Can you be hospitalised for depression?

[Overseasmom100]

Havent heard from a friend for a while
Saw her husband last night who said she had been in hospital for the last 5 weeks with depression. Im a little shocked as I had no idea. I asked if I could go visit but he sort of put me off. Can you actually get hospitalised for depression? 5 weeks is a very long time as well.

Yes, but only if she is a danger to herself or others. It sounds like she's very unwell with depression and has presumably had suicidal thoughts.

Yeah, you go into a specialist MH facility like The Priory.

Gosh bless her.

Yes of course, there are many mental hospitals across the country.

You generally have to be pretty seriously ill to be hospitalised for depression though, especially on the NHS.

Yes, but only if she is a danger to herself or others.

That would be part of the test for a compulsory detention (sectioning). Some patients are admitted voluntarily, and may not be at risk of harm to themselves or others.

Although as others have mentioned, being able to get a bed on a mental health ward is very difficult as services are so under resourced. And few mental health wards or units are like the Priory (although they do have NHS contracts)!

Oh my I really would like to visit her

Do you know which hospital she's in? If so, I'd contact the hospital and see if she's well enough to have visitors, and if so when would be a good time to visit.

In the area I work in you would not get a MH bed unless you were a risk to yourself. That is due in part because the MH team would look for the least resticive option which would be home treatment. Also there is a national shortage of MH beds so people often have to wait for days at home when they have been assessed under the MH act as requiring inpatient admission. That's austerity for you.

Entirely possible and, depending on their circumstances, it could be an admission to a private hospital rather than an NHS mental health unit (using health insurance or privately funded).

If he wasn’t keen for you to visit then I’d respect that; maybe give him a card to take to her and suggest she can call you if she wants as I imagine she’ll have her phone there