Being sectioned?

[Skysha]

Quick question and advice please....

Has anyone been sectioned here and if so what was your experience like? Was you allowed to go out for walks and was you allowed to take your phone with you? Etc

I don't think I'm far off and health professionals around me are concerned. I can't come up with a solution on how to get better. I really thought returning to work would be the answer but the health professionals around me putting me down as unfit to work!

Any advice would be nice

Wondering if you have another thread about your housing situation? Read it this eve and it's a similar situation. Some posters were giving useful advice about the MH aspect. Perhaps you can find it?

@DianaT1969 thank you for your response.
Yeah I did post one about housing.
I did have a look at the posters and website links but I kinda wanted to know more on the experience people have had. My social worker came over today again and suggested hospital treatment may be the best outcome etc.

Ah yes, just found it and it is your thread. I hope more people will be along. I can't imagine they would encourage use of a mobile phone. They probably want you to detach from your current stress/triggers.
Have you got the right medication? Do you have some numbers to call in case things feel worse?

@DianaT1969
Medication hasn't been working so I have the doctor coming to mine on Monday to review it and change it. My mobile phone can be a trigger but yet a stress relief too. And there are numbers I can call when I'm feeling worse like I did today and I wanted to stay annonymus but I ended up slipping my social workers name and the call was to MASH. So next thing I know his at my place. But I have a decent relationship with them so it wasn't a problem.

Do you need to be sectioned? You sound As if you are complying with treatment.

@Ledkr

I'm not complying with the treatment. I don't even take the medicine. I don't want to either. I almost like the voices I hear and sometimes feels like they are the only people/voices that actually understand me.

You need to be honest with your social worker about your thoughts and feelings

It's great that you say you have a decent relationship with your social worker.
You are very clear in your posts that you are teetering on the brink and it's not really working at present.
You need to be completely open and honest with the health professionals and accept their proposals, as they are trying to help you and will have your best interests at heart.

Btw, if you voluntarily agree to hospital treatment, you will not actually be sectioned. But you should be aware that if you do voluntarily agree to in patient treatment, but then subsequently change your mind and decide to walk out, then they can section you at that point if you meet the criteria (and that does happen not infrequently).

But having said that, being sectioned and losing your rights, is a traumatic experience for most and generally best avoided if possible, if you can go the voluntary route.

@Skysha hi OP, I'm 20 and was admitted to a psychiatric ward at 14. (Not sectioned), you weren't allowed any phones or anything you could use as a camera- there is a communal phone and you wrote on the white board what time you wanted the phone at.

Phones aren't allowed ever at psychiatric hospitals.

Only a small amount of us were actually allowed out. There was a trip once a week to the local woodlands or town for the supermarket and had to get clearance from the psychiatrist- always supervised.

You are not allowed caffeine. Only caffeine free tea, coffee, coke etc.

I was the only person allowed a walk every other day as I wasn't considered a risk or dangerous. I was never allowed a walk on my own, I went with my occupational therapist.

Comply with the rules and you'll get out quicker. Kick up a fuss and I saw so many people stuck in the system unable to get out because they'd created such a bad name for themselves.

They may start you on meds- you have to take them.

Simple.

I hope if you are admitted this stay helps you- it did benefit me to some degree but did make me worse in some aspects unfortunately.

@waterplease

Thank you for your response. I'm so scared of being hospitalised. The thought makes me want to cry and makes me so angry. A feeling which I cannot get rid of. If I was to end up in hospital I'd end up taking my life one way or another

It is scary- I was terrified in there. If you want to avoid it you need to start taking your meds. X

Phones aren't allowed ever at psychiatric hospitals.

You are not allowed caffeine.

These will depend on individual cases, in some cases you're allowed your phone and to drink whatever you wish, in others you are not allowed access to your mobile at all. It's certainly not true to say they're not ever allowed.

