Has anyone got personal experiences of forcible hospitalisation for mental health reasons?

Question

Assuming the patient is sane but nonetheless threatened by the Men in white coats what are effective and legal ways of avoiding such detention?(Without harming anybody)

Answer 1

I found just going with the flow okay. They're professional, and approaching them in a friendly sort of manner is/was my way forward.

Answer 2

I like to think i'm sane but have been detained under section 136 which is where the police can forcibly take you to a place of safety and keep you there until you've seen the "people in white coats". Ended up in hospital where i couldn't even use the loo alone. I've been lucky enough to be able to say the right thing and go home though. Avoiding detention? I guess if ya not in control then you can't if you are mentally ill. If you are in control then the least said the better or just blame it on drink like i did and just say you had an irrational moment and you intent on seeking help voluntarily.

Answer 3

If you are asking when a patient can and can't avoid hospitalisation under Section 28 (England and Wales).

If a patient displays a serious intention to harm himself, such as by attempting suicide, a section is in order. If an attempted suicide leaves a suicide note then a section is unavoidable, and if he refuses treatment then the ambulance crew can seek police assistance to get the patient to hospital.

Under section 28 mental health act patients are just that, patients, not prisoners. A patient who absconds a secure hospital after being sectioned may be brought back to secure accommodation if they are found within 28 days. If they are not found inside 28 days, the hospital must accept that someone capable of looking after himself for this amount of time is not in need of secure mental healthcare accommodation, and they cannot pursue the patient after this time has elapsed.

Whether a patient gets sectioned or not depends largely on location. An attempted suicide here in Wigan would most likely go home with bandaged wrists. An attempted suicide in neighbouring Warrington would most likely go to Winwick hospital for a month or two.

Answer 4

I have perhaps had to personally section only about 10 patients in a 30 year career, and most of these were while working for the emergancy out of hours service, covering vast areas, rather than my own practice patients. It is a rare occurrence, only resorted to when there are no other possible choices and then only of course when the patient is either at risk to themselves or to others. On none of those occasions could anyone have possibly have assumed that the patient was sane, which is the whole point of the compulsory detention.

Answer 5

It has been my experience that there won't be men with white coats if a person is reasonably sane. No one goes into a mental hospital unless they are admitted by either one or sometimes two psychiatrists. It is just as difficult in getting into one of these places as getting out. Forceful hospitalization is at times necessary if a patient is acting peculiarly and can injure himself/herself or others. However, as I said before, the police or someone from the family cannot admit this person to an institution unless a doctor with the proper credentials says it is OK.

Answer 6

To be sectioned you have to be assessed as a danger to yourself and/or others. This assessment cannot just be on the opinion of one professional but at least two I think! I was forced into hospital when seriously suicidal and although I wasn't sectioned I was told I would be if I didn't agree to come in voluntarily. There is not a lot you can do at the time, but you can appeal to the mental health commission. I desperately didn't want to go in but nearly 10 years later I am well and happy (diagnosed with bipolar 5 years ago) and I am so glad that I'm alive!

Answer 7

Involuntary hospitalization is only done in Texas when the person is in danger of harming themselves or harming others. My younger brother quit taking his medication and was behaving in some very dangerous ways and believeing he was about to be handed a fortune. He was living in a vacated house by himself and had left a window open at my parents house when they went out on vacation and let himself in and called them.

I went to the Mental Health Agency and than I saw the judge. The judge only ordered a psychiatric examination. One factor was "living completely alone". I had to ID him, the police witnessed it and the Sheriff's deputy's ask him to cooperate and just go talk to the doctor. He went and he got more than one exam and he was held.

No men in white coats very nice and professional Sheriff's deputies. The police and law enforcement agencies deal with mentally ill people all the time.

It took a few more involuntary commitments. I hope he's not back sliding.

Answer 8

I have been sectioned and at the time there was nothing I could do to avoid it and I could not protest once I had been sectioned, until the time had elapsed and I had been assessed. Usually sectioning is a last resort, that is needed for the patients own safety or the safety of others, in my case it saved my life. If you want to avoid it you have to prove to experienced professionals that you are not a risk to yourself or others, but the best thing is to be honest with them as, at the end of the day, they are only there to help you. If you are sectioned for a length of time you can get legal help for the mental health act tribunals. If you need any more info please feel free to email me. Good luck.

Answer 9

"what's my first assembly going to be like with a psychiatrist? throughout your first bypass to, your psychiatrist will frequently make a radical assessment of your indications and the history of your issues as a manner to evaluate the aptitude reward of drugs as a scientific care option. he or she would be waiting to additionally ask approximately your loved ones history besides as any scientific issues from which you will go through. he or she would be waiting to then confer with you the advantages and downsides of drugs as a scientific care decision which includes ability element outcomes. you are able to then make an counseled decision approximately no be counted if or not you're able to wish to objective drugs." different psychological well-being care experts will do almost precisely the comparable. Therapists/psychologists will possibly not emphasize meds as plenty.

Answer 10

As a therapist, I have had to seek an emergency detention on one client who was acutely psychotic and a danger to herself and others. I'm not sure what exactly you are asking.