it has ever been, we have a LONG way to go. I know our system is horribly broken and it breaks my heart giving patients STAT injections and putting them in seclusion. It really is dehumanizing, you'd think facilities would have a different standard. I try to be the least confrontational as possible and use more calming, deescalation techniques... but sometimes nothing else works. Thank you for sharing your story.
I had to have a group of 7 psychiatrist ask me questions everyday to see if I was getting better. They kept telling me I wasn’t changing until my mom pleaded I was well enough to come home. I saw violence, was strapped to a bed for hours, forced injections, but they must believe nutrition plays a big role since they served some of the best healthiest meals I’ve ever eaten.
Thank you for sharing your experience. We need to start a conversation about how people sufferinng with mental illness are treated. As a child I received unhuman treatments... It felt like we were criminals rather than patients.
Exactly. It's so utterly sad. I am doing everything I possibly can to change things and I am so grateful that more people are speaking up about these issues. At least I know that I am not alone and that its not just me.
Thankyou so much for being honest about your experience. Very similar to my own hospitalizations. It’s horrible and traumatic. People need to know how bad it is. There are other ways to find help. I’ve turned to God, and I thank God I’ve met my wonderful girlfriend at work and through constant self betterment. Please take care of yourself 🙏🏻 God Bless 💜
I'm a recovering addict. Most drug rehab centers have a mental heath section. I've done over 6 months in these facilities. Thank god for them. They save lives
You uploaded this on my birthday! I spent some time in a psych ward when I was 12 years old in the 1980s. My mom brought me in because, as she told me later, because the therapist they had me seeing threatened to have me taken away if she didn't admit me to the local children's psychiatric ward. I got there after dinner and around bedtime. I remember crying myself to sleep the first night. The kids were in a separate area than the teens and the entire time I was there I never once saw an actual doctor. Just the CNAs and nurses who would run our groups with us, etc. We all had our own room which was nice, I guess, but it was very lonely especially at night. There was one very nice staff who would give me books to read and a journal to write in, which I kept up clear into the 8th grade after which my mom stole it and gave it to my therapist who I had been seeing in group as part of my outpatient care, who refused to give it back and instead insisted on reading from it aloud to the group, an experience that soured me on ever keeping a written private journal ever again. The weird things about being in a psych ward in the 80s as a kid/tween was when the male staff members would come into the girls' rooms and want to tuck you in at night and give you a hug or when another told this one little girl who was only 6 years old that she was a little brat and no one would miss her when she was discharged. One of the worst experiences for me was when my discharge date was getting close but they wouldn't tell me the exact day one of the staff tried to make a "deal" with me; "I'll tell you when you're going home if you tell me the worst thing you've ever done." At the time the worst thing I had ever done was sneak out of the house in the middle of the night and walk around the block. He kept pushing but I had nothing to tell him so I didn't find out my discharge date earlier than normal and ended up in tears over being yelled at and called a liar when I said my sneaking out never led to anything else. Yeah, it wasn't very fun. The only thing I can say it did for me was program me to not avoid people's eyes when speaking or listening to someone. I forgot to mention a teenage girl ended up killing herself the first week I was there.
I was diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder when I was 14. I was placed in a mental institution for about two weeks after one of my many suicide attempts. I do think they breach your personal space quite a bit. I remember my first day, they stripped me naked and had a nurse inspect my body to look for self-inflicted injuries. It was really terrifying and it made me really uncomfortable. There is a lot to experience in those places and you learn to love and appreciate people with different disabilities. Some patients that are also being treated will treat you better than some of your friends on the outside do. I connected more with some of the people that I met in the hospital than I did with people on the outside. I felt comfortable around them and I could be myself. Not all nurses are rude and pushy, though. I was so traumatized from being away from my family for so long. Not knowing where I was. I remember crying a lot. The (only) male nurse there pulled me aside and gave me a hug and said everything was going to be okay. I could tell he was so genuine.. It made me feel the courage to accept the treatment.. My main goal was to go home for a long time- as is with most people who are institutionalized.. But with the right nurses that are genuinely involved and want to help, you can really make progress on yourself and help cope with the issues that you are having in your life and your mind. My hallucinations were so sporadic and my mood swings usually go back and forth multiple times a day.. So it was very hard at first. One of the biggest impacts on me inside the hospital was a patient that had extreme Schizophrenia. He was COMPLETELY unable to form sentences. He would ramble quietly to himself.. One day he stood up and started swinging his fists at the air. Nobody would ever talk to him, because everyone was afraid of him. I noticed this pattern in the outside world and knowing that it was happening in the one place where people are supposed to improve, it really made me upset. So one day I sat next to him and gave him company. I shared somethings about myself and listened to what he had to say. I am still not sure what he was trying to say, because his speech patterns were so disorganized. It made me cry. But I still listened and gave him the time of day. My last day, he gave me a hug before I left and it was one of the best moments of my life. I still remember him to this day. I am sorry that your experience was anything less than good and I do think there are great- sometimes even better ways to improve. Hospitals are certainly not for everyone. ESPECIALLY when you are just not allowed to leave. "What is your goal today?" To find my discharge date. :)
Beautiful girl. So well spoken and honest. Obviously, these institutions essentially make matters worse by inflicting more trauma to the trauma that already brought them there.
Thank you for sharing your stories, you are truly appreciated and very brave. I just recently found you and I’m grateful for all the information you share. I hope you know that you are helping many people , like myself, to better understand Mental Health issues. My wife is a Psych BSN-RN and she tells me how much they really need more help in improving the Care throughout the Mental Health industry. You pointed out many great points and you’re absolutely right, patients deserve much better care. Hope you’re doing well. Take Care.
My mother was a paranoid schizophrenic, she didn't go into details but she did not like being in the hospital. When I visited her it was scary, had a bad feeling about that place. I was very young so that didn't help.
Your story hon I just need to say you are beautiful and thank you for sharing .. Im glade you did not end your life ... bless you for all you been threw ...
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There was one boy thath always packed up and said:"my family will come" and nobody ever came...
When i was im my Psychiatric hospital that broke my heart
@Take Action it was a teen one he is better now and hes with his family evrythings great
@@SJ-vv8vt no, im not lying. This was true he was sent because he had ed and after that a mental breakdown.. The sad tging he was only 11 now hes 14 with his family that happened like 3 years ago
@@SJ-vv8vt its not hard to get sent to a psychiatric facility i have been in and out of them for the last two years and they can send you theyre for probably anything thats seemed as not normal like anger issues, paranoia, hearing/seeing things, or if they think your unsafe and almost everytime they have a kid their who was spose to be going home but doesnt
@@okay__. In your experience, do you think you were treated well? Were the nurses nice?
I was put in a ward for depression and my experience was identical. It’s terrifying to know that depression and schizophrenia are treated so similarly when they can be so different.
Suçons I went to a Psychologist to talk about my anxiety and depression and a few days later my mom gets a call saying that I needed to be put into a psychiatric hospital. It terrified the living shit out of the both of us, my mom began to scream saying no. After that I did some research on what a psychiatric hospital is like and honestly...it’s purely weird. I don’t think anyone with, specifically, depression needs to go to a psychiatric hospital. It’s almost like a jail cell and I’m glad I didn’t go because I got healed a few months later at HOME.
They both distort perception of reality and can be similar in a variety of ways. There are still hallmark differences which indicates that more needs to be done to address the nuances in each case. The other problem is that many methods currently used are generic and dehumanizing in approach. Stay rooted, my friends!
Can we raid a psychiatrist hospital
I was in a mental hospital for 6 weeks and when she seen in the video it is definitely true they the the place I went to was the children's institute of Pittsburgh and it was not pleasant so I get where she's talking about it so yeah
@@VideosOfRandomContext i am glad you got better
I’m a psych registered nurse. I’m sorry for your experiences. I literally do my best to actually make sure my patients know that I care. I spend time with each one of them every shift and just talk and converse to help them feel better. I understand why you don’t like the psych unit. I’m sorry the staff and nurses were so forceful with you. Meds and restraints are my last resort. I’ve never used restraints on my patients I do my best to de escalate the situation. Psych patients deserve better.
Thank you for your understanding & care
Dawny K shut up
Dawny K why did you mind my business? For praise? Mind your business Karen.
Dawny K no, that is not my best. You should feel lucky I didn’t give you my best. As a psych nurse I used my better judgment to refrain myself. You can you better as a human being and mind your business when no one is talking to you.
Refrain (it is a transitive verb -you cannot refrain yourself) from further commenting then ✋
It breaks my heart seeing the mentally ill in a hospital. I feel they are being punished for being sick (jailed) they should be treated with love & care. Bless the staff that truly care for these patients! I completely agree with teaching life skills..I have always said that about jails but def needed for pychiatric facility.
