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Mental hospitals

When you want support through something scary or rough, and help pulling yourself together and getting through, this is the place.
Forum rules
We ask that users looking for general, ongoing emotional support post in this area of the boards, and that you use this space to both ask for, give and receive that support primarily from each other, rather than from our staff and volunteers. As a staff, we simply are often too overextended with all we need to do in running the organization and its services to do that for extended periods of time, and one of our main aims of our community at the boards has always been to facilitate peers to better be there for each other.

Users often report that they have no in-person peers they can talk to or seek support from: we want this to be a space for online peer support and somewhere everyone can get some practice asking for, getting and giving support so that doing it with people in your lives feels more doable.

Please remember that neither staff, volunteers nor your fellow users can provide or replace mental healthcare when that is something you need. Users struggling with issues like anxiety, depression, abuse or physical health issues are strongly encouraged to seek out qualified, in-person help with those issues in addition to peer or staff support.
IAmScared
not a newbie
Posts: 83
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 12:29 pm
Age: 30
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Location: Croatia

Mental hospitals

Unread post by IAmScared »

I think I'll need to go to a hospital again after top surgery. And hospital stays are hard.Do you have any advice on how to make a stay in MH easier?
RadiantRay
not a newbie
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2019 4:21 pm
Age: 29
Awesomeness Quotient: I make sex positive/NSFW embroidery hoops
Primary language: English
Pronouns: she/her
Sexual identity: Female, LGBTQ
Location: Georgia

Re: Mental hospitals

Unread post by RadiantRay »

I've personally had a stay in a mental hospital, so I know from experience how disorienting it can feel. I found I coped best when I had something to busy myself with. Either asking someone else about themselves (it takes the pressure off of you, you can sit back and just chill), or having an activity like a sudoku book. I got bored with reading, it didn't occupy my mind enough. Try as much as possible to stay active - I would walk up and down the hallway and stretch quite a bit since it's easy to sit in one place all day. I realize this post is older - have you had your top surgery yet?
Mo
previous staff/volunteer
Posts: 2287
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 2:57 pm
Awesomeness Quotient: I'm always wearing seriously fancy nail polish.
Primary language: English
Pronouns: he/him, they/them
Sexual identity: queer/bisexual

Re: Mental hospitals

Unread post by Mo »

I know this is an older post and the original poster may not see this, but this thread reminded me of a guest post on the Captain Awkward blog of someone sharing their experiences in a mental hospital. It's several years old now, from 2012, but I still think the post itself, and other people's comments with their own experiences, has some good information in it. If you're interested you can read that here.
Obviously this is an area where it's good to tread with caution and respect people's own limits around privacy and what they're willing to discuss, but I've found that friends & acquaintances with experiences in inpatient or outpatient mental health programs are often happy to share some experiences or tips if it'll be helpful to other people who may be about to have their own experiences.
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