Traumatic Hospital Experience

[Anders]

Hi All,

I am new to the forums. Hi 🙂

I have recently been diagnosed with 'schizophrenia'. I joined the forum to connect with peers as I have sometimes found a benefit to hearing from others.

I was diagnosed during a recent hospitalisation. I found the hospital visit extremely traumatic, it actually made me worse. As I'm recovering after leaving hospital, I'm now getting better insight into what I experienced, the purpose of this thread was to ask what experience others had of hospital in a psychiatric ward.

I've submit a formal complaint to the institution involved for investigation but I was wanting to hear other experiences to try and gauge whether it's normal and common.

My complaints centred on 3 themes - Admission & Expectations, Diagnosis & Treatment, and lastly Staff Culture.

Admission & Expectations

There was a gap in my admission where no one communicated to me what was happening and why I was going into hospital. It felt like I'd been lured or tricked into going into hospital with a family member, and before I knew I had been locked inside.

I now recognise and accept I had been unwell and should have been in hospital for a period. My condition did complicate admission and assessment because I had a delusion I couldn't talk about my symptoms for a fear of some consequence.

I recognise it would have been a hard conversation and that observations were causing family members distress. Whilst I was in no way physically aggressive, I wasn't receptive to healthcare and was getting let's say grumpy when approached to discuss it. The result was that neither the family member, nor a doctor had the hard conversation to say "due to our observations of <x>, whilst you are saying you are not a threat to hurt yourself or someone else, we would like to keep you in hospital for a period to monitor your health and address treatment". This initiated a feeling of distrust in the institution (and heightened the delusion that I couldn't talk about my symptoms).

Has anyone else had a similar experience on admission (no one told you why you were going into hospital)?

Diagnosis & Treatment

As mentioned due to my condition (I wasn't talking about my symptoms), I don't know how doctors came to a diagnosis.

After leaving hospital, I have done some research and I do broadly accept the 'schizophrenia' diagnosis as there is enough in my symptoms to support it. However I do have a feeling there could be other conditions occurring simultaneously.

I was diagnosed with 'Psychosis' 20 years ago. I've had opinions (which includes some medical professionals), Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder could be occurring simultaneously with 'Schizophrenia', noting the comorbidity between these conditions. And a contrary diagnosis of 'Schizoaffective Disorder' from a psychiatrist.

How important do you think the label(s) are? Do others think it's relevant to treatment? Is it enough to accept broadly it's some condition under the 'psychotic' family of disorders? Or do others believe you need an exact diagnosis?

Similar to my admission, there was no hard conversation with the doctors to say something like "you're not talking about your symptoms, which is making our job hard, but due to observing <x>, we suspect you have 'schizophrenia', we're going to commence treatment with <y> antipsychotic medication, you can expect <a> positive effects of the medication, and <b> negative effects of the medication, we expect it will take <y> period of time to see a result".

The doctors developed a belief that old medications I have taken for a significant period of time weren't working. I had deteriorated whilst taking those medications. They commenced a range of new medications. I was considered unresponsive to the medications because nothing changed on those new medications. It wasn't clear to me what change they were expecting to see.

I stopped taking the medications they prescribed in hospital and went back on the old medications. This was done in consultation with a doctor. Whilst I'm continuing medication, I credit the start of my recovery with other contributing factors - I overcame the barrier to talking about symptoms (this helped challenge the symptoms as not being real eg. voices I was hearing were not real), a passing of time (over time the symptoms slowly subsided) and evidence (through a natural course of events, I gained growing evidence in my head that delusions were not real). I had a deterioration while on old medications, no new medications changed anything, and I'm now recovering back on the old medications which were being used when I deteriorated.

Staff Culture

I think there was an intangible aspect which pointed to a staff culture issue at the institution. I had a stay at another hospital voluntarily and it had been totally different. I don't know if this was normal.

Doctors - I developed a belief (right or wrong) they weren't serious about my healthcare and were trying to prescribe me the worst medication with the worse side effect. I already have an ingrained distrust of doctors and psychiatrists due to my experiences over the years, I have always had a better experience with psychologists and therapy.

Nurses - Experience with nurses varied. Some were good and valuable assets to the healthcare system. 

Security - They used what I perceived to be unacceptable tactics when dealing with incidents. This was not conducive to a recovery or a healthcare environment.

Overall, whilst I'll reiterate there was some staff who were very good, and I recognise some staff may be lowly paid (eg. nurses or food serving staff), there was intangible aspect that seemed to permeate through all the staff.

Have others had any similar experiences with doctors? Have others found psychologists better than psychiatrists? What has been your experience with psychiatrists? Has anyone stayed in a psychiatric ward and observed an issue related to staff?

I have submit a formal complaint to the institution for investigation. I don't know if this is normal. I don't know if I have unreasonable expectations of what to expect in relation to mental healthcare or an experience in a psychiatric ward where you are an involuntary patient. There could be some onus on me to taper my expectations and also communicate (ie. I need to explain my symptoms if I expect to get better). I have found some benefit to hearing others' experiences. Thanks in advance for any contributions.

[tyme]

Hey @Anders ,

Let's just say I've had plenty of involuntary admissions and they haven't been the best. 

Whilst I still bear the scars (trauma) from the stays, I have to say I don't think I'd be here today if I wasn't kept in.