It's a tough call. Caring for a person with Schizophrenia is not easy. I had a series of consultations with a psychiatrist myself to help me to develop the right mindset when caring for my stepdaughter.
Some schizophrenics can be very mobile. We live in Europe and she has turned up as far afield as Paris, Lyon, and Italy. I usually get a call from the police when this happens. I have a friend whose son does the same. He tells me that he always carries his passport and documents because he never knows where his son might have gone. His son once spent several days driving around the Paris periphery because he was convinced someone was following him.
And they get very inventive when it comes to suicide. When confined, my stepdaughter can sometimes get a release form that permits me to take her shopping in the town. "Back by four or we call the police." And they mean it. Once, when returning, the staff insisted on inspecting her purchases. They confiscated her new belt and a metal nail file.
I have no issues with the staff taking the stuff (she is suicidal) but I did object to the brusque and aggressive approach. She was very upset and embarrassed.
In their defense, it's good to remember that the staff has to deal with very different conditions and very different people.
On another occasion, I was making to leave the hospital and got blocked by a man that would not have looked out of place in full Zulu battledress in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province. One magnificent and beautiful example of what the human body can be. Save he was naked and staring a little too hard at me. I'm pretty sure Chuck Norris would have turned tail at the sight of him.
It was a five-foot-nothing nurse that ordered him to his room. He obeyed without a word. Without that uncompromising and authoritarian approach, then there will be less control over potentially dangerous patients.
And you simply do not know what a patient may do next. This makes for rooms that are devoid of interest. This limits the provision of interesting things that can be used to harm or self-harm.
And, the deal-breaker: You always have to be ready for the bad and worst news. You have to be able to love the person and still be sufficiently detached to function properly yourself.
Of the psychiatric hospitals I have visited, all are grim places. If there is a common ailment for all patients then its loneliness. People fear people with such problems when they are often the best placed to help.
@@nickallen-friel889 because I truly believe most people do not really want to die they just want the pain to stop or and are fighting a mental illness that gives them suicidal thoughts.
@@nickallen-friel889 In the case of a schizophrenic in psychosis, the desire for suicide is usually temporary. In the case of a terminal illness with only the prospect of progressive disability, pain, erosion of all self-esteem and dignity, then yes. A choice we can respect. Indeed, for people in Europe, the choice is open to them.
Mentally ill people get treated poorly alot not only by staff at Mental facilities but by police ambulance staff Drs medical staff neighbors who victimize them harrass them its a weapon used to threaten those who suffer to do what others want them to by placing them in a facility. A spouse may suffer if his wifes mental illness progresses after trama abuse and the loss of a child but thats where the vows you take come in sickness and in health till death do us part. Those suffering need love kind words support and patience and for thete spouse to remain faithful. Awareness is very important about mental illnesses jusr because someone lokka the same doesmt mean trama and other events didnt effect a petsons mebtal state of mind. Suicide is on the rise i see why people need to educate themselves and interact with those suffering with good intentions the correct words and compassion. Judging and attacking who someone is could easily end in suicide
I mean id rather not be close to a person that can cut my artery or randomly have an attack just sayin.
This makes me so sad to hear. The hospitals I’ve been in saved my life over and over. I’m so sorry your experience wasn’t what it should have been.
Stephanie Thaysen what state do you live in?
A psychiatric hospital is the 21st century crime against humanity, a living hell, a torture place, a place where psychiatric staff will openly abuse you and bully you and still get away with it with even more bullshit. NEVER GO THERE. 😡😤 and dont listen to those who say not all psychiatrist are bad, no theh only play good cops bad cops but ultimately they will drop you and behave like the thrash they are towards you. Dont be fooled, have some sceptiscm and some discernment to protect yourself and your life. Dont let them rob you of your precious years only to lock you up again and again at their hell wards. Love yourself by not trusting them.
AngieFaith69 if she been saved over and over she likes to be dominated and she never rly got help
@@incognitoicon2903 Or maybe, just maybe, not all psych wards are the same?
Please don't listen to that Kai Yin individual. The psychiatric system here is very flawed yes but not all hospitals are the same.
Its amazing how this sounds like my jail experiences. They shouldn't treat mental health issues so roughly. Jail I deserved you didn't deserve such harsh treatment
People in jail have more rights than mentally ill people
I would guess that a lot of people in jail also have mental health issues.
they still treat suicide as a crime?
@Sannesthesia very true. unlikely, but possible.
@@lowqualitywaffle8765 See: Norwegian prisons
I am afraid to express some of my feelings for the fear of ending up in a ward and being treated like a prisoner because of a disease that I don't ask to have.
right? i was looking at videos about it. i thought they where a safe space but there are soo many bad experiences with them. if i ever went it would be low risk probs and i would hope it would be home in Australia. maybe that changes something? idk. it felt like a viable option but with all these vids out there, i don't know
Joseph the Inflatable guy th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
they can tie me down to keep me off her! Vavoom!
Same here
If it is low risk take a spy camera with you
If I wasn’t paranoid, suicidal etc before they strapped me to a bed I surely would be after that..
Being in a straight jacket or strapped to a bed is my greatest personal fear.
being forcefully restrained is also a big fear of mine. this sounds horrid. I can't even imagine
Oh. I'm def suicidal now for sure after being treated like an absolute criminal by police and the system overall.
Ebony Johnson me too
Straight jackets aren't commonly used anymore outside of worst case scenarios.
People are strapped down because they are insane and violent. It is only done on a temporary basis, for a couple hours at a time. Once the patient is grounded and calmed down, they are gradually released, one arm or leg at a time.
It doesn't make people suicidal. It allows them to calm down and rest, while burning through their energy.
Lord Bretman
That’s a bunch of shit, that it helps calm people down. Sry, that I have a strong opinion on this topic, but it is not just about calming people down. Some of the staff seemed to enjoy seeing me strapped down, because I was a nuisance. In some ways it is horrible to be strapped down, in other ways it doesn’t matter.
I thought about breaking my hand to get out of it. You can’t even scratch your head, lay on a side, drink or go to the toilet. Had to pee in a bottle. -Didn’t make me calm to be treated worse than a prisoner.
I don’t mind lying down and I could deal with all of the above.
But what do you do if someone would go into your room with ill-intent or if a fire would break out.
That is the real problem, that you are at merci off other people.
I was so angry I tried to throw the plastic bottles at the „iron lady“ and I wasn’t „serviced“ often, that day.
You need to drink a lot of water on medication, because your body needs to breakdown these chemicals.
The same as drinking coffee or alcohol. I was really thirsty that day and they were mad at me.
I thought I was dehydrating and very late I was ringing the service button over and over, because I needed to drink a sip for my desert mouth and chalk-dry crumbling lips and no one was coming. Too many patients for little personal to save some money.
I was so thirsty I drank from the pee bottle, which took half an hour to get to my mouth with the limited movement.
I remembered that you can drink your own pee, but it had a horrible taste and smell. I was using the bottle the whole day.
I almost puked, but it moisturized my mouth and could sleep.
Was a bad experience being strapped down. But it was worse for my mom seeing me strapped down like this.
I would never get a trauma from this and I might be though some ways. But calling it, calming down people, is not really right.
It is infuriating calling it that way and you can still injure yourself.
Still I liked keeping my arm in mint condition, but you can seriously hurt yourself and develop enormous strength in those situations.
I know it is hard to enforce, but a situation should be resolved through conversation rather than physical „methods“.
There is no need to fear being strapped down, but I cannot recommend it.
I don’t remember much of my stay. I just know I can’t be mad for paying taxes for quite some years and I will never go there again.
Even if I had a mental issue I would act normal to not be taken there.
I am very fine now, no medication since a year and still fine. Studying again and living in sanity again.
I deserved being fixated for ramming a hospital bed through a locked glass door, which was quite creative, but it wasn’t a pleasure.
So if you are careful not to ram beds into glass doors to escape or you are not suicidal, you probably never get fixated.
You look such a picture of health. You're a classic example of never judge a book by the cover, I don't mean that negatively, but I myself always appear happy and content on the outside, but inside its a different story 🤐
Depression, anxiety, and all other mental illnesses do not discriminate.
That's part of the torture of having an invisible illness.
I recently had a friend told me they were planning on committing suicide. As a friend, I really cared about that person and couldn’t let something like that go so I contacted their parents about what was going on. They took them to the hospital and they are going to a psych ward. I’m very worried about my friend and I don’t know what to do. I hear very negative things about psych wards and I just hope they get the help they need.
You did the right thing!
you did the right thing and most hospitals are not like what she described in my personal experience
AngelBaby4U no no ones life was ruined imagine if the person actually died
@@Gymfiend999 they'll definitely kill themselves after their experience
@Hime Angel she did the wrong thing by stoping her friend from suicide??
