stinerman

These are my experiences in Ohio in a privately-run in-patient hospital. I had two stays of about 6 days each.

1. No cell phones or electronics of any kind.
2. You can call family at designated times on a landline.
3. All of your belongings will be itemized when you arrive. All clothing with laces will either be locked up or you will be required to remove the laces from them before you can use them. Yes including shoes. Best to bring slippers. Everyone wore slippers.
4. There will be lots of programming from the staff there. Tons of group therapy. Art therapy. Music therapy. Sometimes the therapy dog would come around.
5. You will be very bored unless you do something. Bring a book. Bring some playing cards. Be prepared to do a lot of drawing if that’s your thing.
6. You will also talk a lot to your fellow travelers. It will be weird because you will know the most intimate secrets and biggest fears of complete strangers.

The time is for you to get better and figure out what is triggering your mental health issues. The most important thing to remember is that you will probably never be 100% “fixed”, but you can learn to live with your condition.

I told my psychiatrist that the most depressing thing in the world is that I’ll never be done with laundry. She lingered for a beat and then said…“yeah…”

And Slackware is no clothes at all.