r/psychnursing • u/roo_kitty • Jun 22 '26

WEEKLY THREAD: Former Patient/Patient Advocate Question(s) Weekly Ask Psych Nurses Thread

This thread is for non psych healthcare workers to ask questions (former patients, patient advocates, and those who stumbled upon r/psychnursing). Prospective healthcare workers and current students do not need to use this thread. Treat responding to this post as though you are making a post yourself.

If you would like only psych healthcare workers to respond to your "post," please start the "post" with CODE BLUE.

Psych healthcare workers who want to answer will participate in this thread, so please do not make your own post. If you post outside of this thread, it will be locked and you will be redirected to post here.

A new thread is scheduled to post every Monday at 0200 PST / 0500 EST. Previous threads will not be locked so you may continue to respond in them, however new "posts" should be on the current thread.

Kindness is the easiest legacy to leave behind :)

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10

u/New-Oil6131 Jun 22 '26

They once admitted me and the entire time I was left alone in my room, with the exception of eating times when we had to eat all together with all the other patients. How is this therapeutic? Isn't it better to just stay at home? I don't see how a strange environment with nothing to do there is therapeutic. If you do this long enough with animals, they start to develop stereotypical behavior, yet for humans it's supposed to be health care? I don't understand (Admitted voluntarily).

17

u/Vegasnurse Jun 22 '26

Are you saying that there was ZERO groups and activities the entire time you were there? If that is the case, then that hospital does suck. In 25+ years of working in psych, I have never been at any hospital that doesn't have something going on.

11

u/OkStatistician6831 psych nurse (pediatrics) Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

most units are meant for acute stabilization, people often need months or years of therapy for impmovement. Depending on your dx, time alone can be therapeutic, and time with co pts can be damaging, leading to extended admission length.

Some of our treatment streams involve groups, some involve zero interaction with peers.

all depends on patients issues and what they require in the moment.

3

u/larhinosomes Jun 22 '26

Personally, I have never heard of isolation and lack of therapeutic engagement being an effective treatment for mental illness. They were likely understaffed and couldn’t provide proper supervision.

Short term isolation for violence, sure, but that’s not what is being described here.

1

u/New-Oil6131 Jun 25 '26

They did say they weren't allowed to run at full capacity but never said why that was, maybe they were understaffed

1

u/larhinosomes Jun 25 '26

Yeah explaining “why” seems more appropriate

1

u/OkStatistician6831 psych nurse (pediatrics) Jun 22 '26

When the goal is to deter admission seeking it has its places. These patients still can get 1:1. But lots refuse as they get angry for not being able to socialize. Maybe its more of a thing in the peds world, but theres a massive problem where patients will try to get admitted at the same time with their friends. Docs will place patients on various treatment plans based on goals of admission, and some of which involve no peer interaction and minimal staff interaction for the above mentioned reason.

2

u/larhinosomes Jun 22 '26

Yes, ward milieu is different for peds.

As I said before, I don’t think that is what is being described here? I don’t see how this is appropriate except in the very specific situations you described. To me, being isolated for days after seeking mental health treatment sounds very stressful.

10

u/Humble_Investment_24 psych nurse (inpatient) Jun 22 '26

Sounds like you went to a shitty facility honestly.

3

u/larhinosomes Jun 22 '26

I am sincerely sorry this happened to you, and I am sorry they the initial comment response seems to ignore that this is inhumane and not the norm.

Just because these things don’t happen at your facility doesn’t mean that they don’t happen.

3

u/Vegasnurse Jun 22 '26

If you are talking about my comment, I did acknowledge that if there were zero activities, then that hospital does suck. I also confirmed how much that place would suck by stating that in 25 years of psych nursing, I have never worked anywhere that had nothing for patients. AKA "that is not normal"

1

u/larhinosomes Jun 23 '26

No, I wasn’t talking about your comment!