I used to work in a hospital as a security guard; it was one of the worst jobs I have had. It made me so depressed for the situations I was put in, getting yelled at by people I worked with, and how people talked and treated the people who needed help.
i've had many of run ins with people like you who walked around with you're partners always looking conflicted when you do your rounds through our wards...yet your partner always looks so confident like a king walking past trash and peons I've always wondered what was going through your head because while I'm getting help down by your cocky buddy and he's shouting and getting spittle on my face yelling to stop struggling even though I'm only laying there with him on my back and you on my legs while getting a forced shot in my ass your grip on my legs are always looser then his, is it because you know I'm not fighting? is it because you know I'm in the right and the only reason I'm getting a shot is for refusing to go to bed because i have insomnia.....i really wonder sometimes whats going through that head of the conflicted guard whose always paired with that asshat...
In the USA the main emphasis is on preventing suicide rather than creating an overall therapeutic environment, and it sounds like Canada is the same. The activities provided are often a joke -- adults spending their hours on coloring books????
This is so true the adults i was with were either asleep because they were forced to take medication not knowing their rights they were stuck watching the same 4 channels or fighting eachother
I liked art therapy, its very relaxing. Coloring books are especially satisfying and give a nice sense of completion
Drawing is therapeutic, and often is a part of therapy with a well-thought out background. I don't know whether it's the case for psychiatric hospital-managed activities.
Ray's Dad coloring books, yep, that’s par for the course for sure. Coloring, childlike activities....it’s a joke
I liked coloring
damn girl it took 6 people to hold you down? do you also have a body building channel?
HANNAH PETCOVIC
When I was 10 the dr wanted to give me a shot (immunization) and I struggled so much it took 6 to hold me down and do the injection. If you think about it, a person who is wriggling and trying to “snake” their way out of a hold...and add in a syringe with the potential to do some damage if not applied correctly...yeah, 6 sounds about right.
1 for each limb, one for torso, and one with the needle in one hand and holding the target area stable.
they treat patients like criminals, they are horrible towards nice people and super nice towards horrible people which explains why they always bully patients and are so nice to their colleagues who bully us
they also like to bully people weaker then them. whenever they want to lock me up at their hell wards they will get 2 big burly men to grab me from my house. I am only a petite girl. the ambulance dare to tell me “ yes you know I am a man and I can grab you, so you better come with me”
Hell Boy we dont need to be strong, we just need to be safe
lmaoo, when i was diagnosed with diabetes at 3, i had to have my first injection and i did not like needles back then. so i kinda just...ran. it took five doctors to catch/find me and three to hold me down while one injected me. loool
i feel so trapped, how am i supposed to find proper help if it’s like this
try talking to your friends or family first
The hospitals always offer proper help. Nothing to be afraid of.
The people telling horror stories are the worst patients in the psych units. Like a bad kid at school who complains that "school sucks" constantly.
It doesn't suck if you try to get along, and actually cooperate and try to get the help you're there for.
@Morphing Taxi No hospitals are torturing their patients. They're treating them. Psych patients, being in an altered state of reality due to their illness, believe many things about the hospitals that aren't true.
Simply put, they'd be complaining no matter what. There is literally nothing that would make them not bash the hospitals.
It was worse than this for me. a staff member went into the bathroom when i was taking a shower and dragged me out because i was taking too many showers. I was a minor at that time aswell. I live in America/ the USA so it might be better where you live. I was always admitted and i never choose to be there. I was picked up and thrown on the bed by a single male police officer because i was trying to leave the room. I was not delusional at that time i just wanted to leave. I had officers male officers grabbing my body and laughing while i was having a breakdown at 16 i was only 120 pounds but i had 8 male officers struggling to restrain me and i broke out of my restraits and the drugs they were injecting into me were not working. I was fighting like hell to leave. Its very tramatizing to even speak about. The worse part is being alone with the officers expecially the male ones.
Also i was never told my diagnosis and i still dont know even though im on meds. Im 19 now last time i was hospitalized was when i was 17. 2 out of 3 times i was put in an adult ward. I dont know if me being black and my mother being an immagrant has anything to do with my treatment but this is unacceptable.
Unfortunately, your experiences are the rule rather than the exception. I am so sorry about your experiences. 😢
Happy Place protocol, or no, it's WRONG
i don’t know that i’ve ever heard someone having a positive experience in a psych ward. i don’t get how they’re still allowed to operate like they do
@@arachnidfingers I sure have! Like she says, not all hospitals are the same. I have been hospitalized 6 times, and I checked myself in voluntarily all 6 times (well, I called 911 once and the police brought me in, but it was my initiative). I will state unequivocally that 4 of my 6 hospitalizations, including the one that ended just a week ago, were positive, healing experiences. Nearly all of the negatives she described had been addressed at the hospitals I've been to, and I suspect location makes a huge difference. My hospitalizations were all in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, an area that is known for being rather progressive with mental health care. Yes, they physically restrain patients who are about to hurt someone or themselves, or are actively trying to, but the police do that everywhere, and I think that's ok, as awful as it is. The drugs given during restraint (by a medical professional in a hospital environment) reduce the risk of injury during restraint and sedate the patient, which reduces panic and anxiety. Avoiding injury is the whole point, and our presenter in the video (I don't know if she ever gives her name - I've only seen 3 of her vids now) was actively trying to kill herself by strangulation with her hospital gown. Does anybody disagree that she needed to be stopped, by force if necessary? (Does she disagree?) I've never been restrained, and I'm glad of it because it looks like a horrifying experience, and I have panics and anxiety attacks easily. I think I would welcome the sedation, at least once it's taken effect. (Knowing I'm about to be drugged against my will, especially if psychotic, would be the worst.) For me, my fear of a panic that I cannot escape from is worse than my fear of drowning or choking (both of which I've experienced, having been rescued after I gave up and began to lose consciousness).
Being admitted through the emergency room is never fun. There is indeed a lot of sitting around for hours in an empty room with big, beefy security guards outside the door, and if you "self-admit," they are just as likely to send you home after all the waiting if you don't come in bleeding (which has been the reason I went in bleeding twice). The best way to be admitted, by far, is to have an outpatient psychiatrist who has admission privileges to a hospital with a psych unit, and s/he can admit you directly. When I was able to do it that way, I just checked in at the ER, and in 20 minutes someone from the psych unit met me in the ER waiting room and walked me right up.
One bad experience I had was staying in a unit with other patients who had created a prison culture, complete with a hierarchy who called all the shots (what we'd watch on the TV, what lights they wanted turned down, things like that). They treated the staff like mortal adversaries, despite the fact that nearly all of them were really nice. That was not a healing environment, but it was very unusual, and I'm not sure what the staff could have done differently.
In all my other stays in the psych units, we really did have a camaraderie. Patients in the psych unit can be the funnest people! It always seems to happen that groups will form for an informal chat over the all-important snack (she is right about that!) and compare the funniest things they've done during a psychotic episode, or the stupidest thoughts we'd had during a depression, or even compare notes to see who heard the funniest voices! Or the perennial favorite, who has had the stupidest hospital psychiatrist.
One fellow patient and I used to take our Ambien (zolpidem) a half-hour before lights-out and then play a game of cribbage. It was like ending the day with a couple drinks at the bar with an old friend, maybe even more fun. Of course we were careful to behave ourselves so they didn't have a reason to cut us off, and the nurses always had their eyes on us. (I would NEVER use Ambien like that outside the hospital because it's not safe. You can do dangerous things and forget everything, but it's very difficult to find dangerous things to do in a psych unit.) It sounds completely counter-intuitive, but several of my stays in psych units have been really great experiences.
Remember, we all go through life-changingly PAINFUL and DESPERATE experiences to get there. I usually feel safe and hopeful for the first time in months or years in the hospital. I feel relief! And I feel surrounded by people who really get it. I can only speak for two hospitals in my area, but they were both like I've described. Our state health department regulates them very tightly.
I think our health dept is also the reason we never had mandatory bedtimes or wake-up times. They only turned the lights out in the lounge and dining room, turned off the TV, and disconnected the phones (both of which they also did during group times). We were free to sit up all night and sleep all day, but if we slept through meals, they would take the food back to the kitchen for disposal and not give us any more food to make up for it. We could leave the lights in our rooms on all night if we wanted to, and they provided wireless headphone radios to anyone who asked, as well as white noise generators.
During this last visit, one guy with schizophrenia sat quietly in a chair in the lounge all night, every night, because he thought they had hidden some device or something that would hurt him in his room. They honored his right (and everyone's right) to refuse non-emergency medications (yeah, restraint is a "behavioral emergency"), so no anti-psychotics or sleep meds for him. (I felt for him, I really did. How could he ever get help if his voices are constantly telling him that the treatment is an attempt to poison him?)
