Echoes of the Soul: Reflections from the Psych Ward

Echoes of the soul: reflections from the psych ward from a personal view.

So, how do you describe a psych ward hospital? Some people think white walls and padded cells. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

It depends which one you’ve been in. Some are up-to-date and others have the roofs leaking when it rains. Just falling apart. What an experience!

What’s the difference between a psych ward and a mental hospital?

Basically, a psych ward is a specific unit within a hospital dedicated to treating patients with acute mental health issues, usually offering short-term stabilization and crisis management.

A mental hospital is a dedicated facility that provides longer-term treatment for people with severe mental illnesses, often including a wider range of therapies and support services.

What Does It Mean to go to a Psych Ward?

Accordingly, a psych ward, or psychiatric ward, is a hospital facility where people go to receive short-term or in-patient treatment for serious mental health issues:

What it is

A safe environment with 24-hour care from trained staff, including psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers

When to go

A person may consider going to a psych ward if they are at risk of harming themselves or others, or if their mental health has affected their judgment

How it works

A person may be admitted to a psych ward voluntarily or involuntarily.

Involuntary admission occurs when a medical professional feels a person is a danger to themselves or others.

What happens

Patients are closely monitored and assigned a treatment plan. They may be heavily sedated upon admission.

Length of stay

Comparatively, the length of stay depends on the person’s condition, the treatments they need, and how they respond to treatment.

Some people only stay a day or two, while others may stay for weeks or longer.

After discharge

A doctor may decide that the person is well enough to continue care on an outpatient basis. Discharge was always the exciting day, back into civilization.

Some signs that may warrant hospitalization include:

Firstly, hearing or seeing things that aren’t there
Constantly worrying about someone harming them
Stopping eating, taking medications, bathing, or showering
Sleeping more than normal or having insomnia
Feeling tired all the time
Lastly, withdrawing from social situations

There Are Different Psychiatric Hospitals

VA Psychiatric Hospital

Echoes of the soul: reflections from the psych ward and the views of different hospitals. To get 100 Percent VA Mental Health, VA Disability Rating:

This impairment must be due to symptoms such as: Gross impairment in thought processes or communication.

Persistent danger of hurting self or others. Intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living.

Only about half of all veterans who need mental health care ever receive it, according to RAND research. Why?

It’s because of a perfect storm of provider shortcomings, access problems, and personal and social attitudes.

Pediatric Psychiatric Hospital

Most often, someone receiving this level of treatment needs professional help for severe depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

Also, self-harm, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), disruptive or dangerous behaviors or other mental health conditions.

Children admitted to the asylum in the 19th century were admitted for much the same reasons as children are admitted to psychiatric wards today: in other words, they were unmanageable in the community or in the institutions from which they were referred.

The most common children and adolescent psychiatric conditions include:

Firstly, ADHD
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Conduct disorder (CD)
Anxiety
Depression
Tourette syndrome
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Lastly, Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)

Juvenile Psychiatric Hospital

In particular, a psych ward for teens may be needed if:

The teen is at risk of harming themselves or others.
The teen has thoughts of suicide or is engaging in suicidal behaviors.
The teen isn’t eating, bathing, or otherwise taking care of themselves.
The teen can’t sleep, sleeps a lot, or feels tired all the time.
The teen is having psychotic episodes.

Teen psychiatric hospitals also provide the intense structure and intervention needed to keep adolescents safe.

Professionals from each discipline make recommendations for treatment both in the hospital and after discharge.

While in the hospital, teens participate in numerous daily structured activities that may include:

Academic programs to help keep up with school
Family therapy focused on immediate concerns and next steps
Group therapy with other hospitalized teens
Individual therapy
Multifamily group therapy (many hospitals suggest families continue in these groups as part of aftercare)
Occupational, recreational, and art therapies

In sum, discharge planning refers to specific plans made for the aftercare or follow-up treatment the teen will participate in upon leaving the psychiatric hospital.

State Psychiatric Hospital

I’ve been in a state psychiatric hospital and it was ridiculous. Half of the time they didn’t even do the groups.

