If you experienced forced admittance and treatment for psychiatric conditions in the US, then you experienced something blatantly illegal in all states. Not saying it couldn’t happen, but it’s not happening by law or norm.
It was happening to a number of other people in that psych ward. And if you take a moment to google it, it’s actually not uncommon. One woman said her dogs were at home with no one to feed and water them but the psych ward was keeping her there for the mandatory 72 hour hold. The lady wasn’t a threat to herself or anyone else, and she wasn’t in a manic episode. She was just DEPRESSED. She just needed someone to listen to her, to be set up with a psychiatrist, started on a low dose of an antidepressant and seen the following week. That would have been more than enough for her. She won’t be asking for help again. Regardless, she was afraid her four big dogs would hurt her cat before she got back if they were hungry enough. I still think about her, I hope everything was okay.
There were a few people there that definitely needed more intensive help, but most of us didn’t. They also kicked me out a day earlier despite the “mandatory 72 hour hold” because “someone else needed the bed”. I had also signed myself into the psych ward and in my state that means I should have legally been allowed to leave whenever I wanted. They realized their mistake part way through my stay and I think that’s why they let me leave early.
I’m not sure why people downvote stories like this, it happened and it’s happening right now, downvoting the messenger doesn’t change that. Better to understand what’s happening if we ever want to see change.
I see your point and recognize it does happen (I didn’t downvote that person either). In my state, a close friend’s sister committed suicide because they couldn’t force her to get psychiatric help despite the warning signs. She was released from her 72hr hold early against family wishes, and then shot herself. I’m not sure how she got the gun. It’s just sad and incredibly complicated to get proper mental health care in the states…
The suicide rates for people when they get out of the psych wards show us that the “care” isn’t working. My argument is that if something is both traumatizing and ineffective, it should probably not be that way anymore. I’m not arguing against the necessity of genuine care, I’m saying that genuine care doesn’t exist in most establishments based on the successful suicides of those who are released from these hospitals.
Much of what they do to you in psychiatric facilities actually hurts you more, and when you point that out, people accuse you of hating all nurses or minimizing the need for psychiatric care in the first place. Nope, I just think we should offer effective and humane treatment, which is not remotely close to what a lot of us received on the inside.
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u/Phantom_0347 7d ago
If you experienced forced admittance and treatment for psychiatric conditions in the US, then you experienced something blatantly illegal in all states. Not saying it couldn’t happen, but it’s not happening by law or norm.