My Week in a Teen MENTAL Hospital 🏥
In this blog, I am going to be answering the question: What is it like being in a mental hospital? In order to answer this question, I will be sharing some of my experiences living in a teen mental hospital for about a week. I was 13 years old when I was there, and I am 18 now. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect.
Before I get started, please remember that everybody experiences different challenges in life when it comes to mental health. My struggle at the time of my admission was depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, self-harming, and running away. I promise there is nothing to feel ashamed about if you are struggling!
In this blog, I'm going to be sharing the 5 most important things I feel you should know about living in a teen mental hospital while giving you a bit about my own experience there as well.
Every hospital is going to be a little different, so keep that in mind also. Let's dive in!
1. Your Parents/Guardians Do NOT Stay With You
If you are admitted into the psychiatric unit in a hospital, you most likely will have to stay there by yourself. There will be nurses there as well as other patients, but your parents or guardians do not stay with you. At the hospital I stayed at, there was a visiting time for family, but it was only an hour a day. I believe the visiting hour at my hospital was 6-7pm.
2. A Mental Hospital is a Place of SAFETY.
You don't have your phone. You can't wear clothing items that have strings (such as hoodies or sweatpants). You can bring a book to read, but that is pretty much it. If you are in class (there are usually classes during the school year), you cannot take pencils outside of the room with you. I personally was there during the summer so I did not have to go to classes hardly at all. There was a common room where all of the patients ate, did activities, and held meetings. When it was time to leave the common room, we could not take anything potentially dangerous with us.
***Often times, teens are hospitalized in a psychiatric unit because of self-harming issues. Read to the end of this blog or scroll to the bottom to find a FREE guide on coping strategies and alternatives to self-harming. This guide will help keep you from ever having to stay in the hospital due to self-harming.
***ALSO click this link, or scroll to the bottom of this blog to watch my YouTube video: My Week in a Teen MENTAL Hospital. It goes into more detail regarding my hospitalization experience along with the tips I am sharing with you in this blog!
3. You are monitored at all times.
My blood pressure and temperature were taken every morning. I was given my medication and the nurse watched while I took it. I was given a daily vitamin which I had to eat. I filled out a food form to decide what I would like to eat for the day and how big of servings. I got breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I got nothing in between meals. I had to show the nurse my plate after I finished eating, and the nurse decided if I ate enough. Then they tracked how much I ate.
4. It is NOT meant to be a comfortable place.
They don't want you back, and you won't want to go back. Everybody wins in the situation that you get better and you don't have to go back to the hospital. That's what happened to me. They do want to see you doing well, which is why they don't want you back.
Just a heads up...the bed that I slept in was not necessarily comfy. BUT it was a bed, and that is definitely better than the floor. You usually live in one room with a roommate unless you get a single room. It depends on how many beds are available, so I did not get to decide that. The toilets and showers are the same as the typical prison toilets and showers you see in the movies. They are VERY cold. Overall, the vibe is very different in a psychiatric unit compared to the part of the hospital for physical injuries.
5. It is a GREAT place to connect with other teens who are struggling just like you!
There was a community circle everyday for everyone to share about themselves, and there were group therapy sessions to help all of the patients learn about each other. We all got to go outside and play basketball or just hang out everyday. I personally made two friends there that I was able to share my number with. We didn't have our phones, so we had to keep each other's numbers written on a piece of paper until we were released. However, we all got released at different times, so it was hard to stay in contact. This is one of the ultimate experiences to realizing you are NOT alone.
FREE GUIDE ON ALTERNATIVES TO SELF-HARMING! + My Week in a Teen MENTAL Hospital Video!
Those are my 5 things to know about living in a teen mental hospital. To stay up to date on the Brain XP Community as well as myself, follow our social media networks!
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Shoot me an email at brainxpproject@gmail.com if you have any questions about this blog or anything you’d like to know in general!
FREE GUIDE ON ALTERNATIVES TO SELF-HARMING!
MY WEEK IN A TEEN MENTAL HOSPITAL VIDEO!