The Psychiatric Ward

I guess it was due time for me to make a post about what it is like in a psychiatric unit. For inspiration, I ended up watching a bunch of movies and TV shows for research, which was much easier than what I did for some of my other posts—those involved reading research papers, etc.

I do want to start off talking about what I thought a psychiatric ward was like when I was a kid, long before I started experiencing any schizophrenic symptoms. And this story starts off with a TV show called “SpongeBob SquarePants”.

The Episode of SpongeBob: “Doing Time” – Season 3, Episode 5

I picked this particular scene of SpongeBob, because when I was 10 years old this image was what I pictured a psychiatric unit to be like. Even to this day, I can still picture this scene—that is how I knew where to look for it online.

The backstory is essentially SpongeBob being SpongeBob, messing up during a driving test and causing plenty of vandalism before crashing into a tanker truck carrying fruit punch. During this process, the police are chasing them, and in the end Ms. Puff, his driving instructor in the passenger seat, ends up getting put into prison. At first she freaks out, but then realizes that being in prison means she no longer has to deal with SpongeBob, and thus rejoices.

SpongeBob feels sorry for Ms. Puff, and tries to break her out, manifesting as rocks, being in the chili, and impersonating the guards. It gets to a point where she rips the faces of two guards because she thinks they are in fact SpongeBob and Patrick in disguise (Patrick is SpongeBob’s pink starfish friend). For her strange actions, she is put into solitary.

Now when I was a kid, I was not much familiar with prison and the concept of solitary confinement, so when I saw this scene, I instantly thought that this is what it must be like in a mental institution—tied up and in a spongy room, as not to hurt oneself nor others.

Beyond Children’s TV Shows

As mentioned above, before my first hospitalization I believed psych wards to be scary, isolated, and barbaric places. There is a video game called “Outlast”, which features a journalist investigating an abandoned asylum, “Mount Massive Asylum”. Now I found out about this game long after I was discharged from the hospital, but it is a perfect example of the type of reinforcement in the media of how scary psych wards are.

Arguably, “Outlast” features an abandoned mental institution from the past, when many scary things in psychiatry did happen, such as the lobotomy. To be honest, it is how I would have picture a psych ward maybe in the 1930s-1940s. Things like the lobotomy were common in that time, and thus there is reason for this asylum is featured in a horror game. However, the assumption that a psychiatric ward is a dangerous place because the people there are “insane”, is a rather ludicrous assumption. From my experience at a psychiatric unit, I would never believe that my life is in danger due to interactions with other patients. Even if there were to be an episode, I trust the nurses to restrain the offender before anything bad could happen. And also I do not believe that mental illness can convert a person into a sociopath.

In fact, this view that psychiatric wards were these scary, hostile places for only the criminally insane were what kept me from seeking treatment for my schizophrenia, as I knew I wasn’t "that" bad.

(Images are from YouTube, “Outlast” being played by YouTuber Jack_Septic_Eye )

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

I had to mention this show, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, because it is one of my favourite comedies, and yet they featured a scene that showed the stereotypical “psychiatric” patients. While I still love the show, I found it kind of ironic that even though it addresses serious forms of discrimination, from race to sexual orientation, it is rather amusing that such a stereotypical view of mental illness is featured in this show.

Essentially the main characters are trying to escape the hospital while it is in lock-down. In order to convince the security guard to let them leave the hospital, they convince the security guard that they are crazy.

The man holding the two of them tells the security guard that they are like this due to “grandiose delusional disorder”. It is a real disorder, but from my experiences in the psych ward, the strait jacket is not an accurate dress attire. I’ve never seen a real patient in a strait jacket. The worst I’ve seen was being put in the ICU (intensive care unit), where nurse would monitor you 24/7.  I have been restrained into a bed twice or so, but never in a strait jacket. Furthermore, what they were saying in the scene was not violent enough that I would warrant the need for strait jackets to begin with.

Granted, the script does have the girl in the scene, Gina Linetti, saying she bit off a doctor’s nose, but having had grandiose delusions myself, I think it’s a little extreme for that to be reason.

Also, I’m not sure but I guess the part that bugged me was the strait jacket. It just seemed stereotypical and completely unnecessary.

It's Kind of a Funny Story

The prior examples I chose show the sort of misconceptions in the media of what a psychiatric unit is really like. This next example still shows a little bit of stigma, but I would have to say it is pretty accurate.

For those who have never seen the movie, it is about a guy who cannot handle the stress of his life, and frequently thinks of committing suicide. It becomes to the point that he ends up being admitted into the psychiatric ward.

I do want to tread lightly on this subject, just because the author, Ned Vizzini, did commit suicide in 2013.

From the looks of it, I am sure that this was filmed in an actual psychiatric ward. Though I’ve never to any part of a hospital outside of the psych ward, I’m sure its setting is similar to every other part of the hospital for the most part.

There’s a kitchen, a recreational room, bathroom, shower, laundry room, etc.—all things necessary for temporary living. There are groups that help past the time and allow for us patients to learn something new. For the time I was in the adolescent unit, there was also a small school there where we could catch up on work we were behind on. Furthermore we would come together in the evenings to play board games or watch TV together. I think one of my “happier” memories in the psychiatric unit is just making tea with the other patients, eating cookies and just chatting.

While the movie is fairly accurate, it seemed a little naive, which I believe is because he was only there for 5 days. I guess my issue was the scene he mentioned he was scared of the “schizophrenics and sociopaths”. I understand his point of view, because it was mine before I was diagnosed. However, it is annoying as it just perpetuates an already existent stigma.

My View of the Psychiatric Ward and Conclusions

All in all, I see the psych ward as a place to live, temporarily, until I feel better. In “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”, one of the patients calls the psych ward a “vacation”, and in some regards I can concur. There is free food, interesting groups, and all in all it is a cozy place.

Furthermore, I consider the psych ward a safe place, and would never ever be worried about being injured or frightened by another patient there.

However, before finishing this post I do want to mention one more thing that is not covered in "It's Kind of a Funny Story". My biggest gripe of hospitalization is that over time the patients that you became friends with get discharged and overtime life just starts to feel lonely. In his case, in this movie, he made new friends, but in my case the constant discharge of other patients just made me feel lonely. Coupled with the fact my hallucinations and delusions would typically tell me to isolate myself made it an especially unbearable time.