Psychhospital

Reading “It’s kind of a funny story” after watching the movie. Enjoyed it so much as someone with bipolar disorder who grapples with suicidal ideation & have been hospitalized multiple times. Found out the author Ned Vizzini died by suicide in 2013 which is a terrible shame. I feel like he opened a dialogue about mental illness, depression, the stigma around it, needing meds for it & needing to be hospitalized for it. There shouldn’t be shame in any of it but there is in the US especially. It’s a medical condition & should be treated as such. I’m really saddened to hear of his passing because him & his work has been an “anchor” for me in some really hard times in my life. His words were honest, true & I think that’s why so many people resonated with his work. He’s done so much for people & he will be missed.

"I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare."
-Ned Vizzini, It's Kind of a Funny Story

#Depression #BipolarDisorder #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #MentalIllness #Hospitalization #TakeItOneDayAtATime #sad #Suicide #help #mentalhospital #PsychWard #Psychhospital #Sadness #manicdepression #Anxiety #PTSD #Manic

*disclaimer* this is from my experiences. Everyone is different.

1. Patients help you more than staff.
When I was in the hospital the staff was okay but I spent waaay more time with the other patients. We understood each other in ways staff couldn’t possibly understand us. We didn’t judge each other. We showed love and support.

2. The psychiatrists don’t truly listen.
This may be just an opinion but when I was in the hospital I had a few times where I felt listened to and other times where it was very clear to me that the psychiatrist didn’t give a damn about what I had to say. They “decided” what was going on in my brain after letting me tell them half of my story. They acted like they knew exactly what the “problem” was when in reality, they didn’t have a damn clue.

3. They aren’t there to cure you, they are there to stabilize you.
I knew this one before going in but others may not. When going into a hospital, their goal isn’t to cure you because well, mental illness isn’t cure-able. The point of hospitalization is to stabilize the patient and get them back to baseline before discharging them to a less intensive treatment program.

4. They think they suicide proof the units.
Sure they do the basic suicide proofing like no strings or belts and nothing sharp but I think they underestimate what people can and do use to hurt themselves (obviously I’m not going to list those things here because I don’t want to trigger anyone or cause anyone to self harm). I don’t know if it’s that they are naive or if people who want to hurt themselves are just really determined.

5. Going back into society is hard.
You spend a few days, weeks, or even months in a locked psychiatric unit where you don’t have to cook, you’re being watched constantly, and always have someone to talk to. Someone is always in charge of your meds and everything you do is reported to your inpatient treatment team. When you leave, you don’t have any of that which can be a shock to some people. It can be hard to adjust to doing things on your own again or being alone again. They don’t really prepare you for that shock.

“It’s kind of a funny story”

Things I’ve learned from being in a psychiatric hospital #PsychWard #Psychhospital #PsychiatricHospitals #mentalhospital #MajorDepressiveDisorder #Anxiety

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