Post #12 – Inside Psychiatric Wards – 10 Things To Expect

I had been hospitalized in three different psychiatric wards in the past 15 years. Each time was at a different hospital, from one week to as long as one month. Though each psychiatric ward is unique, there were characteristics they all shared. Here are 10 things on what to expect if you ever anticipate being hospitalized.

1. You’re locked in.

Once I was admitted into a hospital’s psychiatric ward, the doors are locked from the inside. The entrance and exits are marked with signs that warn hospital staff of patients escaping from the ward. Sometimes, I had my own room. Sometimes, I had a roommate.

2. Expect to be monitored.

My actions were observed and recorded, including who I made friends with. If I was in my room alone, psych nurses would poke their heads in on regular rotations. There was no privacy except the bathrooms. There are doors within the ward that you can close, like to the showers, bedrooms, and meeting rooms, but none that I could lock.

3. You get phone privileges for only 1 or 2 hours a day.

My cell phone was taken away except for the 1- or 2-hour window every day (varying by hospital) that I was allowed to use it. You have to rely on the hospital staff to charge it for you, since patients aren’t allowed to keep their own chargers with them. The problem with that is that you’re out of luck for the day if the staff forget to charge your phone.

4. You will have no access to string, cords, metal, glass with sharp edges.

Visitors are allowed and they can bring you items; however, everything is checked for safety purpose so patients can’t hurt or kill themselves. If you are given a hoodie or sweatpants, the drawstrings need to be removed. If you are given sneakers, the shoelaces must be removed. Anything with glass or metal is prohibited. Anything with sharp edges, of course, is prohibited.

5. Recreational activities are minimal.

You can only use a pencil or marker to write. Depending on the hospital, the activities available to you are varied. There’s always a television. There are typically some books, board games, puzzles, and crayons and markers to draw. In one hospital, we were lucky to have one computer to share among the patients.

6. Three meals are provided daily.

You are given three meals a day at scheduled times and sometimes you can select what you want from a list. We were given plastic forks and spoons, plastic trays, plates, cups and bowls. No plastic knives.

7. Brief visits with psychiatrist daily.

You see a psychiatrist once a day except weekends. The visit is very brief. There is no talk therapy involved (meaning, you don’t discuss your childhood or deep-rooted issues); it is a discussion of the symptoms you are experiencing and the medications involved.

8. You can make friends.

You’re allowed to make friends. There are no topics you’re prohibited from discussing. If they happen to have an episode of heightened symptoms, you are not allowed to assist.

9. There is nothing scheduled on weekends.

Expect ZERO scheduled sessions with a healthcare provider on weekends. You receive your three scheduled meals, your medications, and that’s it. You’re on your own in terms of how you keep yourself occupied.

10. You will have a lot of time to yourself.

There is a lot of down time, even on weekdays. Usually there was a 1-hour group activity with other patients where you make drawings on select themes. I have never received one-on-one talk therapy or group therapy while in the psych ward.