It wasn't ideal, but I can see where they were coming from.

I have put in a formal complaint after one of my involuntary stays because of many reasons which I will not go into. A thorough investigation was done and there were very positive outcomes from it. 

My goal of the complaint was not to 'get people in trouble', but moreso to raise awareness of what was unacceptable.

I totally agree the stays were not ideal and it would not be by choice that I stay there. However, I thank God that I'm here because of the confinement at that time when I was acutely unwell. I have to say, I did not have a reasoning mind at that time. 

[Anders]

Thanks @tyme 

I too have come around to the fact I needed to be in hospital for a period of time.

If nothing else, I slept a lot. Getting the right amount of sleep or a lack of sleep are noted as contributors to mental health.

I've also had a reduction in stress and my life has generally slowed down after coming out of hospital.

The fact I stayed in hospital for a period also reduced family member distress over my condition.

In my complaint, I also expressed some positives (some staff were good), and my own shortcomings (I did acknowledge by not talking about symptoms and being open minded about healthcare, I was making the work of doctors harder).

I don't know what I expect from the complaint. An investigation and positive outcomes would be nice. However it has been cathartic just to write it down and send it. Similarly it has been beneficial just to vocalise or write down what I deemed to be unacceptable.

Whilst some of the issues (like a staff culture issue) are complex issues that take time & work (a bit like trying to change direction on the Titanic), nothing will change if no one says anything.

[tyme]

Very true @Anders ,

And I think that's where feedback is important. They won't know unless someone says something.

You are so right in saying the admission would have also been helpful for your family.

For me, with a history of BPD, hospitals are often very reluctant to hospitalise us. However, i think it gives carers a break, or else we'll see carer's fatigue.

Anyway, in my complaint, I gave an overview, an outline of the issues, the evidence, and then my expectations and recommendation. Finally, I gave them a date to respond by.

As I said, every single one of my points was looked into and the changes made as the outcome of my complaint was detailed.

I have filed the papers away and do not intend to ever read them again. It was one very very traumatic experience. I'm just glad that changes have been made.

All the best to you @Anders 

[Bow]

Hi @Anders 

Ive had plenty of traumatic experiences while having inpatient stays in psych wards over many years. 

I believe a lot of things need to change in the public mental health system, including inpatient facilities. 

I haven’t had too many psych ward admissions in recent years (I’ve had more medical admissions due to my eating disorder, but even that needs help cause EDs are mental health conditions, but unless your medically stable, you don’t receive and can’t be admitted to a psych ward). 
I did have a psych ward admission in recent years and I had a lot of issues with the psychiatrist I was under. He refused to listen to me. I demanded to seen by someone else and finally got a positive outcome. That was really traumatic. 

I agree some staff need attention. They need further training. 

My local hospital is newly opened and has amazing psych facilities…. But sadly, no staffing. There is all these specialized  sections in the emergency department just for mental health. But it’s not opened. No staff. There are 8 wards, but only a couple are opened. And even in the wards, all these nice facilities, and they just go unused. 

psych admissions now are just a quick crisis circuit breaker for me and thankfully haven’t needed one for a while.  

[Anders]

Thanks for sharing @Bow 

This was the first time I had been admitted to a psychiatric ward.

The doctors commented to carers and family members they were shocked it was the first time I'd been admitted at hospital because of how bad I was.

It's validating to hear that others with lived experience found it traumatic too. Maybe I DO need to taper my expectations somewhat. 

That's sad to hear there's a hospital in your area which has been invested in going to waste. They were struggling with beds when I stayed in hospital. I spent one night at a different facility due to no beds, and one night in a bed sleeping in the hallway, due to a lack of beds in the facility I was in. They were stretched and at capacity. 

I was in hospital for nearly 3 months because I had been considered unresponsive to medications and my condition wasn't changing.

[tyme]

I just want to acknowledge that it is probably a very difficult time for you @Anders 

I appreciate your openness and honesty.

[Anders]

Thank you @tyme 

It has been a very difficult time. There was a significant escalation to my symptoms and a significant breadth to the issues I was experiencing that hadn't been normal for what I'd experienced over the years. It was very confusing, scary and isolating.

I am starting to do better now. 

Although I am improving, there is some challenges finding the pathway back to full wellness.

Due to their distress, family members and carers have commenced engaging a range of services (Community Mental Health Teams?) with a belief they will help in some way. It's unclear to me what these service provide which is causing some confusion to find that pathway back to full wellness.

When I call them they are helpful providing a triage service for significant symptoms (assessing if you need to go to hospital) and/or general advice for someone in distress with no support and experience (for example, they gave me a list of psychologists in my area I could talk to a GP about which was helpful). They don't seem to provide actual services as the carers believe they will (ie. they didn't offer access to psychiatry or psychology services themselves).

I think following the traditional methods, continuing medication, engaging a new General Practitioner (GP) and getting a referral to a new psychologist and recommencing therapy (CBT - talking about my symptoms and challenging) will have the most benefit to finding a pathway back to full mental health.

[tyme]

Hey @Anders ,

Thanks for sharing. From my personal experience, Community Health Team AND other therapies have their place.

Both teams worked together for my benefit. They both had their place. Is this an option for you? Only if you are interested, that is.