- Hey everyone.
So in today's video,
we are going to be learning how to smooth talk your way
out of a psychiatric hospital admission.
I am going to be sharing my story about that,
but actually the point of this video
is going to be more about how it's actually not a good idea.
And so stick around to the end to find out why that is.
So once upon a time ago,
this is actually part of a larger story
of my hospitalization back in 2016,
but I'm gonna pick it up around the place
where police showed up to take me to the hospital
in the middle of the night from my mom's house.
They showed up middle of the night and said,
you have to come with us, you're coming to the hospital.
So very, very reluctantly.
I said, fine, if I must.
And what kind of happened is we got to the hospital
and I eventually saw a psychiatrist
and I did my very, very best to present as well
and composed and articulate
and competent and together as I possibly could.
This is not how I was actually doing on the inside,
I was kind of a mess
in the midst of a very deep psychotic episode,
but I was able to kind of pretend my way
into tricking the psychiatrist
to thinking that I was really stable
and the good frame of mind.
And I was using a lot of kind of manipulative behavior
in terms of being like, I have no idea
why my psychiatrist asked the police to take me here.
I have no idea what behaviors I was exhibiting,
I have no idea what made them think that
because I feel really good and I feel really stable.
And so kind of putting on this demeanor and facade
eventually kind of led
the psychiatrist in the hospital to be like,
well, I don't really know why you're here either.
And it eventually ended up with him being like,
I'm sorry this happened and you can go home.
When this happened, I was quite pleased with myself
because hey, cool, I just smooth talked
my way out of a psychiatric hospital admission,
which I have not loved in the past.
You know, well documented,
I have experienced traumas from these sorts of things.
And so I was pretty pleased with myself
that I got out of another hospital state.
But that didn't really address
any of the problems that I was experiencing.
You know, I was still in the midst of a
pretty intense psychotic episode.
And so it inevitably got worse
and I became more unstable and I ended up,
I don't even know why, but I thought it was a good idea
to go back to my psychiatrist's office the next morning
and just kind of camp out in my car.
And so one of his nurses recognized me in my car
and let him know.
And so he came out and was like,
oh, can you come talk to me in my office, Lauren?
And by that point,
he had already called the cops on me again,
and they were on their way.
And so they showed up, put me in handcuffs,
quite a traumatic ordeal again,
and ended up taking me to the hospital anyway,
and this time I was formed by my psychiatrist
so there was no chance for me to smooth talk my way out.
So why am I sharing this story
about how I smooth talked my way
out of a psychiatric hospital admission,
the first time, not the second time?
I think that,
I mentioned I've experienced a lot of trauma with hospitals,
and I think that people often get stuck in this kind of
hostile engagement between themselves as a patient
and the mental healthcare system.
And it creates this really,
again, hostile and confrontational
or ultimately just unhelpful dynamic between the patient
trying to access help within the hospital system.
I fell into this very deeply and I saw the hospital
and the people working at the hospital as my enemy
and someone who was trying to lock me up,
medicate me into oblivion
and control me in a really negative way.
And so that's kind of the narrative that I was experiencing
when I made the decision
to try to talk my way out of the hospital admission.
I think it's really important to try to
not fall into this narrative in your own mind
and try to see the hospital
and the medical system in general
as kind of more of a tool to help you
on your path to feeling well again, and to feeling stable.
Another reason it was kind of silly to do this
is because I ended up going to the hospital anyway
and all talking my way out of it the first time
really ended up doing was prolong my suffering.
I stayed on in an unhelped state and situation
for longer than I really needed to.
It wasn't a good time, the time in between,
I was in a bad place and it wasn't a good time anyway,
but then that time between when I left the hospital
and I got sent back to the hospital
was a really difficult period
and really difficult to manage.
And ultimately it just really didn't serve me
to not accept help the first time it was kind of offered.
I think also ultimately my own actions
created a sense of isolation and feeling alone.
And like, there was no hope in being helped
because I kind of denied myself the opportunity
for help and care in the hospital
by talking my way out of it.
Something else that I've actually learned more recently
is that many, many mental healthcare providers
understand that the hospital
is generally a traumatic experience for patients,
mental health patients.
It's their goal too, to keep you out of the hospital.
And so I've really learned that
being more open and honest with my medical care team
and being more receptive, I guess,
to accepting care and support has really gone a long way
in terms of having the shared goal
of creating wellness with myself
and staying out of the hospital.
There really was no point in
kind of talking my way out of these services.
I should have just been more upfront and honest
and receptive to help in the first place.
So that's my story
of how I smooth talked my way out of a hospital's admission.
And I think ultimately the moral here is that,
you know, it is possible,
it is possible to evade hospital admission like this
by talking your way out of it
and by kind of manipulating the people
who are trying to care for you into believing that
you don't need their services.
But I think the point that I'm trying to make here is that
it's really only harming yourself
if you choose to evade this kind of support and care
and services like that.
It's just not in your best interest.
When I lied to the doctor about,
you know, I'm doing really well.
I thought I was being very, very clever,
but honestly I think all this really did was prove that,
that doctor wanted to trust me
and wanted to work with me,
and so they did, they trusted me
and they sent me home because I was telling them
that I was well and I didn't need help.
I think that that's probably
an important thing to focus on as well.
They are there to help you, they are there to support you.
It is not the situation
where they wanna just lock you up indefinitely.
The ultimate goal here is to increase your wellness
and bring you to a place of stability.
So I hope you found this video helpful.
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But thank you so much for watching
and as always wishing you and your loved ones, good health.
See you in the next video.
Bye.