I was recently admitted into a mental health hospital. I was in a very rough place with my bipolar and my Pdoc was on vacation in hawaii. I went to get mentally stabilized. Most of the people were men detoxing from alcohol, which is a very dangerous detox. One guy was detoxing from heroine. An older man had been through two strokes and was suicidal on and off. Most of the people there were really friendly. We were all there for the same reason- the same reason that ANYONE goes to a hospital... To get well. The first few days were a haze because I was so lost within myself. The staff at the hospital were amazingly helpful and nice. We all had the right to choose or refuse to take medications, we were not forced... No one had to be restrained. There was one room set aside for the RARE incidence of someone that needed to be restrained for their & others safety.

I had my own room, with my own bathroom including sink, toilet, & shower. Most of the day was spent downstairs, but everyday we went upstairs for two hour for personal time. I used this time to take a nap!

The last day I was admitted, we had students visiting & we went outside. One day another set of nurses came down & we played Taboo. It was patients vs nurses... Us patients won! But besides that, we had a lot of fun laughing & joking. Times like these help get rid of the "scary" stigma that is associated with psych wards & mental disorders. Plus it's always nice to have outside visitors! My husband visited me every day. We had daily visitations from 5:30-6:45... It was right after dinner.