The psych unit is not inherently a place to fear, but obviously there is a huge variety in the quality of care (and aftercare) available. If possible, I strongly recommend talking to other patients now, when you are not in an emergency situation, and finding out what the best hospitals are. Even when I called the police and they brought me in, they still gave me a choice of which hospital I wanted to go to. (Oddly enough, that was the only time a St. Paul police officer has ever spoken politely to me. They have all had training for psych emergencies. They just don't know how to be civil with people who are not mentally ill and in crisis.) Therapy groups, day treatment, partial hospitalization programs, and drop-in centers for the mentally ill are good places to meet other patients, and I learned a ton about the hospitals in my area. There are two I will never go to, two I will go to whenever I need help, and one that I don't know much about. That kind of information from other patients is invaluable.
OMG! As I'm writing this, I just realized that my girlfriend who committed suicide nearly 12 years ago did so within 3 months of her last discharge from the psych unit! I'd never heard that statistic before this video.
Get help if you need it! If you're in doubt, err on the side of safety!
Nick Allen-Friel I have been sexually assualted by psychiatric nurses too, they keep putting dirt in my underwear when I sleep. Sometimes they put some itching powder too. it is horrifying. it feels like we are mere experiment subjects to them.
I’m 18 and have a strong passion to help those who struggle with mental health issues. This has really inspired me to do something with my life to make a change and help people like you. I promise I will do everything I can to make sure your voices are heard and change is made. People should not be leaving a place meant for healing with more trauma :(
Thank you 🙏🏼
Thank you for your bravery. I’m a MH Therapist. You mentioned,”Trauma,” several times. This is a key area of study & practice for me and if there is one obvious thing that I’ve learned, it’s that no professional of any kind should be promoting & enhancing trauma for anyone! I’m sorry you encountered this & it’s horrible that those persons who are in this field to help...are themselves some of the worst offenders. This is widespread. To add, most are so confident, “It’s what they need.” This shallow ignorance has led me down my own path; to do things in a concerned, compassionate way that sees directly another’s pain and counts them as of inherent value and needing another to walk beside. It’s all about relationship that we all desperately seek & need. Find anyone you trust & find strength in who they are to you and all they mean in deep times of trouble. Best to you and thank you again. I’ve learned something tonight. James
Snack time, group time, and smoke break outside was heaven...
And the bonding with other patients❤
Those were the best parts of being there for me..
My husband says that that's exactly what jail is like..he's been in jail in the past.
You cant leave , the room is FREEZING, you're woken up at 7am, you have breakfast, you go to group ,then smoke break , you have decaffeinated coffee, you have lunch, smoke, snack ,rec room tv and hang out with others , there are screams coming from other hallways ..
Its humbling I've gotta say..wow
Juvie is waaaaaaaay worse
wait your psych place let you have smokes?!?!?!?! friggin lucky none of my stays let you have smokes, made every day hell for 90% of the people in there because lets face it if your suffering from depression or anxiety at your core most likely you smoke and or vape just saying nicotine is a HUGE vice lol
What happened there ?@@jacemorgan
@@alinalemanska2029 just an example. There was a kid who was tackled by 12 grown men, he was stripped naked and then pepper sprayed. Why? Cause he was too loud in his cell. He was only 14 at the time.
This story breaks me. I cant believe they did all that to you against your will. They sound like they don't care if your in pain or you are suffering.
They could have molested her and got away with it cause they would've blamed her illness.
This sounds truly dreadful: when you need care to be treated like a criminal is so wrong. I send you my best wishes.
As a psychiatric nurse, I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. As older mental health professionals retire, my hope is my younger generation reform the way we treat our patients. Wish you well 💕💕
As a family of someone with mental disease, it is so helpful to listen to your point of view. My family member refuses to talk about the condition, symptoms or anything, really, so I tried to learn as much as I can from you, in order to understand and help. Thank you so much for your honesty and insight.
Miriam Matos Matos th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
I'll never forget the faces of the two psychiatrists, therapist and social worker when I sat in front of them the morning after trying to slit my throat, with big stitched slashes on my neck, articulately explaining to them why I was actually completely fine and the incident was actually just a one-off that definitely wouldn't happen again. I still don't know what the hell I was thinking but I was convinced
I had a somewhat similar experience. I was all happy the day after my attempt. The doc said it's the honey moon phase.
You spoke about the camaraderie that develops between the patients staying at the psychiatric hospital. This has been my experience as well, as I met my future wife at a facility back in 2011, and now we're getting close to our ninth anniversary. I suppose that generally it is not recommended to pursue romantic relationships with fellow patients, but it did work out for us.
I am in school for social work, and I believe real experiences like these are so important for everyone to hear. Thank you for your bravery -- sharing isn't easy but it makes a world of difference.
Lisa Rene th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
I want to add that I am really impressed with your courage in sharing and being so articulate about your experience. My experience comes from the other side, being a staff person in residences and respite triage services. Part of me wishes that I had access to your's and other's experiences in order to give me a greater understanding. The fact is that we all are trying to learn how to navigate the world in a more compassionate way and how our conditioning and the lack of social resources limit that learning process. If you were able to access the inner intentions of the representatives of what is an often cruel system, I believe that you would find that many of them were on your side and just as upset about the institutional failings as you were but also stuck in a predetermined role. I personally am not aware of being part of the negative-type experiences that you describe, but I do realize that when I was working with disturbed children there were parts of the "protocol" that I would never agree to be part of today. It is a learning process for us all, and despite what it seems we are more alike and in the same boat despite what seems to be opposite sides.
People in your field have a hard job. And thank you for your help. Because I've been in physic before
This is why it is so great to hear from patients like Lauren so that we can all try and progress and learn what helps and what doesn't. Like in any walk of life there are good medical staff and not so good medical staff, but to have a willingness to listen and learn is the min thi g and to treat each patient as an individual is important as no two people are the same. That said, I appreciate all staff who work in MH, it is the least 'glamourous' area to work in and I don't think I could do it personally, so I truly appreciate the vast majority of you who do.
We also need to remember that there are all types of people in that field, those with good intentions and those feeding themselves in unhealthy ways from the treatment of these patients. Fortunately, I do believe most are in the field to make a positive change.
Best compassionate comment? Very nice what you said....I don’t really like my comment that much anymore lol.
The fact that you can sit there and share your story and critics in such an eloquent, truly constructive way is absolutely incredible. If you've been through that hospital experience and can still sit here and act respectful and kind, it truly shows how absolutely terrific you are inside.
I remember patients shaking, quivering, and zonked out from side effects of toxic medications. I particularly remember two ladies with severe, Tardive Dyskinesia. Very sad. Also, many patients shuffling around with unbearable Akathisia. Beyond hell. Most people try suicide because of the WICKED side effects from antipsychotics. Those drugs destroy people.
Naomi Judd
You are a gem. I suffer from psychosis as well.
Literally been through what you have a bit but I totally get where your coming from so I hope you never feel alone.
Spot on everything. Keep it up and you're very pretty!
I am always surprised by how open and honest you are. I can imagine how difficult it must be to expose your most dramatic experiences for the sake of educating others and offering some comfort to those in the same situation. I really admire you for sharing that. Be well my dear.
Claudia PASB th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
I have been hospitalized and involuntarily and unnecessarily committed to a locked down psych hospital as well. Your vid brought all the bad memories crashing out. I will try to get your courage to tell my story here too.
Mary Hill th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
Lauren, thank you for being frank and to the point about your experiences. I hope the people in charge will listen closely to what you and others have to say about how they are treated or lac thereof. Perhaps if we treated people with mental illness better, more people would be willing to seek help. I plan on writing to the minister of health here in Ontario Canada and ask for the government to review how we treat people. I hope they look at your videos to help them understand. God bless you and thanks for educating me.
Procrastination can be a terrible thing, you should have written your letter under Kathleen Wynne, and while she likely wouldn't have gotten much done either, at least focussing on her for change could have been fair reason for your optimism, not so with the likes of Doug Ford at the helm, chop, chop, chop is all he knows.
I have no idea why this comment is upvoted at all by anyone. Lauren clearly stated she tried to strangle herself with her hospital gown. The only sure way to ensure Lauren cannot kill herself is the strap her down. The hospital simply cannot dedicate one nurse to watching one patient the entire time. Being injected with medication against your will to cure your mind is the best thing that can happen. What are people complaining about?
Kelvin Tse you said the hospital cannot dedicate a nurse to watch a patient all the time which is obviously and admittedly true. But this is exactly what these patients need: more attention, time and loving compassion. This is why we feel sorry for the shortcomings of the health system. The treatment in hospitals is usually stripped from love and compassion.
@@kelvintse2354 I completely agree with you. When you are danger to yourselves or to others you have to be forced to do things against your will to save your life and keep others safe. Because you are not thinking logically. I see nothing wrong with that.
