Let’s talk about what it’s like to be hospitalized in a mental health unit.

First, to even be referred, you must be having serious difficulty. Perhaps you plan to take your own life. Or you’ve already tried.

What happens when you enter inpatient treatment? Below is one scenario. It is not meant to be representative. Nor is it rare.

You wait for a bed. Perhaps you’re in the emergency room or in a psychiatric holding area. It could be hours, even days. Rarely does someone have time to sit with you while you wait. These are holding areas with limited staff.

You typically do not have family with you. Remember during COVID, how badly we felt for people in an emergency room or in a hospital without their families? That’s how it is for people with mental health issues much of the time.

Once you’re admitted, you are unlikely to receive intensive one-on-one therapy. The chances of you getting this are, in fact, slim, unless you are placed in a psychiatric hospital set up for it. That takes additional staff and is typically not available. You don’t get to choose where you go.

Most of the time, you receive group therapy. You may be in a room with people who have problems that look nothing like yours. It may be exceedingly difficult to deliver effectively, depending on who is delivering it.

You are not separated by diagnosis. The facilities aren’t available. You may be in a unit because you are depressed and sharing a room or a hall with someone who has a psychotic episode.

You are also locked in. This is stressful, and for some, it is terrifying.

You are receiving medication, which may or may not be immediately effective. There is no opportunity, if you are already taking medication and it’s not working, to take you off what you are on, let it leave your system, and start over.

That takes time and it’s unavailable. Your doctor is fighting with your insurance company which would like to discharge you as soon as possible.

If you want to decline the medication recommended, you may be afraid to. You may fear being deemed “non-compliant” and decide to be obedient.

I want you to imagine you are there: You waited and waited for treatment, possibly on the verge of suicide. You don’t have your family. You are not receiving regular individual therapy. Your roommate is combative. You are waiting for medicine to work. You are locked in. You feel powerless.

What would you do?

I’ll tell you what some people do.

They lie. They lie to get out. Or to not go in to begin with.

I want to return to who is in these units. Think for a moment about who ends up there.

Inpatient mental health units should provide effective treatment. At the very least, they should not create such psychological stress that someone would rather lie than be hospitalized.