What is it like in a mental hospital?

[tearsdontcare]

Relative has been sectioned (paranoid). They are currently in a general hospital waiting for a mental hospital bed. What will it be like in the mental hospital? Are you able to move around the hospital by yourself, are there places to sit, activities? Will you get more or less time from shrink/other staff than in general hospital?

There's an AMA thread about this, OP. Hope your relative is okay.

well I went to visit my friend in a mental hosp last year and it was kind of like a hostel really, separate from the rest of the hospital, with private rooms and a big day room, and a garden where you could sit if you pleased.

The only real clue as to what sort of place it was, was that there were security fences in the garden and while inmates could have a cigarette, they had to ask the nurse for a lighter.

No - not allowed to move round the hospital by yourself.

Own room, day room and dining room.

Some activities.

Supervised daily access to garden.

Limited access to psychiatrist.

My dp was admitted to a psychiatric unit a few weeks ago.

He is on a "label 4" which means he can freely leave the ward to go outside in a court yard and a cafe area. There is a gym.
There are day rooms on the ward with a TV/radio etc
The routine sounds quite rigid for meal times etc

He is reviewed by his team once a week and I attend this review.
There are therapy groups but he is too unwell at the moment.

I visit daily, there are a range of patients on his ward. It's quite unnerving to begin with

Thanks for pointing me to the AMA, HollowTalk, although it's a bit terrifying.

It sounds like it might be better to stay in the general hospital.

It will depend on what their section says and how big the hospital is. We have a large MH hospital in my town with various wards and therapy rooms etc. Some patients have free range of their ward and the corridors/communal areas etc. There are activities and staff but I don't know much else as it's only what I saw from visits with patients and what they told me about the place.

We have another much smaller MH hospital too. (Where I worked) Patients are allowed to wander as much as they want (not allowed in eachothers rooms, main kitchen or office) including the garden. Unless they are experiencing a psychotic episode and likely to try and abscond in which case staff will accompany them outside. We had daily activities. Outings if possible. Psychiatrist was there 3 mornings but we could call him if we needed.

Very unnerving, potentially distressing. Boring/frustrating/repetitive. Difficult for me, as someone who was so used to being highly capable and high functioning in my illness to be forced into a routine, supervised constantly, stripped of privacy and trust. But over time I understood why that needed to be the case. You can also see how deeply cuts are affecting the services, as nurses/psychiatrists are few and far between. Most 1:1 support is done by healthcare assistants, who vary in their ability/attitude. Likely the patient will have a meeting on their progress/care plan (maybe every two weeks but could be every month) where you discuss medication, treatment and future plans with regard to hospitalisation/section/community support.

They are talking about letting my relative home when their meds are sorted and there is some support at home - they are talking to social services about that. I hope this will not take too long - I assume they do not want to keep people in hospital any longer than they have to.
Anyone know if there is anything the family can do to speed this up?

Boring but safe. What sort of freedoms they have will depend on how much of a risk your family member is to themselves or others - my experience is mainly with teenagers who have been admitted at high risk of self harm, and initially they are very restricted in what they can do. As they improve a lot of the restrictions are lifted.

If your relative is well enough they may appreciate gifts like books, stickers, colouring books and sweets. the ward will have guidelines on what they can and cannot have.

In terms of planning a return home, if you are already looking at what support you can offer as a family and when, that will definitely be helpful. It can take a while, but generally they are very keen to get people home as soon as they are fit.

Thanks for all the responses!

My brother has been in several times and has been detained under a section. He has had his own room and been in a small dormitory , needs prioritise what you get. You have different levels, eg: level 3 is 15 minute checks and have to know where you are. You can move around the ward freely and my brother was always allowed to keep his phone. If I visited he was allowed down to a large day room where we played pool, could get a coffee etc. If he had been behaving well he would be allowed outside with me he was on a level 4 by this point. He absconded a lot though and the ward staff called the local pub ward 38 😂 every day there was somesort of art therapies downstairs but my brother never bothered with that. He wandered around quite a lot. He had a weekly ward round which I attended and had input into because my brother sometimes forgot what he wanted to say. I was in hospital for a week. Similar story for me. Difference being I had just undertaken a degree which had a comprehensive mental health module and I used my knowledge to get out. They accepted my explanation I had a crisis episode and let me out with very frequent visits from the crisis team. I needed to be in there really for much longer but I couldn’t bear it! I took food and clothing in for my brother but visitors can take most things in. People had their own laptops etc. From what I understand though that some hospitals operate in different ways.

