Just A Note About Psychiatric Hospital Stays.

Just a note about psychiatric hospital stays.

I think people who haven’t ever been before often misunderstand the purpose of a psychiatric hospital stay. I think people tend to think it is a place to go to get treatment, but it isn’t. 

Psychiatric hospital stays have one purpose–stabilization. They are not meant to provide long term treatment. They are meant for people in an acute crisis situation who cannot be safe on their own. They will keep you there only long enough to get you out of that crisis.

If you are looking for long term treatment and think you need a higher level of care than individual or group outpatient therapy, what you want to look for is Residential treatment. 

Inpatient (psych hospital) stays are usually between 3 and 14 days long at most. Residential stays are usually months long. Inpatient may or may not offer group therapy sessions. Residential will give you group therapy, process groups, individual therapy, psychiatry, and maybe more (like equine or art therapy). 

There are also other levels of care, such as partial hospitalization (PHP–think day program) and intensive outpatient (IOP–think lots of group therapy). 

Psych hospitals serve a very specific purpose and (although your milage may vary) are somewhat good at that one thing–keeping you physically safe in a time of crisis. But if you want actual treatment, you are probably not going to get it there. 

If you are in crisis and cannot keep yourself safe, by all means go to the ER! But if you are just desperate for longer term treatment that will help you get your life together and feel better long term, look into residential, PHP, or IOP. 

Good luck! Stay safe!