OP mental health wards can be very scary, especially when you first arrive. It's impossible to generalise because there are different types of units, and different hospitals will have very different feels to them. In my area there are two units that have very bad reputations (they're old and badly maintained, and run very strictly), but there is a brand new unit that from all accounts is a calm and restful environment. It's women only and has a mother and baby unit within it.

Is a mother and baby unit a possibility for you?

@Bombardier25966
Thank you for your response.
Mother and baby unit is not longer available because the twins are on the move and the unit is quiet confined. I am very scared I feel like once you explain how you feel there's no taking back what you have said

Phones aren't allowed ever at psychiatric hospitals.

You are not allowed caffeine. Only caffeine free tea, coffee, coke etc.

Comply with the rules and you'll get out quicker. Kick up a fuss and I saw so many people stuck in the system unable to get out because they'd created such a bad name for themselves.

This is complete bollocks.

Ive been in and out for years phones were allowed apart from one certain high security ward and there would of been riots if caffeine had been banned.

They cannot lock you up indefinitely for a "bad name"

Hi,

I was in voluntarily then later sectioned...it was a few years ago and although I was terrified at first it was the best thing in the end.

Phone was allowed but had to be charged in nurse station because of the cable. Being allowed out for walks/home leave etc was really individual to each patient but initially I was only allowed out supervised by a nurse or healthcare assistant. There were different activities each day, lots of art stuff.

I think it varies a lot depending on where you are though, of course.

On a section, you are entitled to an independent advocate who can speak at wards meetings on your behalf, that was really helpful.

I would say that if you don’t comply with meds then, in my experience, you’ll get sectioned and you’ll just be forced to take them via injection anyway. Once I was deemed to be ‘compliant’, I was given a lot more freedom from the ward.

I’ve never heard of the caffeine thing, first thing I did every morning in hospital was have a cuppa!

@OnMyWayToday was it a psychiatric hospital or general hospital? You're not allowed caffeine in psychiatric hospitals as it can make people harder to control/mix with meds etc. :)

@Pandamodium it's not bollocks actually. I was in a youth psychiatric ward and all of those rules applied where I was. Obviously you wouldn't be locked up indefinitely but it would be a lot harder to get discharged as you'd have lost loads of trust from the psychiatrists and nurses. It is so much easier to get discharged and not be stuck their ages if you comply.

There was a girl in my ward who'd been in the system for over a year and was unable to be allowed home on visits because she wasn't trusted and incredibly unwell. She liked to brag about how many inpatient stays she'd had🧐🙄

@Bombardier25966 Sorry. That was how it was at my unit and I was told in all youth wards you weren't allowed phones/cameras or caffeine.

I was just giving my experience.

It was a psychiatric hospital but all adult, perhaps that explains the difference.

I work in adult acute mental health.
Phones are allowed on all acute wards in our Trust barring psychiatric intensive care wards and forensic services.
Whether you can go out for walks depends on lots of factors, your risk to your self, AWOL risk etc.
Our coffee is decaf, we do allow people to bring their own in but will try and restrict usage in the evening.
Some wards can be noisy and incidents do occur from time to time but we do our best to maintain a safe and calm environment. On the whole staff will be supportive, compassionate and caring and work tirelessly with you in your recovery.

Ah sorry crossed wires @waterplease thought you meant adults I've no idea how the youth ones are ran the one in my area shut down due to lack of funding.

I was sectioned as an adult 8 years ago. I spent time in both private and NHS hospitals.

My experience was:-

• Mobile phones are allowed
• Wasn't allowed out other than with family but there were grounds where you could sit/walk outside
• Not sure where all this caffeine business has come from but we were allowed to have family bring food in from home and there was also a 'tuck shop' in the NHS hospital. You could even have takeaways delivered at the private hospital.

Please don’t be scared. In the long run it could be a really good move for you. Sectioning means you have a minimum period before you are allowed to leave, so best avoided. I was able to have my mobile. In terms of caffeine, I have no idea, I was too drugged to care. I wasn’t allowed out and I was told I would be sectioned if I tried to escape. The boredom is the worst. Go in voluntarily and if you can, take some (easy) books which you may be able to read.