I'm making this poll because I very strongly believe this and everything surrounding mental health in general needs to be destigmatized. Today marks the one year anniversary of when I was released from one. I went in voluntarily; albeit with some pressure from family who I listened to more then than I do now, but still definitely not involuntarily, because I was feeling very acutely suicidal at that point as was pretty sure I was going to do something to myself if I didn't. Stayed for around 9 days I think. The experience there felt kinda odd but not extreme. The best way I can describe it is like a mix of jail and kindergarten. During the time there I mostly felt bored and often frustrated and annoyed. I don't think any of the therapy things there or the medications I was given did anything positive for me really. But I no longer felt immediately suicidal by the time I left. In a few weeks to around two months after I got out I felt more motivated (a big problem with depression obviously) and made a lot of necessary and positive changes to my life. I think mostly because it's the kind of experience that sorta shakes you out of the normal patterns of life which makes it easier to make changes, and also for me maybe a little bit of a "well, I just hit rock bottom and I guess I'm going up because I have nowhere else to go" effect. In the long-term, I don't feel much benefit from it though. I guess I feel a little bit better than where I was right before I went in, but I don't really feel any different than I did in the months and years before that.
I'm really curious, it seems like this place has a very high rate of mental issues so I'd bet there are some people with stories to share here. I've heard a lot of experiences from my friends (I have a lot with similar experiences, actually my friends who *haven't * tried to kill themselves or wanted or want to are prob the minority lol) and they've ranged from "I found it really helpful" to "I was horrible, traumatic, scarring, etc" which makes me think its really a crapshoot depending on the person and the place. If you feel comfortable sharing that's great, I know its hard to be open about but like I said it definitely needs destigmatizing which is only going to happen if more people are willing to talk.
Poll