This is vanilla psych ward protocol, with staff more or less following protocol to the "t". If a patient attempts to hurt themselves and/or others, it's get the 4-point restraints and fill up the jabber with Ativan and Haldol (and maybe Benadryl if you want to minimize risk of dystonic effects). She was extremely fortunate to not have been raped or sexually assaulted, which isn't uncommon in these types of places, especially with a drugged up patient who has limited comprehension of their surroundings, and where raping someone is easier than shooting fish in a barrel.
I was hospitalized for 7 days after using the wrong words to explain my feelings
I have never resonated more with a video, my hospital experiences were exactly like yours. I have been diagnosed with Bi-Polar (Rapid Cycling), and there is a long history of mental illness in my family. Thank you for making this.
I've always had the same feeling of wanting to leave the hospital as quickly as possible. "Against medical advisement." Your experiences are so traumatic and I've experienced similar bad times. I have a chance to go back to a research hospital, mainly for medication and money. Yes time and reality do get warped, and my discharges from the hospital have felt like returning from war, not knowing how to get along in society and the cycle starts over again.
Now imagine been locked in worst environment for 2-5 months at a time for over 8 years and being terribly assaulted getting two nervous cut by a nurse while getting an injection your third time and then you have two stay there like all “safe” and getting “helped” while your completely numb, freezing while getting tortured like it’s in humane.
You’re sooo articulate Lauren! I like the way you look straight forward to the camera. It’s a sign of your sincerity and honesty. Thank you so much for sharing with people your personals experiences on this matter. You help a lot in such a nice way. Keep it up dear, we love your channel ❤️
I have been working for two years as a secretary in a psychiatric wade at the past in a public hospital in Greece. I think it’s unusual to meet stuff and even doctors compassionate enough to make patients feel comfortable. I wish I was a doctor to be able to help all these patients I feel so compassion for. Thanks again Lauren.
She won’t blow you just so you know
Hey Lauren, this is Rachel, we went to ESSMY together. My short hospital visits have been a nightmare... In March I was taken in to emergency by police because I hung up on the distress line. I was discharged without much to go on except a months long waiting list for therapy. It seems like many don't want to or know how to help someone who is suicidal. Yet I'm being asked to go back if I act on it. It's a messy system and I felt like I wasn't taken seriously. The medications they gave me, I hated them. I feel like I was doped up for a few days then let go to fend for myself again. I understand everything you mentioned in this video. Keep 'em coming please. More people need to know what the fuck it's like in the hospital.
I remember I was so angry that I got admitted to a psychiatric hospital that I started bashing my head against the wall and tearing out my hair. I’m not very strong, but since I was a gymnast I was easily able to wiggle out of their grasp with my flexibility, so it took four people to hold me down. They carried me to the “quiet room” which had concrete walls and floors with a single mattress bolted into the ground. They lied me down on my stomach on the mattress, and had one person sit on my back, and another on my legs. I was thrashing around and trying to get them off me. The nurse came in, pulled my pants down, sanitized the area with an alcohol wipe, and injected me with something that sedated me. I don’t remember much after that except crying in a fetal position. I felt absolutely humiliated. After a week in acute, I was sent to residential. I stayed there for 5 months and 20 days. I remember everyone being so touch starved that they would harm themselves just so they could be restrained by staff. (We weren’t allowed to touch another person) It was absolute hell.
holy fuck that sounds horrifying, the restraint/injection is almost like rape. so sorry that it happened. if someone does that to me i will kill myself 100%, there is no way i can handle that kind of trauma. these people are monsters, period.
I’ve been in institutional care but nothing like that so sorry for you dear
Wow that’s so terrible:-( especially about you getting held down and the desperation for touch. Be sure to hug your people everyone.
I feel very happy that I hugged everyone before I left now
That sounds like a concentration camp brutality. The research facility force experiments on people like the lab rats animals.
Only praying to Jesus and accepting Him as our King forever can save us from that hell. If all of us pray together this hell will end.
Our suffering is not wasted if we offer it to God for His Kingdom, just like Jesus did. We do not need drugs. We need to be respected
and make our own choices. It's a crime to force treatment on a conscious person who can talk for themselves.
How were they starved, can you say more ?
I spent 3 weeks in a hospital for psychosis and I’m so thankful that my experience was different. There was no isolation, the intake was a room with TV, snacks, and books. I did experience a forced injection which was scary as heck! But during the day we had therapy, workshop groups, art therapy, gym time... I actually didn’t want to leave because I finally felt understood and heard.
I’m so sorry you had such a traumatic experience.
Thanks for sharing. You're an articulate voice for people suffering from a really marginalising condition.
I experienced an admission to the local psych ward that was traumatic. Strikingly similar to yours, in fact. So I know how scary and difficult to talk about it is. The stigma of mental illness is hard to live with. Thank you for stepping up and being a voice of reason for us all.
I'm a student of psychology and this is my exact experience with psychiatric wards and psychosocial rehabilitation centers and this is why I have become so disillusioned with the field
thank you for being so honest! most psych students I have encountered on youtube comments think they know it all and can even accuse everyone of being delusional and mentally ill which is so wrong. after interning a little bit they can go around thumbing victims of psychiatry down, accusing them of being liars and mentally ill, while claiming psychiatrist are the most empathic doctors ever, seriously contradicting themselves.
asma c th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
Lauren I really enjoy watching all of your videos on the you, hope you keep posting more of your videos on the you tube, hope you enjoy the rest of your day ❤, and you are the prettiest woman on the you tube ❤
I'm so sorry that this was your experience. I just graduated nursing school and will be starting my first job as a nurse on a psychiatric unit in about a month. I like to believe that no one goes into this type of work (as a nurse, psychiatrist, therapist, etc) with poor intensions, but I think sometimes the job can harden you and make you forget that each patient is a human being. I have struggled with mental health issues myself, and I'm hoping that this will help me to be a better advocate for my patients.
Hi, how has the wok been?
I just got diagnosed and I just want to say that I find your videos extremely helpful. Thank you and keep up the good work.
Hi, I am recommending to watch this TED talk to wide your horizon : 'Psychosis or Spiritual Awakening: Phil Borges at TEDxUMKC'
I'm trying to learn all I can to help my daughter !
You act well, hope she does well❤
I hope that your daughter knows what a great parent she has. Good luck and many blessings.
bless you and your daughter
Hi, I am recommending to watch this TED talk to widen your horizon : 'Psychosis or Spiritual Awakening: Phil Borges at TEDxUMKC'
Don't except anything your not happy with if your not happy with her treatment take it from me keep sounding off and banging on doors until your happy👍
I'm very sorry to hear about the trauma and suffering you have experienced. I have been traumatized recently myself in a similar way and I can relate so much. The standard of care for mental health patients is appalling here in Tennessee. You are so courageous to provide us with these excellent videos which I enjoy very much. Thank you!
My stay was only 5 days and felt like years. I was a voluntary patient for anxiety and panic attacks. I have NO suicidal thoughts or ideations. My panic comes from hypochondria. I’m afraid to die lol. They stripped me naked and searched me for anything to harm myself. Even took my dang shoelaces lol. Didn’t even give them back. If you EVER wanted to go against the dr orders you were forcibly shot with meds. My case worker even told me she could keep me there as long as she wanted. At that point I danced to her tune just to get the hell out. It made me scared to ever go back. I’ve had moments where I’d probably would’ve benefitted from going to one but that trauma will never go away
Wierd because its contrapriductive this treatment.
Same here. I just had really bad anxiety and depression. I moved to a new state with no family besides my parents and siblings and now ex boyfriend and his son. Me and my boyfriend broke up. I was having a super hard time with it. I remember being so tired of us fighting all the time. Felt like I was fighting with a narcissist. I believe he was. Always messing with my emotions. I was Mentally drained. Physically drained also. I’ve never been like this before. He brought out the worst in me. Also him forcing himself on top of me to have sex. Repeatedly telling him no I’m tired. It was traumatizing... My memory is a bit spotty. I’m not sure why but maybe from the lack of sleep.but I remember the first day I got admitted to the “adult behavioral facility” they stripped me down and shoved me in the shower. Freezing cold water.... I cried. It was so uncomfortable being there . Like everyone is saying literal jail. I was so sad being there when it was supposed to be me getting mental help. I was not given a therapist or anyone to talk to. So day after day I just stayed to myself. The highlight of the day was group therapy. I feel like I deserved better. I think about the facility all the time... I get sad like why did I let myself go there . Why couldn’t I just be normal..
We only need to take orders from God. We do not need to take orders from doctors. This is the worst kind of slavery
to be held captive against your will and druged with chemicals by force. A horror movie !
