I wanna represent it right, whether that be good or bad or somewhere in between. I've ended up on the psychiatric ward side of TikTok but of course you can't trust everything there, especially considering people could fake things easily. Any knowledge or sources, hell even blogs to look at from people's experiences would be helpful. If you could make it specifically PTSD related even better!
Aaaaah I wish I would help but I don't have ptsd ;_;
Have you tried looking on websites other than tiktok? If not I can give a few articles
Here are some:
https://patient.info/news-and-features/ptsd-symptoms
Here's a Quora question that could be related to yours
https://www.quora.com/Could-being-restrained-in-a-psych-ward-cause-PTSD
Here are articles related to being in a mental health hospital
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hospital-stay-can-trigger-ptsd/
https://www.psycom.net/psychiatric-hospitalization-admitting-to-psychiatric-ward/
https://www.psycom.net/what-a-psychiatric-ward-is-really-like^
I hope these can help!! Just know that not everyone's experience is the same, but try to do as much research as possible and apply that to your character, their personality and their experience!! I wish you luck and I'm sorry I couldn't help more!
I hope these can help!! Just know that not everyone's experience is the same, but try to do as much research as possible and apply that to your character, their personality and their experience!! I wish you luck and I'm sorry I couldn't help more!
Holy hell these are so useful! Definitely gotten me on the right track of researching psychiatric wards, and more real-life experiences of PTSdD!
Thank you so much bestie
I'm glad to help!!
I've never really gotten a clear answer as to whether I have PTSD or not, but I can tell you some of the things I experienced and maybe it will help?
When I was 12 I was diagnosed with a chronic illness and my life when completely off the rails. One of the medications they put me on made me really sick and I couldn't eat, I lost a dangerous amount of weight and developed an adverse eating disorder, paired is extreme emetaphobia which I still suffer with
PTSD(?) for me was refusals to eat and becoming very panicky and distressed when I was forced to eat. It was feeling sick all day everyday when nothing was wrong with me. It was staying awake all night listening to the sounds outside my bedroom in fear someone was throwing up. It was wearing masks everywhere I went (pre covid) because if there was a chance someone might give me something I had to do everything in my power to prevent it. The sounds of gagging and retching in movies sent me spiralling and it would take me hours to feel okay after it. I sometimes still lie in bed at night and convince myself that I'm sick even though everything was fine a few minutes ago. Every so often I'll have a flash of what it felt like waking up from my first seizure and it terrifies me.
Idk, all of this might just be my OCD, but I thought I'd share, maybe something can help.
As for the mental health wards, I was on and ED ward for about 4 days (unrelated to my ED they just ran out of room on the other wards lol) and I have to say i was probably my least favourite ward I've been on.
I remember their room was across from mine, 4 girls stayed in one giant room, they were all long term so they had practically moved in, they had their quilts and pillows from their bedroom, they had artwork pinned up on the walls and the such. I do a lot of hospital writing and when I have a longboat character that's something I always like to add, they have to move their whole lives to the hospital so their rooms become decorated like its their bedroom at home.
I remember the big room at the end of the hall, it had a lounge, a air hockey table, a mounted TV and a long table in the right side of the room. Every breakfast lunch and dinner the girls would leave their rooms and all sit around the big table. The nurses made the roll up their selves so they couldn't hide food up them, and they watched over them like hawks. I never ate with them, I just sometimes went to the room to play air hockey alone, but it was pretty harrowing sight, they looked like ghosts, some with feeding tubes and some in wheelchairs and stuff, freaky.
Anyway I have plenty o hospital stories so if you need any more I'd be happy to share! Hope this helps!
Oh psychiatric wards are mostly terrible. Of course it depends on where you go. But from my experience, its bad. Luckily i met some good people there but still. Its even MORE like prison.
In two words: it sucks.
There is little to no agency