Ask a patient in a psychiatric facility

[Jackalope]

Oh bloody hell, we have a new guy.  He's trying to baptize me.

For Christ sake let him do it.

No fucking way. No offense intended to other theists, but this guy is crackers.

[Jackalope]

Do you find group therapy, helpful? I've always thought about group therapy, what it might be like, and would it be hard to open up to others? But, then it might be helpful and comforting to know I wasn't alone in my thoughts. Idk.

((hugs)) I hope things get better for you.

We don't do talk therapy here due to the length of the typical stay. It's just too short. We do occupational, recreational, and educational therapy groups which I do find helpful.

I don't find talk therapy groups to be particularly helpful because I have trust issues and find it difficult to open up to strangers. Hell, it took years to develop a strong trust relationship with my current therapist.

[KUSA]

CD, how many bills do you take a day ?

Sounds like he will have to cough up 3000 bills.

[Marsellus Wallace]

CD, how many bills do you take a day ?  

Sounds like he will have to cough up 3000 bills.

yeah 


I hope you get well soon, CD 

[Edwardo Piet]

CD's just a really cool guy.

I like saying "really cool guy", in like a chilled out voice.

On an acute ward I once met someone having a euphoric manic episode, he couldn't function normally but he wasn't a threat to anyone else, he was super peaceful he just couldn't fucking function that high and had delusions.

First thing the guy said when he entered the ward was "You'll like me... I'm a really cool guy" in like this super calm mesmerizing euphoric voice.

And he was, he was a really nice and a cool guy. His problem was he believed he could move the sun with his mind because he was the sun god Ra, and that his father was Bruce Lee and he knew this because he was a time traveler.

But yeah he was really nice and chilled out, just super super super mellow-euphoric manic to a delusional level lol.

[Jackalope]

Hidey-ho!

I'm on a mobile so selectively quoting is difficult, but I'll answer your questions the best I can.

Inpatient treatment is serving three purposes for me: its allowing me to adjust to medication in a safe environment, its allowing me a break from things that were causing my anxiety, and its impossible for me to throw myself under a bus while I'm here. The last one is only slightly tongue-in-cheek.

From my therapist's perspective, I am here for the same reasons, but also so my medication can get me to a point where non-pharmaceutical therapy can once again be effective.

Most of the people are here are just normal people who've reached the end of their rope. It's not "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" or anything like that.

CD (if you don't mind answering these questions), what are they doing for you in the hospital that you think actually helps you?

I'm curious because my life has been so dark and unstable from chronic depression that I can't believe hospitalization has never been recommended for me. I tend to overthink everything and fall down disgusted from it, and my recovery periods are only getting shorter. Being too intelligent (if I don't say so myself) to believe dying is any better, and being studied at the art of fooling most of the world with my shit-eating grin, my therapy sessions have benefited my therapists far more than myself (they get paid to be entertained), therefore I resolved to keep cash for them in my pocket. I am now wondering if hospitalization is my only option now, and then I truly wonder if it's an option at all after several prescription drugs proved to be either dangerous allergens or ineffective at maximum dosage. I guess what I wonder is what they (hospitals) actually can help anyone with, but also what problems make it worth volunteering to risk being kept in an unhealthy environment (indoors, no fresh air, people who are so depressing you're liable to grow a death wish when you weren't suicidal going in).  Are they really in the business of helping the patient, and if so, how do they really do this when their invariable actions are about protecting society from the patient? So far, I'm leaning toward the notion that hospitalization is good for some mental health problems, but it could be really bad for some.

Do you find group therapy, helpful? I've always thought about group therapy, what it might be like, and would it be hard to open up to others? But, then it might be helpful and comforting to know I wasn't alone in my thoughts. Idk.

((hugs)) I hope things get better for you.

We don't do talk therapy here due to the length of the typical stay.  It's just too short.   We do occupational, recreational, and educational therapy groups which I do find helpful.

I don't find talk therapy groups to be particularly helpful because I have trust issues and find it difficult to open up to strangers.  Hell, it took years to develop a strong trust relationship with my current therapist.

[paulpablo]

Have you made any friends in this place?  Do you talk to any other patients?

[Jackalope]

Yeah, actually I have. There's a few cool people here.

There's even an atheist from Texas, of all places.

[Jackalope]

To put that in perspective - there's about ten patients, and I think about half of them are cool. The other half are either too quiet to get through to, in one case too bonkers, and one is just not very friendly.

[emjay]

Been there, done that.

You should try writing, if you have a knack for it. Or maybe even keep a journal. Try practicing lucidity, or try out meditation - I'm sorry I didn't know about those when I was in the loony bin.

Good luck.

I've tried journalling, I don't have much of a knack for it, but I see the value of it.

I think writing is one of the most therapeutic things you can do, not just journals but any thoughts, ideas, theories etc as they come. It helps to get things out of your system so they don't get bottled up and exaggerated in your head and it also helps your ideas to evolve and expand. I've never been in a psychiatric ward but I've had my fair share of depression and anxiety, and writing was the single most beneficial thing I ever did to help me. I wrote for years analysing and theorising about every aspect of myself that I could think of, being mindful and setting myself little experiments to give me even more to analyse, and came out of it with a much greater understanding of myself and a deep love for all the psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy that helped me get there. Then, going back through the ringbinders full of pages, months or years later, I found myself filling the margins with notes and seeing my ideas evolve with each pass or just looking at some of them and thinking 'how could I have been so naive?'. Basically my writing evolved and it kept on evolving and it became so emotionally sacred to me - so much of myself tied up in it. I used to do it as a lifestyle... all the time... but I haven't done it for a while now. Somehow it just fulfilled its purpose and I didn't need to do it any more. Instead I think I just carry it around with me in the form of my outlook on life that it helped shape and create. I still write occasionally but it's not the same. I do miss it, but I think most of the ideas it created are now so deeply rooted in my thinking that there wouldn't be much left to explore and it would lack the sense of curiosity and excitement it had the first time round because of that. I can't recommend it enough to you, or anyone else, as a way not just to deal with anxiety and depression but to know and understand yourself. It was simply the best thing I ever did and without it I think I'd be a completely different person now.