I think the scariest part of psych wards is when youre told that you need to be in a mental institution having never been inside. My parents have struggled to have me go through psychiatric evaluation from when I was 15 to 17 and I thought they were trying to put me in one to punish me and make me live a miserable life. When I went into one for the first time when I was 17 that’s when I realized they wanted me to get help and learn how to cope with triggers
Thank you. Break the stigma.
Iv'e been in several stress units and mental Hospitals. I have Anxiety/OCD and you explained Mental hospitals perfect. Thanks and great job.
You're very brave sharing your experience. I have a former client (a Flipino national, Canadian citizen) whose treatment in a psychiatric facility in your country was more traumatic than healing. The family decided at that time to bring him to the Philippines for short term treatment before going back to Canada. He responded well here and even visited a second time and he was doing quite well. Yes, I hope your story will be heard ...
About 2 years ago I was let out of a hospital to a shelter that had no beds available; since then I've had to do things in my life that I'm not proud of but still grateful for the courage that Gods gave me to confront animosities. What helped me the most was that voice in my head that told me; not to act.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Wish I could give you a hug. Bless your heart.
You seem like a lovely person and you come off as very honest and sincere, so please seek help early if the voices starts to make you do things again. The world would lose a lot of you died due to suicide.
My brother who i love very much, got hospitalised due to a psychosis due to drugs, i remember the first time i visited him there, there was a nurse that had to stay in the room, i wasnt even allowed to give him a hug. That was hell for me, but i kept visiting every other day for his sake. He is now on medication that works which i am so thankful for, and has been out of hospital for many years now.
It’s truly a broken system. In my experience I went in voluntarily and was caught in a 5150 and trapped in the adult ward just being 18 for three weeks. It was the most traumatic experience of my life. I went through a traumatic event two days before and just wanted help and to talk to a therapist since mine wasn’t available in the middle of the night and I was stuck in like you said, a jail environment. Thank goodness for the friends I made while I was there. But I’m so sorry you had to go through it as well. There are so many people who don’t belong there. And the fact that they charged me $250 A DAY for something I was forced to be in. I might as well have stayed at a hotel and gone on vacation. It would have worked much better than the trauma and the PTSD I got from being there to think about the traumatic event that had just happened to me for 3 days and see my parents for 2 hours a day, if that when I still felt like a little kid who just graduated high school. I’ve done a lot of healing since then but it definitely still hurts to think about. Especially the fact that “group therapy” consisted of lazy rude social workers who after I explained my situation told me that “I shouldn’t have said I was suicidal in the first place if I wasn’t 100% sure.” I was a dumb teenager going through already going through a bad time who had a seriously traumatic experience 2 days before and cops show up at my house and I’m a mess and I just wanted some help. I didn’t know I would get put in such horrible conditions. The system needs to be fixed. I remember one guy saying “well it was this or jail so I’m cool with this.” And I just didn’t feel like I deserved to be there. Basically what the hospital taught me is how illegal it is to hurt yourself and everything is about paperwork, which is so messed up. It’s my life and I went to get help at the time because I wanted to value my life again. The two friends I made in the hospital and I just got some serious trust issues. WE NEED TO FIX THIS SYSTEM
I totally agree. I'm literally trying not to end my life now because of the severe trauma and abuse that the system put me through for 13 years and I can never forgive myself for ever reaching out to them. I just want to die badly. I feel like it is all my fault. The system took my already severe trauma and multiplied it times 100. My life is totally over and ruined and I feel like I can never heal from this pain.
Carmen Sinata th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
I think a new improved system has to be put into place and the old one completely dismantled instead
@@ebonyjohnson1580 Dear Ebony, I know this is a couple of yrs old but I hope and pray your still alive doing better.
My Mom was admitted to a psychiatric ward for a couple of weeks during her early days with Alzheimer’s, as she had become delusional. It was my first ever experience in seeing a psychiatric ward first hand (as a visitor), and not what I had envisioned.
I am lucky enough to not suffer from a mental illness, but really enjoy your videos; it is very very brave of you to share your experiences. Your insights into what schizophrenia / schizoaffective disorder were not what I had imagined at all, it has truly been inspirational to see you managing your illness so well, and sharing your story. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this experiences that makes us learn and understand so much.
My Great Aunt lived to be 80, she spent 40 years of that in a state mental hospital. Bless her soul.
I was put into a psych ward against my will when i was going through depersonalization/derealization. It was one of the WORST experiences.
They forced me into a small cubicle, wearing only a hospital gown, my underwear, and socks. The bed was a hard plank of wood with no blanket in the cold facility. The doctors, nurses, and staff treated me with either apathy or disdain. When i went into a state of mutism, they tried to force a catheter into me. It’s disgusting and would rather die than go to a psych ward again. This is just my own experience. Hopefully, other places are humane.
Thank you for sharing! Your story keeps the demons of anguish at bay. You give me strength to grasp my shield and sword to keep fighting. God bless you!
You are my hero, dear ❤️I suffer from severe OCD and have also experienced really awful and traumatic experiences at the hospital. I felt as though the staff belittled patients and never took what they said into consideration and it was absolutely dehumanizing. I’m applying for a Masters in Public Health so that as someone who has gone through the mental healthcare system, I want to see if I can try to improve life planning programs for patients after discharge. I really hope that more people like you can share your experiences and raise awareness and try to improve the lives of all of those who unfortunately have to suffer in silence because of the atrocious stigmatization that exists for mental illness.
I have been wanting to receive my Master's in Public Health as well to be a public health consultant or advisor and try to write bills to change the system. I have also thought about becoming an advocate in the court of law for people who have gone through my traumas in and out of this system by getting a combo JD.However, I am so absolutely traumatized at this point that I don't even want to do that anymore because I would likely be working in or contacting with the same system and I absolutely refuse to put anyone else though the abuse and horror that I have or add to it in any way, shape or form. So ar this point I am just waiting for my life to be completely over. And I have trained it the system since I was 15. I am now almost 32.
Sel th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
I’ve read quite a number of stories about what it feels like to be in a psychiatric ward, and I could not relate to any of those where every story about psych wards sounded like they’re a safe and loving space to be. But I could totally relate to yours. Not all mental health care system work the same. My hospitalisations were traumatising. Your videos are so helpful.
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You are awesome to talk about your experiences. I firmly believe physcology is a dangerous practice, in which they can really screw up a persons well being. A psychologist should be available to their patients, 24/7.
Wow... my experience was exactly the opposite, I must have just gotten lucky and had a good facility. We had group activities and therapy sessions that were really helpful and one of the conditions of release was going to a 2 week outpatient group to help with reintegration.
Your experience is really negative. Here in Germany rules for forced medication and shackling are more strict. My personal experience is more positive, but heavily dependent on the psychiatrist.
Fucking perverts !there is no reason that you have to be stripped naked that's GBH (grevious bodily harm and sexual assault as far as I'm concerned! I would of sued them
Thompson it was auto correct that change what I was typing
@@tracyprice1361 You never really can sue them, most of the time you're just dismissed because of your diagnosis, or the doctor's insurance protects them from any financial consequence.
The law never offers a psych patient any real justice against their doctor. They have to bring justice themselves.
Juliet Capulet most accusations by the mentally ill are fabricated anyway
qjtvaddict thats so not true you liar
Brave, beautiful, intelligent lady...thank you for speaking up on this very important issue
I would like to comment from the nursing side of this. I work in an Emergency Department in the USA. We have specific procedures for suicidal/homicidal patients that are for safety purposes. We do explain all of these procedures, but often are met with emotional and psychiatric behaviors that are abusive toward us (biting, spiting, hitting, kicking, etc). Many of our suicidal patients are on street drugs as well. These procedures may seem restrictive, but to maintain safety for the patient and everyone else involved, we have to do this.
I appreciate what you are saying and I know how difficult your job must be, but my daughter was injected with sedatives because she couldn't stop crying. She was not being threatening, was not being aggressive or doing anything harmful, she was just devastated that she was back in hospital but the ward nurse got fed up with her crying and instead of asking her if she would like to phone me (which she had been told helps my daughter to calm down) the nurse injected her using a drug my daughter had had a very rare reaction to in the past. My daughter was telling her repeatedly that she was allergic to this drug and the nurse jammed it in to her anyway, without bothering to phone me ro check if what my daughter was saying. Nurse then defended herself when I challenged her on this a few days later by saying 'I didn't notice any adverse reaction'. Well lucky her then, as the adverse reaction was when this drug was mixed with an anti histamine which my daughter was not on this time, but what if she had been on it, would this nurse have still gone ahead regardless without believing my daughter or checking with me first?
It's experiences like this that worry parents when staff sedate patients because they are annoying them or are being a pain, to keep them quiet so staff don't have to do much. I have seen this happen far too many times and only 2 days ago I reported some bullying behaviour I witnesses to the consultant regarding a patient who does not have the verbal skills to defend himself. It was awful to witness and the staff member knew I was there observing it all and he still carried on regardless. What on earth would he have done with this patient had I not been there?
