Hospital experiences.

@Atalanta I'm really glad you brought this up and at the same time my heart goes out to you because to be in a place where you dont feel you can talk about whats really going on for you can be tough to say the least. Only in the last few weeks I started opening up to a support worker about how I had feared the consequences of spilling my feelings when I was in what I will call my 'dark space'.

I have been in hospital several times over the years in different hospitals and for starters I can tell you they are changing. I haven't been for a while now though which has been a sign that recovery can be a journey. They are definitely different than they were years ago. Ummmm my first stay was in the 80's so yep thank goodness they are progressing. When people talk about hospital sometimes it isnt always first hand and sometimes people may be referring to how jhospiptal was years ago.... not all the time but sometimes.

I have no horror stories to tell. I have met people who are in hospital for different reasons of course. There are usually people I don't have anything to do with, people I say 'Hi' to, and ppl who end up being my 'Buds', One admission I spent most of my time in my room (shared room) sitting in the corner drawing as I did'nt really want anything to do with anyone. Can be similar in general hospitals I guess when I think about it.

Some hospitals have more activities and group etc. than there used to be which takes care of the boredom factor ... Consumer Peer Support workets are fantastic and I would have loved one when I was in hospital. I could talk about experiences in ospoital all night but it's turning into an essay.

The most important thing is for starters to be honest with yourself. I know it's hard but if you don't feel safe then talkng to somebody really the best thing you can do... I would have to say that it feels better in hospital than it does to be at home feeling scared and/or unsafe and alone...

If you have a worker or somebody you can trust then opening up t them would be a good place to start. To wrap this up will say that fera of hospital is much wors than being there if somebody isn't well. I hope this helped in some way. Take Care

@Atalanta when I came out there were mixed responses. Mostly it wasn't spoken of. My Mum 'overcared' which I found quite condescending. I had to tell her to stop as it felt like she was overtaking my life. My Dad was just 'kind' to me. My sisters never mention it. With my friends it was business as usual. I didn't really speak about it and figured it wasn't really relevant. When we share our experiences it does we do make ourselves a bit (or alot) vulnerable so I choose what to share and when. I didn't find any of it worse than when I went in that's for sure 😉

p.s I agree with what @Kurra said... psychotic and schitzophrenic are labels. To add to that... when people are in hospital they are in a somewhat controlled or 'safe' environment for want of a better word. People are on closely monitored medications as needed to settle symptoms if thats the right way to put it... Ive sat and had convos with quite a few people who have had these labels without even knowing it untol later when theyve told me 🙂

Hi @Atalanta,

Sadly, based on my experiences, your fears are well founded. I have BPD and there is still a lot of stigma associated with that diagnosis - with most of that stigma happening IN the mental health system. I have had 40+ psychiatric admissions over the past twenty years and now most of my trauma-related issues are due to my experiences in the system (with staff, never with other patients), rather than the events that brought me into contact with the system in the first place.

All of my admissions have been brief (i.e. 2-3 nights) and in public hospitals. Early on, my admissions were all involuntary. Later, as I gained more insight, I would go to the hospital seeking support and they would just send me away.

I think people probably have very different experiences depending on their diagnosis. It also very much depends on the individual hospital - they vary a LOT!

My current psychologist and my GP know how traumatizing my experiences in hospital have been, and they are both very aware that having me scheduled would be the worst possible outcome if I am in crisis. Thus I feel really safe talking to them about my suicidal ideation. I know that they would still call emergency services if they felt they needed to in order to protect their own careers, but I can't see how it could ever come to that because they and I both know that if I make a calm rational decision to suicide, I will simply do it without telling anyone. As long as I am still asking for help, they know I am working really hard with them to keep myself alive.