If you find this let me know with a 🐝 I stayed at a psych ward in 2019 and they definitely watched me sleep for the first few nights because I was line of sight or los. This meant someone had to keep me in their line of sight at all times and that included while I was sleeping. Psychiatric hospitals are wild. Also I have the bipolar type of schizoaffective disorder. Fun fun. Mental health awareness #schizoaffectivedisorder #bipolardisorder #mentalhealthawareness
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i was on a grippy sock vacation and a large male nurse woke up a small female patient by yelling at her in the middle of the night to move herself so that her backside was under the covers? she had clothes on, maybe there was a small amount of visible crack that offended him, but that behavior, especially in that context was so cruel. i was in there due to ptsd symptoms from trauma from a male abuser! what if she had been through that too, he didn't care... no respect for mental illness... not from that guy.
Hey, I work on a psych unit and was a floor tech for 5 years! I’m gonna add some details from the other side. We have 3 levels of observation. The most intensive is 1:1 (one-to-one) which means that one staff person is assigned to one patient, and y’all are going to be within arm’s reach of each other 24/7. This is usually for people who are immediately suicidal and have a plan that they can carry out while on the unit. This usually doesn’t last for more than a day or so because 1) that level of danger typically doesn’t last super long, and 2) it’s mad uncomfortable for **everybody** involved. Seriously. I don’t want to watch you poop as much as you don’t want me watching you poop. I don’t want to stand in the shower room with you. But I do want you alive, and that takes first priority. We don’t usually do this for people if they’re aggressive towards others, because being up someone’s ass all day usually makes them angrier, to nobody’s surprise. Second is LOS (line-of-sight). This means that the staff has to have an unobstructed view of the patient at all times, meaning not through a window or in a camera. We can still do other things and document on other people, but we gotta be in your general vicinity. Often times, people will be on LOS for a day or so after the 1:1 has been discharged (cancelled). This is most common for people who are aggressive towards others, because it’s less intrusive, but still allows us to react pretty quickly if shit shows signs of hitting the fan. Yes, this still includes showers and bathroom visits, but most people are going to at least turn their head or stay half-out the door. Believe me, we want to give you as much privacy as we’re legally and ethically allowed to give you. Last is the Q15 rounds, aka 15 minute checks or ‘standard observation.’ This means that we have to lay eyes on the patient at least every 15 minutes and document where you are and what you were doing. These are the least intrusive for you, but a massive pain in the butt for us. That means we have to document on every single person **100 times a day.** You slept for 7 hours? I get to write down ‘In bed, resting’ 28 times in a row. So this means that we’re not just watching the 1:1 and the LOS people sleep, nay nay. We’re watching **everybody** sleep. And we know it’s creepy. We feel creepy doing it. But if for one reason or another you don’t wake up in the morning, it’s going to be bad news bears for everyone. It’s going to be worst news bears for you. So yeah. We’re sorry. We know it blows, and we’d be pissed about it if we were on the receiving end, too. Most of us try to be as courteous and respectful as possible. Some of us don’t care or are intentionally antagonistic, and those people can go eat a bag of dicks. I apologize on their behalf, because heaven knows they won’t do it. We can’t all be winners.
wouldn't this exacerbate some mental issues for the patients? it's also so dehumanizing
dude at the place i stayed, when you were on los someone had to watch you use the bathroom and shower, and this one girl was stuck with this creepy old man as her staff
I didnt have anyone sitting in the room but theyd come by the door and shine their flashlight right on me every 30 minutes. Then tap the door. I barely slept for 2 weeks.
I knew an LOS girl. She was separated from us a lot bc she had to eat near nurses, and it made her even more sad. It really sucked :(
They watch you sleep, they watch you shower, they watch you shit (and wipe), every single movement is timed in a stranger's blinks. As if this forced extreme vulnerability is going to make you want to live more.
I was the one doing the sitting... kinda. During nurse training i would sit next to bulimia patients while they ate to make sure they dont hide or dump it and we have an accurate assessment of their leftover portions. I usually did sudoku puzzles. Like I'm here for a reason but you don't need to rush it or feel bad about it. I felt being on a phone would introduce a sense of "he could do anything on there" whereas a physical puzzle booklet is straight forward. Also a phone has so many different distractions that would suddenly take your entire attention away and with sudoku is always the same thing and you can pay attention to your job still.
My gf works at a home for disabled kids and there's a resident that has a line of sight order due to seizures. She's a mentally delayed/disabled 17 year old girl and she doesn't ever get privacy. Someone's always in the room while she sleeps, in the room when she uses the bathroom, showers, etc... They do this because her seizures require immediate treatment, but I can't imagine the absolute lack of privacy for someone's whole life and it makes me sad for her. She never just gets to be alone.
2-1 arms reach was the most dehumanizing experience of my entire life. i felt no longer human, just a safety risk and a problem to be solved.
Well that's terrifying. I had a hard enough time sleeping with someone opening the door every 15 minutes.
I only had one night of watch duty BUT, I didn't sleep (I'm also an insomniac), and after they "educated me" about how important sleep is to getting better (insinuating I stayed awake on purpose), I reminded them that I have reverse circadian disorder (meaning I am tired during the day and the ward doesn't allow people in their beds during the day), insomnia (which they should've remembered via my intake), AND CPTSD after several years of sexual abuse that caused my reverse circadian rhythm on account of the fact my abuser would sneak in while my whole family was asleep. Then I asked, "Does that seem to be a conducive environment for my rest"? Never did they watch me at night again, I got my own room and I was allowed in my bed at any time as long as I didn't spend all hours sleeping. 🤷
Never happened to me, but I've seen it. And the nurses are PISSED when they have to watch someone like that. Imagine being stared at constantly by someone who hates your guts.
Combining physchosis with a literal person in the dark corner of your room souds like nasty experience.
Nothing feels better when you are at a horrible time in your life and you are completly dehumanized
they had cameras in every room at my psych hospital. did wonders for my camera paranoia, as you can imagine (sarcasm)
They had the los bedrooms attached to the nurses desk area. They decided to put an electric stapler on top of a metal filing cabinet and aggressively staple papers in the middle of the night with the lights fully on and without allowing the bedroom door to be closed. There was a large window in the door and a camera they could monitor from the desk. I still can't seek mental health assistance after the way i was treated. They believed in the "drug 'em and ditch 'em" method of "treatment".
Omggg yeahhhh I didn't know that this was a common thing. During my most recent stay, members of the staff would rotate between watching me. This might sound weird, but I actually kind of liked it. It was nice having someone to always talk to because being in the hospital can be scary.
i was a co (constant observation) . i was there for 11 days, in that time i was put on 12 meds, none of which had time to work, the underwear we were given was so thin it showed my scars, i was watched while i showered, slept, and used the bathroom. i saw the doctor once in that entire time, i saw the therapist twice, amd the first time he kicked me out and accused me of rolling my eyes at him (i was looking around the room, because it was very dark and i had a hallucination issue.). i wonder how those hellholes are still running. they do more harm than help.
Honestly this shit makes me so terrified to engage with the mental healthcare system at all. That would take me from danger to myself to danger to everybody around very very quickly