I was recently involuntarily held in a mental hospital where I went through prison like conditions (strip search, had to wear scrubs, was locked in a room outside certain times a day, stuff like that) and thankfully came out in one piece after 8 days of this crap. I was just wondering why we subject people to these conditions when they haven’t even committed a crime?
I guess I get what you mean but it was still humiliating to strip naked for strangers and open up if you get my meaning. I still feel humiliated by it.
That’s because, despite all of the excuses this person has made for themselves, the point is to humiliate you. They want to make sure you know your place, that they are in charge, and that standing up for yourself is futile.
I havent made any excuses
Okay, sure. But the alternative would be “someone gets stabbed”
I’d rather be stabbed since I have a death wish
It’s not just you that they’re worried could get stabbed, it could be anyone.
I took some psych courses in University and one of my profs was full of anecdotes about patients he’d cared for, there were people who were perfectly nice and calm and then in a split second something would go unpredictably wrong and they’d be savagely attacking whoever they could get their hands on.
And then a moment later they’d be beside themselves with dismay over having “lost it”, apologizing sincerely and profusely. He said it was really hard keeping on your toes in there. He permanently lost his hearing in one ear when one of his patients slapped him out of the blue one time, to both of their surprise. If anything remotely like a weapon was easily accessible it could go very badly.
I’m sorry your experience was unpleasant, and of course I can’t remotely speak to it myself - it was your experience, not mine. But it could be that the stuff that was done was for everyone’s protection.
Thanks but they had no reason to think I’m going to hurt others
I think you may have missed a significant chunk of what I wrote. The prof told me that they couldn’t know who was going to try to hurt others. Often the patients themselves didn’t know whether they were going to hurt others.
I’m not a nutcase so there’s no threat of that.
And how do people know that? How do they know you’re not pretending to not be a nutcase?
Do you understand that people can pretend to be kind, normal, etc as a way to sneak things in?
I’m sorry you had to go through these things, but you seem to lack some serious awareness of others.
I havent done anything crazy
You may not be a nutcase, but you’re definitely lacking understanding for others. How is anyone supposed to know you’re not a nutcase? Only you are able to know that. It’s simply impossible for anyone else except if they knew you for many years.
Uh…Im sure the default assumption isnt that youre crazy
Touché salesman
…you realize that means you in particular actually NEEDED to get searched, right? I was about to say “oh you got caught up in the rules that keep other people from killing themselves” but no, you personally actually are why those rules exist then.
There are lots of things I could say about the lack of intermediate options for people with lower acuity/less severe mental illness but if you were actually having thoughts of wanting to be dead then a unit that controls things that strictly may actually have been completely appropriate.
Still sucks. You don’t even wanna know what the ICU does to keep people alive; they have a tube for every hole and then some. It’s certainly traumatizing but if the other option is being dead it’s generally considered a worthwhile tradeoff, same with intubation or any other terrifyingly invasive shit we do to keep people alive. Sure the throat tubes keep you breathing and therefore alive, but it’s not actually like, good for your throat. A lot of the healing after a hospitalization is from the hospitalization itself, for any type of hospitalization for any type of disorder.
Could also have been a sketchy facility tho. Plenty of those exist too. It can be hard to tell from patient reports like this because of how much the intense emotional states can affect perception.
I don’t want to hurt anyone else, just myself. I can’t help it at this point so I don’t think mistreating me is going to solve it
If you want to hurt yourself, it’s their duty to make it as difficult as possible for you to do a very thorough job of it. Unfortunately, it’s a long line of patients before you, who came up with very creative ways to bring in weapons, that made the staff put you through that humiliating experience. They have seen too many deaths, and suffered injuries themselves.
And remember, if someone jumps a woman on the street and beats the shit out of her or cuts her open, she hopefully gets some kind of support. But if she’s a nurse on the job, her supervisor will react with “what was your failure that caused this to happen?” They can’t really control what goes on in their patients’ heads, so they control the things they can.
I thought I had bodily autonomy? I can get an abortion if I want, not sure why I can’t blow my brains out if I want to under the same principle. Seems a weird reason to incarcerate someone.
And again, I never hurt anyone there or anywhere, I’m not a violent person. Isn’t that what matters, only if you want to hurt others?
No, it’s about self harm and suicide as well. Being suicidal is a symptom of depression, not a free choice. In most (all?) countries psychiatric wards are oblieged to protect you from suicide.
Well I dont agree.
When you are committed, you lose a lot of your rights, and I’d assume this would go as well. (Not passing a moral judgement here)
Shouldnt be that way
If you want to blow your brains out, it’s unfair of you to do it where it will hurt the careers and reputations of others, and traumatize them with the knowledge they failed to help you survive. Not to mention cleaning up the mess you leave behind.
Also, the violent people who do want to harm others are often very good at lying and pretending to be like you. I believe you, but the staff can’t afford to take your word for it. Even if an individual believes you, they would be penalized for not following the protocols, which were written in the blood of those who believed the wrong person.
By the way, I’m glad you live in a place where you can get an abortion. That’s not a given anymore. And I’m sorry you feel so cruel towards yourself. I hope you can become able to be kinder to yourself.
I won’t actually blow my brains out, I plan to go to Oregon or Washington and ask a doctor to euthanize me. Clean, effective, painless. Satisfies everyone. Anyway, I still don’t think it justifies humiliating me, and I don’t just mean the strip search. I got restrained a number of times and dragged into isolation for not following the rules and for an escape attempt.
No, that would be the response.