Inpatient treatment?

Has anyone ever voluntarily checked themselves in? I was thinking about it today. I've never has suicidal thoughts as bad as right now. I want to go and get on medications again and fee better. I havent seen my therapist or psychiatrist in almlst 2 years.
Would love advice or stories.

Why not visit your psychologist first, before checking your self in(?), just to get a better feel on your self before making such a drastic decision.

Introspectah wrote:Why not visit your psychologist first, before checking your self in(?), just to get a better feel on your self before making such a drastic decision.

I second this.

However, yes, I have checked myself in voluntarily. Three times it was after some sort of crisis event (overdose, self-injury, etc) where I was treated in the ER but I then agreed to be admitted. The other time, I just walked in and asked to be admitted.

My experience has been positive. Sometimes you need to be in a safe environment away from the world in order to get your bearings and figure some things out.

My general criteria for whether or not I need to be admitted is if I feel I can not control my impulses and it's not safe for me to be unsupervised. I think that's kind of standard.

But yes, I encourage you to talk to your therapist/psychologist first. They may be able to help you figure out whether inpatient is necessary or not, and if you decide you do need it, they can make it easier to get you in somewhere.

I have. I did speak to my doctor and counselor beforehand, who both recommended that I should do it.. It was also good to have their "notes" on my file, because when I did get there they wouldn't have let me in due to how many individuals were there. I actually had to wait a couple days on another floor because they didn't have a bed on the floor for me.

Over-all, the experience was okay. I was only there for just over a week, and they managed to diagnose me with bpd. Unfortunately I was still self-harming in the ward, and covered it up. They had no idea, and I figure if they did they wouldn't have let me out. Then when I did get out I was hooking up with another patient and practically living with him for a month after. We went on a cocaine and drinking binge during that time.

So honestly, if you're going in just be honest with them. I honestly wish I was, because maybe they would have taken things a bit more seriously and made sure I got help in there. Instead they thought I was improving, and I wasn't. Sure the suicidal thoughts went back to my subconscious, but within 2 weeks they were back to my conscious. Just not as severe as the week before I went in. I regret not staying there longer.

I did. However - at this time I had very rough depression-paranoid-depersonalization post-breakup episode. I had suicide attempt then, which I told my friend about. And I was also pretty sure that I'd try to do it again. My supportive friend for two days long was convincing me to voluntarily check in. After I agreed (really, I had no other option beside killing myself at that moment), he supported me all the way long. And only because of him I didn't run away from reception room.
And at that time I was on therapy - but it didn't help. I felt so miserable that nothing could stop me from trying to kill myself. I had the attempt a few hours after my meeting with therapist.

That was really good experience. Really. I even wanted to do it again this autumn but I couldn't let myself to take such a long break from uni.

Why don't you call ahead and see what they say? Where I live they have an emergency room where you can get seen for psychiatric reasons. I ended up going to be assessed soon after finding out that my daughter and I both had BPD last spring - I was having a really hard time with the emotions and I felt like I was just going crazy and was going to throw myself in front of a car or something so my boss sent me to the ER.

I was bawling my head off when I went and the emergency health nurse was really nice and I saw a doctor who didn't really understand why I was so upset, but then I got to see a really nice social worker and we had a nice chat and then she recommended I get some counselling which I did and I left feeling a lot better. Sometimes you just need to be heard and feel cared for and it is enough and if not, they will point you to the help you need, whether it is outpatient or inpatient care.