Positive Experiences - Continued
- from Melissa
I myself was in the hospital a little while ago. I had all sorts of horrible images of what it would be like. Once I went in I was so glad I had made that decision.
from Wonder
I hope I can alleviate some of your worries about the hospital. I have been hospitalized several times. The psychiatric units on regular hospitals don't even remotely resemble "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Yes, there is a "quiet room" (seclusion), but it is rarely used. I have even gone into the quiet room voluntarily, to get away from external stimuli and calm down. And yes, there are patients who are very sick, but they aren't scary; you will feel compassion toward them. Most of the patients will have problems you can identify with, and you can talk to them easily. The nurses and doctors are kind and always willing to help.
Residential Centers
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from Cyndi
I too am the mother of an adopted child who from the age of 3 was very unique. When she turned 14 years old, everything that could go wrong for her did. After being in the hospital several times we finally made the decision to place her in a residential treatment center. She was given the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. She has been there 17 months now. Here she has been able to get the help she really needed. She is doing much better and is still alive. She still has a way to go. It was an issue at first for her about the abandonment. That did not last for very long. She sees the treatment center as a positive place for her. (She did not always see is as positive.) I too went through the denial, grief, etc. It was the hardest thing for my husband and me to do. But we would do all we could for our children. We are very glad we did it for our daughter. She has thanked us several times.
from Paulette143
My 9-year-old son (also adopted as a baby) has been in an residential program for just over a year. We put it off for 2 years thinking WE could make things better. Although he is currently going through a difficult period he has done extremely well with the program. He's in a school in Mass. Even though the separation has been very difficult on us all, we can see that this school has worked miracles for him.
State Hospitals
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from August
I worked in a State Hospital in Texas on an adolescent unit for about 10 months. I guess I have mixed ideas of the care the patients got there. Many were seen who didn't have any insurance, and you don't see that at for-profit or non-profit hospitals. The hospital I worked in could be a very negative place at times depending on the group we had to work with. Other times we had great groups and it was a much more beneficial place for the patients, in my opinion.
One drawback to state hospitals is that the psychiatrists will not get paid what they can at other hospitals. This leads to psychiatrists not spending as much time with the patients or staff as perhaps in a different setting. Again, this was my experience in this one hospital.
more from August
Don't assume that all state hospitals have horror stories to tell. Every hospital is going to have different administration, docs, RNs and staff. Some are definitely better than others. I haven't worked in a for-profit hospital but I've heard horror stories there ... cutting corners at the expense of patients' care in order to increase profits. I just got a job at a non-profit hospital and it sounds like they have a great system going, but they tend to release the patients back into the community before they are ready. [Whether] a hospital is state funded, for-profit, and non-profit, they all have advantages and disadvantages.
from DesertSage
My first stay was in the State Hospital in Provo Utah. This was back in 1968 back when the hospitals were supposed to be real bad. Since then I have been in three different mental wards four different times. My experience was about the same each place. It was a place that just was. Neither good or bad, but it was a place where I could try to block out the noise of everyday living and try to get it back together so I could go on.
