Life In A Canadian Mental Institution

This post is about various things that can happen to you in my state/province.  Laws may vary by country and state but I urge anyone to look into their laws before they get professional  help.  Had I known many of the things I am about to tell you I most likely would not have gone to any so-called "professional" for help.  This is not to say you shouldn't go to a professional. You definitely should, especially if you are in crisis.  However, this is just to say to be careful what you tell them. I live in Canada and these are the consequences you can suffer if you go for professional help.... 1)  If you are ever suicidal and the police take you to the hospital they will note the suicidal visit on any future police clearance.  They are called "relevant occurrence reports".  Try to get a job, a volunteer position or a practicum with that now.  This note stays on your clearance for 25yr and there is no official way to remove it even i...

I wanted to talk a bit about Invisible illnesses.  Myself, I have invisible illnesses and most ppl just assume when they see me that I am not disabled.  My invisible conditions are as follows.... 1)  Epilepsy...I had seizures most of my life until age 27 when I underwent brain surgery for them.  That left me with short-term memory issues.  Those memory issues make learning a new job or skill difficult. 2)  I use to have a scoliosis and suffered chronic pain and insomnia for years from it.  The scoliosis is no more and I no longer suffer pain from it.  The insomnia however still happens at times.  Try working at 9am when u have slept 1hr the whole night.  Very difficult. 3) I also have swallowing issues as well and live on a pureed diet.  Some days it can take me 1hr to drink 1 cup of fluid.  It takes my whole day to get the 8 cups of fluid I need to sustain myself each day and live. You cannot sit and try to drink f...

Ok...so what kinds of activities can you expect from a Canadian mental institution?  The pictures below show our recreation calander and activites available on any given day.  The place names have been whited out.  Most of the time you only see a few people at each activity.  The odd time you may have alot (10 or more people).  I personally do not enjoy many of the activities as a grown middle-aged woman.  Alot of them are things i did as a young child such as coloring or puttting on a movie.  I also find that the place I live at does not spend alot on its activities for its residents.   They always have things like puzzles to do, books to read, the piano is on the main floor and they have some computers on main too but no printer. If you are not into reading, puzzles or do not play piano and do not have a source of money to buy your own things or go out this is basically what you will have to choose from to do activity wise.  What do yo...

  There was a period where I was subjected to ECT (Electro-convulsive therapy) against my will in the hospital.   Doctors also forced me to take pills as well.  I got sick of taking them and actually got good at pocketing them in my mouth and drinking without them noticing that I never took them.  After months of this the drs did do a blood test on me.  I refused that day and took the pills that night and did the blood test the next day.  Eventually I did tell them I never took hem and I guess they never tried to give them to me again.   One time I was tired of being subjected to ECT therapy and I was in the hospital in one of those high security rooms.  I had margarine I had saved in my room from meal times.  I striped down all my clothing and slathered margarine all over my body and climbed the ledge by the window and stood there for 30min.  When the staff came to get me for ect they called security but noone did anything bc ...

 This next post is to let you know what you might expect if you end up in a psychiatric facility..... The staff at the facility purposely try to provoke negative behavior out of their residents.  I have two examples. First myself.... I have asked the staff over and over to not knock on my door or turn on my call bell in my room (which they can do from the desk).  I have a huge sign in front of my room saying not to knock or talk to me if the door is closed and they still do.  I started writing down how often it happens and made this log, most of which are them coming to my room or turning on my.call.bell by accident (below). Remember that most of these staff are college educated at minimum.  I dont think that they are as stupid as they act.  After i stopped reacting they stopped turning on my call bell and comign to my room. Similarly there was another resident i told this to thst they were trying to provoke them.  He stopped reacting and then the staf...

 Let's say that you are deemed a danger to yourself or others and the facility or a loved one or someone else call 911 and you get taken to the hospital.  What is it that you can expect? 1) Well for starters you will be stripped down and all your clothing removed (except for underwear. You will have a hospital gown and that is it. 2) You will be placed in a room with only a mattress (sometimes no bed frame and just the mattress on the floor) 3) You will be locked in a small room with no windows or a very, very thin window and have magnetic locks on the door.  There is no going out. 4)  The bathroom is a separate room. With just a toilet and sink and most of the rooms you are in will not have a call bell and it will be at the discretion of staff to let you out to relieve yourself when they want.  Banging on ur door does not work to get staff attention as this is a common occurrence in the er and most nurses ignore you because of that. 5) There are usually 3 or 4 ...