Do you have any experience with dealing with someone who is sectioned?
im reading what youve put and wondering where you get these ideas from?
sectioned patients have shared common areas, shared bathrooms (if someone is sectioned it because they are actually a danger to themselves or others so giving them a bathroom privately is too risky), and shared dining rooms.
Patients aren’t locked up in their rooms, they’re on a locked ward which they can’t leave. patients doors are NOT locked from inside in case someone locks themselves in and tries to harm themselves or even trash the room. So other patients can theoretically walk in, just like staff can.
generally if other patience are a danger to others and wander, they’re on a 1:1 regime so that should stop them, but people can be pretty quick when agitated or hallucinating. 1:1 means a member of staff is assigned each shift and is with them constantly or in line of sight,
As for others focusing on themselves and their recovery. Well that’s just naive and lacking understanding of the issues facing most people on psychiatric wards. These are patients in crisis, pretty unaware of their surroundings and impulsive, delusional and unable to focus on anything much. They are often bored witless, frustrated, by being kept locked up with little to do and no change of scenery. They will probably only get any real therapies maybe 1 or 2 times per week if at all. They’ll be visited by psychiatrist only once per week on ward rounds, and rest of time with CPNs or care staff. . Mostly it’s about containing them, to minimise risk to themselves or others, until their drug therapy is established (possibly again) when they are discharged and drug and dumped which goes by the lovely euphamism of “care in the community”.
my DF is just about to be released into a care home form section order for 6 months. He has, unfortunately, attacked staff , trashed rooms twice, and tired to hit me once. He has also on a number of occasions relieved himself in the middle of the lounge, once even taking a poop and therefore exposed himself (luckily on single sex ward) he has dementia and with the most horrific delusions and hallucinatory- thankful he is a bit better now and can go back to his nursing home. My exh also had severe and enduring mental illness. He was sectioned once. It was my first experience of these wards and it was horrible; noisy with shouting and swearing and banging, and alarms going off all the time. People are wandering around outside in corridors - staff can only intervene if they are a danger or try to enter someone’s rooms- but you’re average staff member is hard pushed to stop someone by themselves who is absolutely determined to get someone becuase they’re convinced they’re in right place.
sorry, but this is how it is. No one goes into psychiatric wards for a nice “rest” and gentle recovery with therapy and lots of staff attention. The ONLY psychiatric beds these days are critical care. And that almost always means sectioning. They are not places to go to find calm and quiet- they are chaotic and frightening often. It’s about stabilising patients to release them from sectioning order asap- which is as it should be in that case at least.