Erin Camden Abuse, disrespect, and human right's violations are common in the medical community. If your procedures are humiliating, demeaning, and traumatic to the patient, then it's time to rethink your policies and procedures. I have found the medical community to be woefully incompetent and insensitive. I have worked with SED (severely emotionally disturbed) children and young adults for years, as well as low-functioning children and young adults, and I have never encountered anger and frustration towards me. I was respectful towards them. I was kind to them. I was sympathetic to their situation. I understood their vulnerability, but I didn't exploit it. They sensed that. They trusted me. They felt safe with me. Show respect and empathy, and maybe you will get better results.
When I first started working with kids with autism I had a lot of fear because I didn’t know how to prevent violent outbursts. Once I read a Kazdin Method book, I had a better understanding of how dramatically I needed to change all of my behavior. The fear dissipated because I had the tools I needed to create a successful, calm interaction.
The key is to do no harm but currently it sounds like your hospital’s protocols violate that oath. It sounds like you currently don’t have the tools you need. I would encourage you to seek out more support and learning.
This made me cry, thank you for sharing your experience. You look so gorgeous. Thanks be to God for your recovery. You have touched me deeply
My experience in a ward was a very scary thing the first day but i realized that I needed to go because of my mental health. I had a group of people that made my stay better. I became friends with some of them and now we all give support to each one of us because we feel that we need that support to carry on and make things better.
Ugh so sorry to hear about your experiences. I currently work in a psych hospital as a discharge planner. I don't know if its because I'm the U.S. but we have guidelines... For example we HAVE to have aftercare psych appt and a medical/primary care appt scheduled within seven days of release. My hospital rarely uses restraints excepts when absolutely necessary. I think in the last year they only did about one time. Anyway, I hope you never have to relive an experience that like again ❤️
Here in TN the care isn't much better. I can sympathize so much having had a recent traumatic experience.
Here in MN, my care has been far better than her experience in the video. However, restraints are more common than that. At the hospital I just left, there was one patient out of 13 in my unit who was restrained once during my 2 weeks there, and I think over a similar period there are usually 2 or 3 in a unit that size during a stay about that long in my previous experience. I applaud the staff during that recent emergency. They let the man rage and scream all he wanted. They didn't call the behavioral emergency ("code 21") until after he began threatening people, and they didn't restrain him until they absolutely had to. They talked to him the whole time. He even threw two chairs, but they didn't restrain him even then, I think because he threw them away from people, not at them. (He is a super-nice guy who I'm sure didn't really want to hurt anyone. He'd just absolutely lost it when he learned he wasn't going to be released that day.) They really waited until he gave them no choice.
The normal procedure is to lock the patients in our rooms during a code 21, but most of us were in a group at the time. The therapist locked the door, but the wall between the group room and the rest of the unit was glass, and we could all see what was happening while still seated around the table. I know watching such a thing can be really upsetting to us patients, especially since we'd all become friends with him, but I'm glad I saw it. They treated him with as much dignity, respect, patience, and safety as they could. I never worried for his safety, and it was very clear the staff wasn't being abusive. Yeah, it was upsetting to see my friend go through that, but I found it more reassuring than anything. I don't like restraints being a big mystery. That only makes me more afraid of them, and of the staff.
Kristen R I’m in Canada, and and it’s only allowed in situations where if not used, so,some will experience harm and nothing else will help. restraints are rarely used. They need a medical order, and people can’t just use restraints. A doctor has to prescribe it.
th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for sharing, hope everything is working out for you.
Thank you for speaking out about this issue.. as a caregiver, the horror stories of such Hospitals is the reason why we don’t want to admit our family member but we know she needs that support or community because really, everyone - friends/family retaliate and there’s a huge sense of loneliness that they feel with no one to talk too or no one to listen who is not a medical professional. They want to do so much - learn, work, socialise but people without the illness can’t understand or sympathise, neither do they have the patience with such busy lives. I wonder if there is a way, we can give people with the illness a space no matter where they are to make friends who experience the same symptoms or counselling by social worker for free or at least more affordable.
The second thing is that psych wards don’t divide based on the type of illness or the spectrum of their illness. It’s mental health, house them all together -drug induced or trauma or born with it.. the spectrum of help should also differ in the mix of health services they need aside from just drugs and therapy. What’s your view on this? Because you look great :-) and you’ve come to terms with your illness, taken action but not everyone does unfortunately.. sometimes it’s like dealing with an 12 year old... like the time they were at their worst was time frozen and they didn’t really grow up since. How can we help them too?
What you’re doing here is a first great step! I must also say you’re fortunate in Canada but other countries in South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia - it’s horrifying beyond anyone’s imagination. Such terrible forms of care need to be addressed and shamed. It’s so inhumane.
Sorry, so much in one comment but honestly, there is so much to talk about in this space. As a caregiver, I’m also helpless at this stage and worry about the future.
Being in the holding cell was traumatic for me because none of the nurses would talk to me or give me my meds. Being in the hospital itself, at least for me, varied between hospitals. One hospital was pretty nice because they separated the units between violent and non- violent patients. There was a lot of group therapy and activities to keep busy with. Recently I was in one that was horrible because there were several violent patients on my unit, and minimal interaction due to COVID. I feared for my safety, which increased my paranoia.I became convinced that the nurses and doctors were trying to hurt me. Not being allowed to leave made me feel incredible trapped. While luckily I never had to be restrained, I had to watch so many restraints and hear the screams of the patients being restrained. I left before I was really ready because I felt so unsafe in the hospital.
Phoebe Jane Miller th-cam.com/video/c8omryHCn1Y/w-d-xo.html
Five days for me. Luckily for me, my Mom got out of "that place" before she died from a ruptured blood vessel onto her brain.
#ripMomiloveyou 10/11/1964 - 06/30/2020
Sorry about your mom, I know how you feel
Thank you for sharing your experiences, your channel is wonderful and I love that you are helping to break the stigma around mental illness. I’d like to share the perspective of a loved one who has had to commit a family member, which is another was that a person can end up in a psychiatric facility. My mother had schizophrenia and we had to check her into a facility several times. She was in full psychosis, sometimes she was suicidal but other times her negative symptoms were so oppressive that she hadn’t eaten in days or weeks (despite our efforts). Every time we checked her in was heartbreaking and traumatic for both her and us. However, ultimately we felt like we had no choice in the matter of saving her life. I’d also like to share that physicians in some instances are uncooperative in helping families deal with their loved ones who live with schizophrenia. We were often turned away from hospitals the first or second time because my mother was not “actively seeking to harm herself or others”. So we were left to wonder, is she going to wake up tomorrow, she hasn’t eaten in 14 days. While she was not actively attempting suicide in the traditional sense, she was so taken over by her hallucinations and delusions that she didn’t speak or eat or bathe and left in that state she would die. We always had to fight both with her and the hospital. I wish the facilities had more empathy and compassion and willingness to work with those who love individuals living with schizophrenia.
Yes I agree, the professionals need to work with the families and carers of the patient as we are the ones who know them best and we can give the professionals insight into what works for them and what to avoid. I think professionals sometimes forget 'one size does not fit all'. I know they are over stretched and under funded, but working with families not against them helps everyone not just the patient.
I am in and out of psychiatric units myself in the states due to suicidal thoughts. I can relate to a lot of what you're saying, especially the boredom. I frequently find that intake staff and drs expect me to answer embarrassing questions but don't seem to care about me or anything I'm going through like I'm just a number and a paycheck to them.
If I get stripped.I will honestly just end it all.That would be embarrassing and humiliating.
Never give up no matter what
It is. After it happened I was hoping to die. But you can't get methadone there!
@@macurban7946 this is why gonna choose a good suicide method, so they won't be able to stop me and violate my body like that. my heart just breaks for you and others who had to experience such treatment, it's degrading and inhumane.
I'm calling the phychiatrist for you you need help 🆘😂
@@vasttopic_player9971 Exactly!
I’m soon to be the head of a psych hospital and have decades of experience but not at this top level. I am going to try to be an advocate for patients and treat them and HAVE my staff treat them with respect. I know but yet don’t fully know what a hard job I will have. I hope I can handle the stress and can manage staff well. Scared and excited at the same time.
Bless those who have shared and remember you have purpose and are valuable.
