Last week, PatientsLikeMe released a new report highlighting patient experiences and tips regarding how to make the most of inpatient psychiatric treatment. PatientsLikeMe.com is an online community for people with significant, life-changing conditions that emphasizes the sharing of health care data and information publicly. It is thought by sharing such information with one another and for research purposes, we can learn more about health and mental health concerns, more quickly and in a real population than could otherwise be done.
Inpatient psychiatric treatment is not all that common (most people who get treatment for a mental health concern [or "mood condition," as they call it] do so in an outpatient setting). But because it’s fairly uncommon, there are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about it. So I found the tips and questions the report contains potentially valuable for someone considering inpatient care.
The report summarizes patients’ positive experiences with hospitalization from discussions by participating patients in their mood conditions community. The report highlights four areas patients who are considering inpatient treatment should be aware of, and recommends a set of questions that helps a patient answer pertinent questions in each of these areas. Remember, these are patients’ own recommendations — people who’ve actually gone through the experience.
1. Set clear expectations/goals
Of the patients who reported having a positive inpatient experience, many say they found it helpful to define what they hoped to achieve during hospitalization.
- What is the goal for my time in inpatient therapy?
- Am I here to be stabilized and then immediately released? To learn skills? To take a break?
- Do I need my medication adjusted? If so, do I have a list of the medications I’m taking and their side effects?
- What criteria will I need to meet to be released?
2. Develop new coping skills
This is also a major theme among those who have had a positive inpatient experience, with specific dialogue regarding learning new coping skills during their hospitalization and strategies for dealing with stress and other triggers later on.
- What types of therapy (individual and group, art and music, etc.) are available to me?
- Are there any tools to help me remember what I’m learning (e.g., journals, worksheets, etc.)?
- What new skills can I practice while I’m in inpatient therapy?
- How will the new skills I learn help me in the real world?
3. Coordinate care with your outside therapist/health care team
During and after hospitalization, coordination of care with their own personal psychiatrist, therapist or doctor was another contributing factor to a positive experience for patients. For those patients who didn’t have that relationship prior to hospitalization, many reported developing therapeutic relationships during their stay that continued after their release.
- Will my current therapist see me while I’m getting inpatient care? If not, will the hospital contact my therapist to coordinate care?
- Can I develop a new relationship that will continue after discharge?
4. Create a transition plan
Patients say planning your transition back to the stresses of everyday life is just as important as your actual time in the hospital. Successful planning for this transition may reduce the need for future hospitalization. Many members recommend making a schedule of how you will spend your days at home to provide structure as you move from your inpatient program back to everyday life.
- What kind of support will be in place when I leave? Support groups? Intensive outpatient programs?
- What will my schedule look like when I return home?
- How will I explain my absence to family, friends and colleagues?
Want to learn more or be a part of future patient research efforts? Check out PatientsLikeMe.
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8 Comments to
“Inpatient Psychiatric Questions and Tips”
great article.
This article has a wonderful upbeat feel to it. It makes it sound as though it’s quite an easy simple life being in a psych hospital. It’s not.
When you are on the wrong medication and you have a psychiatrist who refuses to listen to what you have to say it can be a nightmare.
This is a good article. I have worked in emergency services for 15 years, and it is difficult to give clients and their families a good sense of what hospitalization can, and cannot, do for people who are suffering. When I first started, it was possible to get excellent treatment inpatient. Now, not so much. There is tremendous pressure to get people out in order to satisfy health insurance requirements, and therefore cover their own costs. I have sometimes found that people with a supportive social network of family and friends can get more support and supervision that way, than inpatient at this point. It is important to know what you are expecting from inpatient treatment, and what is available, vs. what a particular person needs at that moment in their lives.
I agree with Sonia and Jane. I was hospitalized for postpartum depression, not voluntarily. It was the most agonizing three days of my life. My depression plummeted even further and my anxiety spiked while I was there. I was secluded from my family and my baby, and I felt like a prisoner. There was NO ONE to talk to there, no therapy, no counselors, no nurses. I begged a nurse to come talk to me because I was feeling so anxious and she came for 5 minutes and then left, while I was still crying. I saw the psychiatrist for a total of 4 minutes the whole 3 days. So sad. I had a ton of family and friends that stayed with us and supported us at home, which was much better than the hospital. I went to the ER to get my medication changed because I was starting to have suicidal thoughts. I am appalled at how horrible mental health in-patient treatment is and think it is awful that there is not more support for people who are suffering.
I also want to add that if there were some ‘professionals’ there that actually spent time with the patients, they wouldn’t have released me while I was STILL suicidal.
This is an interesting article, but I must also agree with Sonia. I was myself unable to prepare for my hospitalization, because it started unexpectedly in a severe crisis. This mental state also made it impossible for me to set clear goals. Furthermore, even though I have always been a voluntarily-committed patient, my behavior problems caused staff to be very authoritarian with me (mostly out of misunderstanding for my particular disorder, which they knew little about), which made it even harder for me to get my needs across and impossible to get them met. I had to stay, for various bureaucratic reasons and some of my own wrong choices, on a locked, acute ward for 16 months, and could move to my current ward (open resocialization) only four months ago. I am finally learning to take a role in my own treatment other than just defying whatever the clueless staff suggest, but it is still difficult.
I wanted to share my experience of being hospitalized for severe Postpartum Depression. I was admitted inpatient for 4 days and I must say my experience was a great one. I found the staff very supportive and attentive. I participated in numerous therapies and activites and got what I needed most: sleep and a safe environment to heal.
I too had a wonderfully supportive family and the stay helped them understand how ill I really was. Honestly, if I had remained at home, I would have felt compelled to continue on as mother and wife (regardless of family support )and not gotten the rest I needed.
My husband asked all the of questions mentioned above so we understood my treatment plan from the beginning.
I understand that different people have different experiences but for me inpatient hospitalization was the starting point of my healing.
hey does anyone know how to bring someone out of their flashbacks? Becouse my boyfrriend has ptsd and it scares me so bad becouse i don’t know what to do. please help me!!!!!!!
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 8 Jun 2009
