Drug-free Mental Health inpatient treatment?

[turil.livejournal.com]

I just called the Cambridge Health Alliance Mental Health emergency services and wanted to check myself in. Before I went in, I wanted to be assured that they wouldn't drug me without my consent. The woman said that she could not "arbitrarily" assure me of that, got angry with me, and actually hung up on me while I was crying. (Seriously.)

So I'm kind of in need of finding some place local that doesn't drug people without consent, and that might have some staff that don't actively try to be mean to depressed individuals looking for help...

Any suggestions?

I also don't have any health insurance or money.

(No, I'm not officially suicidal yet, but I'd rather get this taken care of before that happens, you know?)

Comments

[recoiling.livejournal.com]

No hospital, no doctor, would accept just anyone off the street, no matter how out-of-control, floridly psychotic, without the recourse of being able to quickly administer medication without either permission or court order...If you walk into an ER, and they believe you have an impaired ability to make decisions, they will treat first and ask questions later.

i just want to say that's not exactly true- while human rights for psych patients do completely suck, i was just inpatient at mclean during a manic episode after a suicide attempt and i successfully refused everything [antidepressants and antipsychotics] but benadryl for sleep for the entire week. as craptastic and human-rights-abusing as hospitals can be, the situation is not nearly as "one flew over the cuckoo's nest"-esque as it once was- at least not in massachusetts. this is due to the extreme hard work and dedication of patient's rights groups such as M-POWER [www.m-power.org/]- (not NAMI though as they strongly support pro-forced medicating and hospitalizing.)

[siderea]

i just want to say that's not exactly true- while human rights for psych patients do completely suck, i was just inpatient at mclean during a manic episode after a suicide attempt and i successfully refused everything [antidepressants and antipsychotics] but benadryl for sleep for the entire week.

Sure. But it was at their discretion. I wasn't saying they would do anything to one against one's will, just that they're always going to have that option. And that's the point: nobody will make the guarantee the OP was asking for, and for a very good reason.

[recoiling.livejournal.com]

And that's the point: nobody will make the guarantee the OP was asking for, and for a very good reason.

very much agreed- however, i wouldn't want the OP to be scared off if they were in extreme need of a physically safe place. i'm not advocating admission- i just personally feel that potential psych abuse is better than suicide, no matter how horrible a choice it is to make. also, i've never heard of a hospital in massachustts forcibly medicating an adult whose chief symptoms are depression and suicidality. [children & teenagers on the other hand, are a different story]

in short, hospitals are horrible places, but in general, people who do not display overt traditionally "psychotic" symptoms don't need to be afraid of being forcibly medicated or locked up against their will for long periods of time- unless they are actively pursuing self-harm. the OP appears to be someone who'd be able to keep themself from attempting that sort of thing while in an ER or on a psych ward. they only really force fast-acting medication such as haldol and thorazine. anti-depressants very rarely get forced on their own because the person will most likely be discharged long before they feel any effect, if any.

[siderea]

Agreed, completely.