/g/ - girl talk

> I feel like I might make better friends with crazy people than anyone else tbh

First thing's first, cut (ha) the edgy teen melanie martinez 'I'm mad all the best people are' mentality

Second, fuck friendship is magic

Go because it's what you need to get better, yeah, you MIGHT make friends, I did, but that doesn't matter, this isn't Girl Interrupted, it's a mental health facility where getting you to stop slashing at yourself is the priority
If you want to get better, go, 80% chance it'll be good for you, though it's kinda bleak the first few days, just don't expect it to be a zany summer camp

My experience is of UK NHS inpatient treatment on general psychiatric wards so I don't know how applicable this will be to you.

My time as an inpatient has involved very little actual treatment. They're there to stop you killing yourself. Don't expect to get much of the staff's time if you're the quiet sort of mad. I've made some friends in hospital but I generally stay in my room because my anxiety disorder doesn't mix well with schizophrenic outbursts and unpredictable behaviour.

Like the previous anon said, if you want to get better then go. If you want to make friends who understand what you're going through, see if any mental health charities run social groups near you.

I would suggest searching for actual friends in mental health support groups or group therapy.
Mental facilities are not fun and in my stay there was only one person my age that I kind of vibed with, but we only stayed close during my stay and never ended up as friends because our mental issues made it difficult to socialize even with each other.
Don't expect other mentally ill people to be ready to vibe with you, they're mostly there to deal with their shit, not get a friend on.

I don't have experience myself but one of my best friends was in and out of psychiatric wards a lot and I'd visit her frequently. Here's a blend of her's and mine:

I think it depends on the area and how "severe" your case i. For my friend, her hospital was in a lower income area so there were less empathetic and kind nurses. I got the feeling the nurses were just there because they had to be, instead of being there to help.

My fried had decent insurance due to her mom so she would sometimes be lucky and get a single room. Other times she wouldn't be so lucky and get stuck with a roommate. One time she was rooming with a schizophrenic old lady so it wasn't terrible in the sense she felt danger for her own life, but apparently she would have a lot of episodes and that would freak her out.

Of course, that isn't to say that she felt safe. She got into a little spat with some of the female patients and she was scared for her life because they would make threatening hand gestures. It didn't help that they were in for manic bipolar disorder. My friend would sleep with her knitting needles at night just in case.

There was also a few cases a lot of the male patients would prey on her because she was a young, pretty, vulnerable girl. Be careful and tell your nurses if someone bothers you (my frend told her nurses but they just shrugged it off so…)

You could make friends there, in theory, but I don't know if that's a wise idea. Unless you guys are stable enough and really are working towards recovery, I would not. The same friend met her last ex boyfriend and he ended up committing suicide and that shook her up enough for her to follow..
The other friend she made is someone I don't like at all. After she ended up getting out, she started shooting up hard drugs but I think she's okay now. My friend never felt like she cared enough because they lived in the same city but she would never visit her.

Sorry if that was too long, but I hope that helps. Good luck anon <3

I've been in three acute psychiatric wards and two residential treatment centers. I think your experience will very much depend on the program you go to. Some are good and some are downright abusive.

In terms of psych wards, I have personally found my stints in them to be entirely unhelpful. As >>91473 said, treatment is minimal, they are essentially there to keep you from killing yourself. It's like being babysat. I've been lucky in that all three of the psych wards have been decent. Unhelpful, yes, but I wasn't treated poorly by any means. I guess they did keep me from committing suicide so, that's a plus. If you want any specifics on daily life on the ward, feel free to ask.

Residential treatment centers are a different story. You're there for a longer period so treatment is obviously more intense and personalized. I was in my first residential treatment center when I was 16 for about four months. It helped me to a degree, but I would say the program as a whole was not good. The staff was incompetent, sometimes rude, my therapist was not entirely knowledgeable about my diagnosis and therefore did not have the tools and abilities to treat it, and there was a focus on compliance rather than caring, holistic mental health treatment. I've had nightmares about my time there for years after and many of my friends who I met there have similar things to say about the program (So yes, you can make friends, though you should be careful and know that many people are there to focus on their treatment, not to socialize).

I ended up going to a second residential treatment center when I was 18. This center was much more well-known and acclaimed, but unfortunately my previous experience had tainted the idea of residential and made it difficult for me to settle in so I ended up checking myself after a week or so. From that short time, though, I was able to tell that it was a lot better than the previous program I was in.

So, overall, my suggestion would be to do your research if you decide to go this route. Make sure you know what you're getting into and choose a program that's appropriate for your needs.

Like >>91518 and >>91473 said, you get very minimal therapy and help at psych wards. Generally, you get 'checked in' on a few times a day (mood, etc) by staff who are decently incompetent. I saw a therapist maybe once or twice a week if I was lucky, and they were very unhelpful, cold, and uncaring. It's also very, very boring. There's basically nothing you can do to occupy your time, except sleep and cry. You'll get little to no privacy, as well. If I were you, I'd stay far, far away from psych wards and maybe steer towards residential treatment.