If you voluntarily enter a hospital for depression, can you leave when you want or will they hold you there?
Question:
If I do choose to enter which is unlikely with my insurance, I want to know if I can leave when I feel okay enough to or if they'll keep me there until they feel like I'm ready to leave. I'm not manic at all. I pose no threat to others and I probably don't pose a serious threat to myself. It's just that at night time, these kinda flashes during the day turn into fantasies.
Answers:
Like the first guy said, they can only hold you if you're suicidal or homicidal. If you want the insurance to cover it, though, you have to sort of convince them you're suicidal. They will want to know that you are planning to commit suicide, you will probably be asked by the doctors if you "have a plan".
If you don't actually think you are going to do anything to harm yourself now, they may suggest a lower level of treatment. They have outpatient day programs for those in need of more structure and therapy than can be given in a one-hour, once a week therapy session. They usually run from a few hours, a few times a week, to all day every day.
You may want to ask your therapist what might be appropriate. If you're really in trouble today, you may want to go into the hospital for a night or two, and then "step down" to another level of treatment when you're feeling a little safer. It also depends, of course on what is available in your area, I live in a major metropolitan area, so there are lots of choices here.
So to answer your question, if you tell them you are no longer suicidal, then, no you cannot be made to stay in the hospital.
They can hold you on 2 grounds & 2 grounds only; if you are suicidal or if you are homicidal. Other than those 2 reasons, you are free to sign yourself out.
The typical deal is that if you sign yourself in, you can sign yourself out. More often than not, the "signing onesself out" process entails a 72 hour period of "observation" first.
Ask your psychiatrist. If you are a threat to yourself it is better to stay until you are well enough to leave or it will all be a waste of time,money and maybe your life. Please go get help!
Please click on my icon and email me. I would have emailed you but your profile doesn't allow it.
This is one of those "how old are you" questions. As a Clinical Psychologist, I can't help but wonder why your psychiatrist didn't just put you in for 72 hours on suicide watch.but, all that aside, your fixation on suicide is extremely serious when you are in a depression, because you could have a "moment" when it seems like the only answer to what's really bothering you. Don't worry about insurance, if you're over eighteen and go to a hospital, or an ER at a hospital, and tell them what you've said here, you can sign in.and as long as you do some therapy on the depression, you'll feel better. The only way you couldn't sign out is if you were a threat to yourself or others (see "Tarasoff Law"). Good luck to you and go get the help - you'll only feel better! Good luck!
I spent most of last week in a mental hospital and you do have the option of checking yourself out. I was glad I went, in fact I would have stayed there longer but my insurance company decided they didn't want to pay any more. There is another option you might want to check out. It's called partial hospitalization and basically it's a day program where you have groups and see a counselor and then go home at the end of the day. I did that last year, and a lot of the people there had been in-patients at the facility and said it was nice, so I was not scared to check myself in this time.
You can be held there depending on what your doctor feels you need.
Depression is a problem with thinking habits. Drugs only mask the symptoms and leave behind side-effects.
If I had a doctor who wasn't solving my problems, I'd find someone who could.
Look for a certified neuro-therapist or cognitive therapist.
IF you sign yourself in you can sign yourself out UNLESS you state you are going to leave and kill yourself then it becomes the responsibility of the hospital (more likea liability) to keep you there. Good luck!
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