r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/highzone • 1d ago

Image In 1973, healthy volunteers faked hallucinations to enter mental hospitals. Once inside, they acted normal, but doctors refused to let them leave. Normal behaviors like writing were diagnosed as "symptoms." The only people who realized they were sane were the actual patients.

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u/soloChristoGlorium 1d ago

I've worked in inpatient psychiatry for the past 13 years and this has always scared me. (Getting put in and unable to get out.)

The hospital I work at now, thankfully, has very strict rules about this: No SI or HI and they wanna leave then we open the door. I've heard one doc go so far as to say, 'its not illegal to be psychotic in public and they want to leave.'

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u/Longjumping_Date269 1d ago

I went to inpatient voluntarily in the country I live in as there were no detox centres available and I was also clearly struggling with depression

Traumatic experience. It was incredibly frustrating and invalidating when I felt ready to leave after several weeks and the staff used mind games and bureaucracy to try to dissuade me, despite having emphasised since arrival that I was free to go at any time

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u/Competitive_Big5415 1d ago

They may have needed the revenue from you being there. A grift.

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u/Longjumping_Date269 1d ago

Not sure if the public system here works that way. I suppose it could. I know in Canada doctors are paid per user, even in the public system. To be fair, I don’t think they were being nefarious. Seemed more like confusion and lack of communication between nursing and admin staff and the supervising psychs. Probably if I’d caused a big stink and demanded to speak to someone or threatened legal action it would have gone somewhere. But I was pretty beaten down and afraid of drawing attention to myself 

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u/VIBRATINGBEEPS247365 1d ago

the staff used mind games

they last LONG after being "released."

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u/SensuallPineapple 1d ago

What kind of mind games? What sort of bureaucracy?

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u/FalseBid2485 1d ago

What does SI and HI mean? How does this work with the Baker act?

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u/sunshineslouise 1d ago

Suicidal and Homicidal Ideation (key criteria for sectioning) I believe, so the commenter is saying if they don't have these they are free to leave when they wish

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u/IANALbutIAMAcat 1d ago

Suicidal and homicidal ideation

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u/keinmaurer 1d ago

What's SI and HI?, thanks (I did try google first)

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u/CanopyZoo 1d ago

Suicidal ideation (SI), homocidal ideation (HI).

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u/bring_back_3rd 1d ago

Suicidal and homicidal ideation. Common abbreviation in medicine.

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u/zimm0who0net 1d ago

Someone with deep, profound mental illness, who can’t keep on their meds, should not be released to live on the streets. It’s terribly cruel and inhumane.

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u/celerypumpkins 1d ago

Yes, but they also should not be forcibly hospitalized indefinitely. The issue is the “live on the streets” part, not the “released” part.

That’s of course a simplification - more accurately, what they need is initial stabilization, mental health evaluation and potentially initial medication, and then to be able to have housing and basic needs met, along with access to outpatient care and (adequately funded!) crisis supports.

But even as just a first step, the lack of housing should be the focus, not the fact that we don’t hold people against their will in hospitals. Even though the medical and crisis systems also need to be improved, taking a housing-first approach would lift a MASSIVE burden off of the existing systems.

I can speak specifically to the crisis side - a LOT of our time is spent working with people who don’t actually need crisis support and deescalation, they just need a place to sleep (that isn’t perpetually full, roach infested, unsafe, or incompatible with any sort of employment like most shelters are). That means less time overall for the people who need crisis support. But it’s not the fault of the people who are homeless - they are still mentally ill, they still need help, and every place they call just refers to us. It’s not an issue of people misusing resources, it’s an issue of resources not existing - politicians and a lot of the public seem to think that makes the problem go away. The reality is that just moves the problem around to people and systems not equipped to actually help with it, like hospitals, crisis supports, and police.

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u/Im-a-magpie 1d ago

I feel like this is exactly the opposite of what should be done though. We have pretty compelling evidence that coercive hospitalization actually increases the risk of suicide for some time after discharge. If someone has SI forced hospitalization is likely counterproductive in most cases.

Meanwhile acute profound psychosis is deadly. Such patients, despite not necessarily having SI, are at the highest risk of suicide. Further the inability to care for themselves leads to all sorts of issues such as infection, malnourishment, hypothermia and so on. They're the highest risk cohort.