Comments | little_details: Information on Either Rehabs or Mental Institutions

draugwen in little_details

Information on Either Rehabs or Mental Institutions

May 15, 2011 13:18

I'm requiring some sort of mental institution for the first act of a story. My searching hasn't gone well, but I believe I'm looking in the wrong places. I've searched google and wikipedia for mental institutions, sanitariums, drug rehabs, and the mental health system ( Read more... )

~psychology & psychiatry: institutions

Comments 4

mutive May 17 2011, 00:48:45 UTC

Yes. All sorts of mental hospitals allow for extended stays without being involuntarily committed ( ... )

slashmarks May 17 2011, 01:02:18 UTC

There are certainly hospitals you can stay at and check yourself out. Search "longterm voluntary imnpatient" or some combination thereof.

comrade_cat May 17 2011, 02:00:15 UTC

You can check yourself out of a psych hospital, but only if you are not classed as an involuntary patient. In New York state, at least, you are classed as an involuntary patient (not sure the term is exactly right) if you are brought in by the police/mobile crisis after a health and wellness check, *even if* you or your psychologist (with your consent) called the police/mobile crisis ( ... )

dulcineah1 May 17 2011, 20:21:46 UTC

AFAIK, the term 'mental institution' isn't used anymore, and can be considered offensive, so 'psychiatric hospital' or the like would be a better phrase to use. I used to work at one of these facilities, and for patients to be admitted, they needed to pose a danger to themselves or others. This particular hospital was for children/adolescents/young adults up to age 21, and the vast majority of patients that came in were there either for suicide attempts/other self-harming behavior or for assaulting parents/siblings/group home staff. How long they stayed varied--most stays were brief, a week or so, since the insurance companies didn't want to pay for lengthy hospitalizations, and hospital staff had to contact them every few days and give patient updates in order to get authorization for the patients to stay longer. I think the easiest way for your MC to have a lengthy stay is if s/he (I'm assuming this is an adult) was wealthy and paying out of pocket for treatment, or had a friend or relative paying for him/her.