They are all different.

But generally, psychiatric hospitals are less ‘hospitally’ than general hospitals.

Nurses don’t wear uniforms (sometimes it’s hard to tell who is who lol). They usually try and make psych wards a bit more homely than general hospital. So dining room might have placemats etc. You can usually get yourself snacks/tea coffee whenever you like. There are usually things to do like jigsaws/colouring/books/library/OT dept/gym. You get more independence as you get better- so a person might go home for a night, or into town to meet friends. They get checked regularly by staff and the environment usually is ‘safe’ eg no ligature points, and they’ll have their own room, maybe an en suite.

Hospital is just until you’re safe enough to be in the community with support though. Your relative will still be unwell when they get out, but should be safe enough to manage with support from a home treatment team.

I managed to visit my relative and the hospital is not bad at all, light and comfortable and they seem to feel calmer and safer than they did. I imagine it will get rather boring and frustrating though so hopefully they will get out soon. It looks like they have not been taking their meds.

Thanks for the answers, made me feel more confident about going there.

Hi there OP. Just to let you know I work in the health care field and had a placement in a secure mental health unit when I was training. Treatment usually consists of trying to get the right balance of meds then gently helping to prepare the patient to feel ready for going back in to the outside world. This means supporting them to look after themselves: encouraging self care, providing leisure activities: so in some there is a gym, or walks around the grounds, gently encouraging them to take part in activities which on my unit consisted of anything from sport to puzzles and crosswords to breakfast and brunch clubs etc. When they were ready home visits would take place. The staff I worked with there were a special group of people who had chosen to work in mental health and really cared about their patients. As another poster has said we are discouraged from wearing uniforms because we want to make patients feel as safe and 'at home' as they can possibly be. Hope that helps and that your relative gets the help and support they need X

Thanks, heartbreaking.

While not sectioned, my husband spent a few months in a private psyche hospital last year.

Obviously, the situation was very upsetting, but the hospital was actually very nice. We’re not in the UK so not NHS.

He was originally on a small 4-bed ward, then a private room became available. The food was very good, and mealtimes were amusingly frequent.

During the day, he could choose from lots of activities- gym, art, pottery, music, yoga, Pilates etc. and could take time alone to read or watch tv. He was never bored.

Once he was up to it, he had a routine of therapy sessions that included daily meetings with his psychiatric team, plus counseling, CBT, Mindfulness, and therapy focused on his particular diagnosis.

The staff were lovely, and he was treated with dignity, and discretion.

I was able to visit him every day. There were no set visiting times, but visits were discouraged during meal times. We’d sit in the garden, or his room, or the hospital canteen, or the may comfy break-out areas that had nice couches etc. There were family visiting rooms for those with small kids.

I cried solidly for the first week of visits but it got easier.

@dalmatianmad I promise it gets easier.

I spent two long years in various units and hospitals, both NHS and private, on section and informal.

It's a bit of a shock the first time you get admitted, but after a few days you learn the rules, can judge the atmosphere, know which patients to avoid or who to talk to.

Generally speaking I got my own room with a small en suite wet room. When I knew I was in for a long admission, I brought in my own duvet covers, books, TV and laptop etc. Each unit has rules over what you can bring in. The medium secure unit for example had no internet, no phones allowed. Could watch a basic TV. Laptop allowed but no dongles or wifi etc so only used it to watch DVDs.

Day to day it can be incredibly boring. Acute wards don't tend to offer much in the way of activities or therapy because they are short staffed. I always brought in books to read and music to listen to to pass the time. The longer stay rehab type psych units I was in had more intensive programmes of occupational therapy and group therapy and things which was good.