1) Mental hospitals are more like dramas/comedies than horror
films. When people think of psych wards they think of criminally
insane people rocking back and forth, talking to their imaginary
friends and throwing chairs. Don't get me wrong, there's some of
those. But most of us just do word searches, color, joke about
serious things.
2) We aren't monsters, we are your brothers, your daughters, your
mother, your co-worker we are just regular people who have lost
our way and need some help finding the path again
3) I am closer to people I knew for 2 weeks than I will ever be with
anyone on the outside. Yes we all call it the outside
4) Sometimes talking to people who understand what you're going
through is more therapeutic than the actual therapy groups. This
is not to say that the doctors there are crap it is just to say that no
matter how much they read and listen they will never truly
understand what it feels like unless they have been there and we
can tell who has been there, they go the extra mile to make us
feel like people
5) It's not a vacation, it's not fun, it's not an escape from the real
world. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. It is work.
6) Everyone in there is a person in unbearable pain but it isn't just a
bunch of people sitting around crying. We go from group to
group and then color and go to bed nothing about it is really fun
but you get used to it
7) The mental hospital is like a camp for empty people, just like a
band camp we can all relate to each other and makes you feel
less alone
8) Getting discharged it a great feeling because you are free, but it
is also completely terrifying, in the hospital it's safe, people get it,
there is always someone to talk to and now you're all alone
9) Just because I've spent 7 and a half weeks in a mental hospital
over 2 stays doesn't mean I am fixed there is no cure for my
illnesses and that's just the way it is
10) We are not who you think, the kindest people I've ever met
were also the ones hurting the most.
