Attend Those Groups!
Aromatherapy. Addiction counseling. Art therapy. Leisure. Nutrition education. Medication management. These class like group therapy sessions offered by the psych wards are more or less the same and can sometimes be boring, but your future release date really depends in your attendance. Rule of thumb is the more you participate the sooner you get out. Going to groups show the doctor that you are alert, functioning, and motivated to take an active role in your recovery. And if the group is just the same regurgitated information spun in a different way you could always daydream or doodle or pass notes with your friend while you're there.
"Hello, This is She"
Girl, interrupted...by the dingaling of the beautiful much missed outside world. Most psychiatric facilities have a telephone that is open to use by the patients from morning to night. This commodity is one of the best forms of escape and also enables you to stay grounded in your personal relationships. However, there might be long lines for it which is difficult or an irritatingly short phone call limit. Just take advantage of your link to your friends and relatives and make the best of it!
Rejoice in SMOKE BREAK *inhale exhale*
That ignition of your cigarette and savoring those long drags until it's done. That nicotine rush reorganizing your brain and toggling the associations of being in the real world and not locked up. The priceless exaltation of the suns waves beating down on your head. Go on a walk and smell the roses, literally, if they have any. The daily outdoors breaks offered at psych wards feel so freeing in such a claustophic atmosphere.
Book Club, Anyone?
Psych wards in all their quietness and unease always motivate me to catch up on my reading. There is often absolutely nothing better to do than getting lost in a good book and in a way this is a good thing. Psych wards might have a library, whether a mini one on wheels or book shelves but they definitely will have some kind of novel. You can also ask a friend or relative to bring books of your choosing when they visit and books are among the few things from home they'll actually allow you to have.
Crazy People Are The Best People
In a way a psychiatric ward is like the zombie apocalypse and the fellow patients are the lone survivors of the ruins that is North America. You see the same faces every day so might as well get to know them and delve into their inner world's. Many people share the same illness or destructive behavioral patterns and sharing personal stories is incredibly cathartic and therapeutic with someone who actually understands. Also these people are very friendly and kind because they have hit rock bottom and just want to climb back up. They also know pain and what you have been through and the challenges you've faced more than the average person. There is so much to learn from other people and their respective illnesses. Trying to accept their worldview will illuminate a very different perspective from the norm and will teach you a whole different way of experiencing life. Additionally if you get close to anyone those people are the best people to call if you ever go though a crisis again because they are the least judgemental and the least likely to think you are being a burden.
Tips for getting out: appreciate the freedomyou feel as the wind zings your ears and you are no longer confined, and know that the world is your oyster, friend.
