In February of this year I was in a mental hospital over here in the UK for 3 weeks. The reason is I was sent there after being arrested for assault, which in turn was basically down to the fact my best friend killed himself about this time last year. While I was at the station it's apparently standard procedure for certain cases to be seen by the police psyche who after half an hour with me pretty much made it mandatory for me to sign myself into this place.
My personal experience was pretty different in some areas, pretty similar in others. The ward I was on was for 'young adults' and the age range was I think 19 - 30. Everyone there had really, really serious issues. There was one guy who walked around with his shirt over his head and rubbing his belly all the time. It sounds childish but once I saw a nurse try to stop him doing it and he 'freaked out.' Big time. There was another girl who literally just sat and stared out of the window at the sky ALL DAY. Another girl sat in the dining area with her head in her hands and cried, over and over. And there was a young guy who never, ever left his room. I saw him once the whole time I was there, for about 10 seconds.
On the ward it was pretty clean and like the OP there was a schedule but it wasn't quite as strict. We each had our own seperate rooms that could be locked and we had a personal key, though the staff also obviously had a copy of each. There was always 4 member of staff on the ward, at all times day and night. The people who were on meds had to line up in the morning and they were given them. There was a T.V room but the remote was broken and it was stuck on some crappy channel showing really old programs so nobody was ever in there. We weren't allowed to leave the building at all and one girl tried to do a runner only to be brought down by the biggest bloody orderlies I've ever seen. There was a courtyard though where you could go and have a smoke as long as you were assisted by a member of the staff who used the lighter...
The meal times were at set times during the day, breakfast, lunch and dinner and it was all free and actually very good. Although for the first few days I didn't eat at all because I was a mess and nobody bothered to come and remind me. I didn't make any friends there, there really wasn't much talking or interaction going on at all between the 'inmates.' Everyone seemed well... broken. Making friends in that kind of environment just is impossible.
Everybody had a mental health expert assigned to them and there were daily assessments, after a few days I was desperate to be allowed to go home but they wouldn't let me leave until I'd stayed at least for a few weeks. So I just tried to like... 'act' as 'sane' as I could my whole time there. I did as I was told, kept myself clean and presentable and was polite. I guess it worked because after the 3 weeks was up, I was released.
And yet the funny thing is, the entire experience for me only deepened my own personal psychological problems, it certainly didn't help in any way besides perhaps giving some perspective.
It's an experience I hope I never have to repeat again.
