| Essay Non-Fiction posted November 13, 2017 |
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True personal story
Ever Felt You Were In Prison
by patcelaw
Have you ever felt like you were imprisoned, and yet committed no crime? Well that is how I felt the last time I had to be in the mental health hospital to deal with a deep depression. I walked in following a worker with keys. She showed me to the room I would be staying in for the duration of my stay, as doctors regulated the medicine I needed to deal with the throes of depression.
So far it does not sound to bad, right? Well it did not take long for me to feel like I was a criminal.
In the room I had there was a toilet and shower. When you think of a toilet you think a commode with a ring over the porcelain, right? This was not the case with this toilet. It was a stainless steel toilet with no ring on which to put your bottom. That's right just a cold stainless steel toilet.
Now imagine the room being air conditioned and the temperature is close to 65 degrees. That was the case in this room. When I had to pee, so sitting on the cold stainless steel was shocking. I could not do what I needed to do, until I sat on the steel for several minutes, while my body heat began to warm things to a more comfortable condition.
Then it was time to shower and no matter how long you let the water run, it never got warm. To take a cold shower is not my idea of a thing you would do to someone who had committed no crime at all.
Once dressed for the day, you were led from one area to the next, with doors having to be opened with keys, by those who carried the keys.
I have heard it said, the difference between the worker and the patients in a mental hospitals is, the workers carry the keys.
You are led to everything you have to do like a bunch of lemmings coming to a cliff.
There is sadly, so much we still need to learn about caring for those who suffer from any mental illness. Things do need to change so those people are not treated like criminals, when they have not committed any criminal act.
-Patricia Lawrence
11-13-17
Have you ever felt like you were imprisoned, and yet committed no crime? Well that is how I felt the last time I had to be in the mental health hospital to deal with a deep depression. I walked in following a worker with keys. She showed me to the room I would be staying in for the duration of my stay, as doctors regulated the medicine I needed to deal with the throes of depression.
So far it does not sound to bad, right? Well it did not take long for me to feel like I was a criminal.
In the room I had there was a toilet and shower. When you think of a toilet you think a commode with a ring over the porcelain, right? This was not the case with this toilet. It was a stainless steel toilet with no ring on which to put your bottom. That's right just a cold stainless steel toilet.
Now imagine the room being air conditioned and the temperature is close to 65 degrees. That was the case in this room. When I had to pee, so sitting on the cold stainless steel was shocking. I could not do what I needed to do, until I sat on the steel for several minutes, while my body heat began to warm things to a more comfortable condition.
Then it was time to shower and no matter how long you let the water run, it never got warm. To take a cold shower is not my idea of a thing you would do to someone who had committed no crime at all.
Once dressed for the day, you were led from one area to the next, with doors having to be opened with keys, by those who carried the keys.
I have heard it said, the difference between the worker and the patients in a mental hospitals is, the workers carry the keys.
You are led to everything you have to do like a bunch of lemmings coming to a cliff.
There is sadly, so much we still need to learn about caring for those who suffer from any mental illness. Things do need to change so those people are not treated like criminals, when they have not committed any criminal act.
-Patricia Lawrence
11-13-17
 Recognized |
This was a horrible 4 days I spent in this hospital and I shall never return no matter how bad the depression becomes. I worked in a mental hospital right after I graduated from high school and we treated the patients with far more dignity than I was treated with in this hospital stay.
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