One of the nurses almost got cornered in a room by a patient, but luckily there was another patient in the room and he punched the bad guy.

Of course, we had to stay in our rooms for a while after that one. I stayed there twice before I got insurance and I told myself I would never go back.

I’ve made it my mission to never step foot into another psychiatric hospital again. Too many bad experiences and bad memories.

Why Are Some Psych Wards White?

Echoes of the soul: reflections from the psych ward and why everything was white in the past.

White is associated with cleanliness and purity, which are important in healthcare settings. In the past, most hospital surfaces were painted white.

Also, most likely because the color white has a calming effect. However,there is no requirement that the rooms to have white paint.

White rooms tend to diminish visual hallucinations. Yet with LSD, they were placing people on bad trips in black rooms to avoid triggering bad hallucinations… Go figure!

Therefore, hospitals are designing rooms to be soothing and not provoke anger the best it can.

It’s very well thought out down to the artwork on the wall and the overall design of the rooms. The purpose is to limit aggression and keep people civil.

Are Psych Wards Abusive?

Normally, they’re safe, but some Nevadans who either seek inpatient mental health treatment on their own or who are civilly committed are subjected to neglect and abuse in the facilities.

Therefore, this can lead to suffering, pain, and death. There have been incidents of reported abuse and neglect within mental health facilities across the U.S.

One example of ongoing chronic neglect and abuse in a mental health hospital has occurred at a psychiatric hospital in Texas named the Sundance Behavioral Hospital.

Subsequently, hundreds of complaints have been filed with Medicare and with the state certifying agencies about the conditions.

An investigative team from the local CBS affiliate there has conducted an ongoing investigation into the hospital.

Also, the team has found many problems, including suicides, children forced to sleep on the floor.

Also, holes in the walls and ceilings, staff threatening patients with needles, and many more issues.

Do Psych Wards Help?

Echoes of the soul: reflections from the psych ward and why they help.

In the United States efforts to reduce hospital stays and save money have led to overcrowded emergency rooms.

Also, people with serious psychological distress not receiving the treatment they need.

Experts define serious psychological distress (SPD) as feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and restlessness that are hazardous enough to impair physical well-being.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 20% of American adults experienced mental illness in 2019.

That’s one in five adults. Inpatient, 24-hour care comes in a variety of forms. It can exist in a dedicated wing of a hospital, a private hospital, or a public/state hospital.

Mental hospitals can be an effective way to receive treatment but some evidence suggests that intensive outpatient programs (IPOs) can also be helpful.

Sum It All Up

Echoes of the soul: reflections from the psych ward and how they helped. Most of the time (at least for me), I was usuasally in the psych ward for seven days.

I believe it was to get the insurance companies to pay as much money as the hospitals could get. Eventually, one time I got out within three days.

I will say one thing, when I was in groups (which I normally hate), I didn’t feel like I was singled out when called upon, like in school.

I felt I was around peers (of all ages) that were on the same level as me. We were all there to get help. Although, that wasn’t true all the time.

There were those that faught the system and lost. Those people were in there much longer. Although, sometimes I would just go along with the plan to get out, not really helping myself. Until next time…

Articles About Psych Wards

-Mental Hospitals and Psych Wards

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/psych-ward

-Types and Symptoms of Common Psychiatric Disorders

https://www.verywellmind.com/psychiatric-disorder-definition-425317

-Psych Ward: What Happens If You Are Admitted?

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-psych-ward-5217423

Have a Good One,

Cindee Murphy
“One Voice With Experience In A Psych Ward”

“No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness.”-Elyn R. Saks, 2007

“Things not to say to someone with mental illness: Ignore it. Forget about it. Fight it. You are better than this. You are over thinking.”-Nitya Prakash, 2019

“I believe the best way to manage our thoughts is to first educate ourselves. We need to fully understand how a mental illness can feel to someone before we thoughtfully talk about it.”-Kati Morton, 2018

“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about.” – Jonathan Harnisch