U r one of the kindest people letting us into your private life
I'm glad to say that I was only strapped down and stripped and forcibly changed into hospital approved street clothes once. That was my first hospitalization when I was in Germany and in the throes of a mixed episode with psychosis and sought help from a police station myself. The strictly organized nature of hospitalizations was less of a thing in Germany. Instead therapists would just come to you and if you weren't a danger you could have what's called Ausgang and could leave as you wished and come back until you figured out an outpatient plan. In the United States my experiences were more similar to what you described. I personally never felt the bonding as you described it. I would have fleeting friendly interactions and that was it. My level and quality of care has varied from hospital to hospital. A university hospital I went to a couple years back was very good at making me feel cared for. When hospitalized I sometimes put myself voluntarily into the isolation room. I'm an introvert so I sometimes need distance and to be alone. At the university hospital the positive emotions of being cared for were so strong that I needed the isolation room to kind of process and just feel the emotions. If I'm in a really bad depressive episode I sometimes want to idly hospitalize myself just to feel that way again but I typically resist the impulse and try to self soothe.
It's good that you resist the urge, and that you're able to self soothe. There's a bit of an issue, at least in the US, of people relying on hospitalization as a way of coping, and I'm glad you're able to avoid that cycle. Good luck with your bipolar, I hope you'll be okay as much as possible.
I have recently been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder after initially being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. My two involuntary 'stays' in the state hospital were similar to your own. I found it to be less about rehabilitation and more about detention. As an example, techs, who are really better classified as guards, enter your room every thirty minutes (or more frequently if you are on suicide watch) 24/7. Invariably, you are awoken and denied proper rest. I rushed a guard early one morning after getting fed up with the disturbances and was tackled by half a dozen guards, involuntarily injected and placed in isolation with my wrists and ankles strapped down. I have no idea how long I was in there.
The hospital in my state is adjacent to the prison and shares a kitchen. The nutrition was terrible and I subsisted on apples and bananas, trading my nasty carbs with other patients. Patients who are better classified as inmates.
You do form bonds with other patients but they vanish the minute you are discharged. We all live in fear of being hauled back into a psychiatric ward. In the back of your mind you worry that the next time you are detained, you may never be released.
Dear Young Lady, . Life is very fragil and experiences are unique, but my hope is somehow you will overcome to a point that you could enjoy more. Take care...you are precious to many ))
Thank you so much for this video. I used to work in a psychiatric hospital. I loved getting to interact with the patients and families, but since I worked at the front desk, I did not see what was going on back on the units. I'm sure every hospital is different, but still, thank you for giving us this insider look. Much love to you!
I greatly appreciate your channel and authenticity in your videos. I am a psychiatric nurse and your videos provide me a different perspective, it's profound to hear the patient experience (especially articulated so well). Although our mental healthcare system is the best it has ever been, we have a LONG way to go. I know our system is horribly broken and it breaks my heart giving patients STAT injections and putting them in seclusion. It really is dehumanizing, you'd think facilities would have a different standard. I try to be the least confrontational as possible and use more calming, deescalation techniques... but sometimes nothing else works. Thank you for sharing your story.
I had to have a group of 7 psychiatrist ask me questions everyday to see if I was getting better. They kept telling me I wasn’t changing until my mom pleaded I was well enough to come home. I saw violence, was strapped to a bed for hours, forced injections, but they must believe nutrition plays a big role since they served some of the best healthiest meals I’ve ever eaten.
Thanks for your videos! You are very brave. Tell it like it is! I did two years in a psychiatric prison. No fun... You are lovely!
Thank you for sharing your experience. We need to start a conversation about how people sufferinng with mental illness are treated. As a child I received unhuman treatments... It felt like we were criminals rather than patients.
Exactly. It's so utterly sad. I am doing everything I possibly can to change things and I am so grateful that more people are speaking up about these issues. At least I know that I am not alone and that its not just me.
Thankyou so much for being honest about your experience. Very similar to my own hospitalizations. It’s horrible and traumatic. People need to know how bad it is. There are other ways to find help. I’ve turned to God, and I thank God I’ve met my wonderful girlfriend at work and through constant self betterment. Please take care of yourself 🙏🏻 God Bless 💜
I'm a recovering addict. Most drug rehab centers have a mental heath section. I've done over 6 months in these facilities. Thank god for them. They save lives
You uploaded this on my birthday! I spent some time in a psych ward when I was 12 years old in the 1980s. My mom brought me in because, as she told me later, because the therapist they had me seeing threatened to have me taken away if she didn't admit me to the local children's psychiatric ward. I got there after dinner and around bedtime. I remember crying myself to sleep the first night. The kids were in a separate area than the teens and the entire time I was there I never once saw an actual doctor. Just the CNAs and nurses who would run our groups with us, etc. We all had our own room which was nice, I guess, but it was very lonely especially at night. There was one very nice staff who would give me books to read and a journal to write in, which I kept up clear into the 8th grade after which my mom stole it and gave it to my therapist who I had been seeing in group as part of my outpatient care, who refused to give it back and instead insisted on reading from it aloud to the group, an experience that soured me on ever keeping a written private journal ever again. The weird things about being in a psych ward in the 80s as a kid/tween was when the male staff members would come into the girls' rooms and want to tuck you in at night and give you a hug or when another told this one little girl who was only 6 years old that she was a little brat and no one would miss her when she was discharged. One of the worst experiences for me was when my discharge date was getting close but they wouldn't tell me the exact day one of the staff tried to make a "deal" with me; "I'll tell you when you're going home if you tell me the worst thing you've ever done." At the time the worst thing I had ever done was sneak out of the house in the middle of the night and walk around the block. He kept pushing but I had nothing to tell him so I didn't find out my discharge date earlier than normal and ended up in tears over being yelled at and called a liar when I said my sneaking out never led to anything else. Yeah, it wasn't very fun. The only thing I can say it did for me was program me to not avoid people's eyes when speaking or listening to someone.
I forgot to mention a teenage girl ended up killing herself the first week I was there.
I was diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder when I was 14. I was placed in a mental institution for about two weeks after one of my many suicide attempts. I do think they breach your personal space quite a bit. I remember my first day, they stripped me naked and had a nurse inspect my body to look for self-inflicted injuries. It was really terrifying and it made me really uncomfortable. There is a lot to experience in those places and you learn to love and appreciate people with different disabilities. Some patients that are also being treated will treat you better than some of your friends on the outside do. I connected more with some of the people that I met in the hospital than I did with people on the outside. I felt comfortable around them and I could be myself.
Not all nurses are rude and pushy, though. I was so traumatized from being away from my family for so long. Not knowing where I was. I remember crying a lot. The (only) male nurse there pulled me aside and gave me a hug and said everything was going to be okay. I could tell he was so genuine.. It made me feel the courage to accept the treatment.. My main goal was to go home for a long time- as is with most people who are institutionalized.. But with the right nurses that are genuinely involved and want to help, you can really make progress on yourself and help cope with the issues that you are having in your life and your mind. My hallucinations were so sporadic and my mood swings usually go back and forth multiple times a day.. So it was very hard at first. One of the biggest impacts on me inside the hospital was a patient that had extreme Schizophrenia. He was COMPLETELY unable to form sentences. He would ramble quietly to himself.. One day he stood up and started swinging his fists at the air. Nobody would ever talk to him, because everyone was afraid of him. I noticed this pattern in the outside world and knowing that it was happening in the one place where people are supposed to improve, it really made me upset. So one day I sat next to him and gave him company. I shared somethings about myself and listened to what he had to say. I am still not sure what he was trying to say, because his speech patterns were so disorganized. It made me cry. But I still listened and gave him the time of day. My last day, he gave me a hug before I left and it was one of the best moments of my life. I still remember him to this day.
I am sorry that your experience was anything less than good and I do think there are great- sometimes even better ways to improve. Hospitals are certainly not for everyone. ESPECIALLY when you are just not allowed to leave.
"What is your goal today?"
To find my discharge date. :)
you are a beautiful soul! im so sorry that this has happened to you in your life... you keep going strong! much love to you blessings!
Beautiful girl. So well spoken and honest. Obviously, these institutions essentially make matters worse by inflicting more trauma to the trauma that already brought them there.
Thank you for sharing your stories, you are truly appreciated and very brave. I just recently found you and I’m grateful for all the information you share. I hope you know that you are helping many people , like myself, to better understand Mental Health issues. My wife is a Psych BSN-RN and she tells me how much they really need more help in improving the Care throughout the Mental Health industry. You pointed out many great points and you’re absolutely right, patients deserve much better care. Hope you’re doing well. Take Care.
This would be an excellent resource for social work courses, great perspective from a service user
I agree. Lauren should be used as part of their training as she has 'lived it' and been through the system.
I really enjoy ur vids really have hepled me I have schizoaffective so you really been helping me thank you
Same
My mother was a paranoid schizophrenic, she didn't go into details but she did not like being in the hospital. When I visited her it was scary, had a bad feeling about that place. I was very young so that didn't help.
Your story hon I just need to say you are beautiful and thank you for sharing .. Im glade you did not end your life ... bless you for all you been threw ...