How to Avoid Going to a Mental Hospital

Focusing on Your Mental Health Treatment

Seek treatment. Try to look at yourself and your situation from an unbiased point of view. Even if the idea of going in for professional help is scary or uncomfortable, it will likely help improve your quality of life. Try to keep an open mind on the subject, and if possible, make the decision for yourself. Seeking psychotherapy from a mental health professional can help you avoid the more drastic measure of entering a mental hospital. If you are not receiving mental health treatment, you can begin therapy or a treatment program. Contact your health insurance company for a list of approved clinicians, or conduct a search for low-cost mental health facilities in your local area.

Trust your mental health clinician. Lack of trust in mental health professionals may lead individuals, especially minorities, to avoid seeking help. Be honest. Many professionals may be able to tell when you are lying, and this will not help your case. If someone asks you a direct question, answer it. Lying may come off as paranoid and suspicious, which can actually increase the likelihood that you are hospitalized. Tell your therapist about your concerns. Be open about your difficulty trusting therapists or people in general. Your therapist may have specific techniques that can help you regain a sense of trust. Know that therapists are there to help you. They do not wish for you to suffer, they most likely want you to feel better. Sometimes therapists have to make difficult decisions to protect their patients, but this does not mean they are bad people or that they can never be trusted. If you have been hospitalized in the past, know that someone believed that this was the best thing for you at the time and they were probably following standard protocol. You may be hospitalized if you become violent, suicidal, or a threat to yourself or others. Going into therapy and building a trusting relationship with your therapist can help prevent this hospitalization.

Be consistent in your mental health treatment. Research suggests that individuals who have been previously hospitalized show less risk of re-hospitalization if they follow up with their outpatient mental health treatment. Come up with a treatment plan with your mental health professional and stick to this plan. It may include weekly therapy visits. Ensure that you have proper transportation to and from these appointments. If you have difficulty, discuss options with your health provider such in-home therapy or help with transportation (bus tokens, etc).

Stick with your current treatment if it is working. Switching treatments or mental health providers can lead to worse outcomes in treatment than committing to a specific form of treatment. Doctor shopping can also be a symptom in certain disorders, such as Borderline Personality Disorder. If your treatment is not working, consider inpatient treatment. If you have tried outpatient treatment (therapy, medication and support) and still have symptoms that severely interfere with your life (relationships, ability to maintain a job, housing, care for yourself), it may benefit you to voluntarily seek inpatient treatment.

Follow your treatment plans. One of the best ways to avoid entering a locked or inpatient facility is to give out-patient care your all. Work with your doctor, therapists, and family to deal with issues and their concerns as they come up. Be receptive to treatments, changes of plan, and their input; see your mental health as a collaborative effort. Take your medication if you have a prescription. For certain mental health conditions (especially Bipolar I/II and Schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders) staying on your medication is the key to reducing the likelihood that you will be hospitalized.

Reducing Symptoms that Cause Hospitalization

Identify your signs and cope with them. Knowing your personal signs that you may require hospitalization is very useful so that you can prevent or deal with or these problems before they become too severe and lead to hospitalization. You may need to go to a mental health hospital if you are: seeing or hearing things (visual or auditory hallucinations) having bizarre or paranoid ideas (delusions) having serious thoughts of hurting yourself or others planning to harm yourself or others thinking or talking too fast jumping from topic to topic without coherence feeling too exhausted or depressed to get out of bed or take care of yourself or your family not eating or sleeping

Cope with thoughts of self-harm. One of the main reasons you might be hospitalized is if you are seriously considering or at a high risk of intentionally harming yourself or committing suicide. Self-harm tendencies and suicidality increase after being released from a psychiatric hospital. Cope healthfully with thoughts about harming yourself early on. Do not let your thoughts get so out of hand that you are considering suicide. Talk to a professional (psychologist, therapist) in order to make a detailed and personalized plan on how to cope with thoughts of self-harm. Reduce self-harm behaviors. If you cut yourself or harm yourself intentionally in a way, stopping these behaviors can reduce your risk of hospitalization. Instead of harming yourself, use other coping methods to reduce negative emotions such as journaling, therapy, and exercise. Keep in mind that if you are a real danger to yourself and/or those around you, generally you can be committed to a mental hospital despite your protests, as long as they have solid evidence that you require professional psychiatric assistance.

Take care of your basic needs. Another reason you might be hospitalized is if you cannot take care of your basic needs (clothing, food, shelter) due to a mental health issue. You will be more likely to be hospitalized if you look and act like you cannot take care of yourself. Make sure your activities of daily living (ADLs) are in check. Some examples are: taking a shower daily, washing and brushing your hair, brushing your teeth, and wearing clean clothes. If you have trouble providing yourself with these basic needs such as clothing or food, contact your local government or social services agency for assistance. They may be able to help you find a shelter, housing, and local food banks. Some government agencies even provide you with some extra money every month, or a card for food.

Decreasing Risk Factors for Hospitalization

Maintain shelter or housing. There are many risk factors that increase a person’s likelihood of being hospitalized; not having adequate shelter is a large risk factor. Homeless individuals are at a much higher risk of hospitalization than individuals who are housed. This has to do with the ability to care for your basic needs. Shelter is seen as a basic necessity to keep yourself safe and healthy (away from the elements such as snow, rain, or high heat). If you have trouble maintain your living situation – you can reach out to family and friends for help. Ask them if you can stay on their couch for a while until you can get back on your feet. If you cannot stay with family or friends, try contacting your local government or social services agency. There is also a national list of shelters you can find at shelterlistings.org.

Reduce self-stigma. Stigmatizing the self is a big risk factor for hospitalization. This is because people who believe that their mental health issue is not acceptable to themselves, or who believe they are crazy, are less likely to seek help. Self-stigma is associated with negative beliefs or stereotypes about yourself. Understand that getting therapy, taking medication, or going to a mental hospital are not things to be ashamed of. You can start reducing your self-stigma today through positive affirmations. Let’s say you have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. You could say to yourself, “I accept my diagnosis, but it does not define me or who I am. It is okay that I have this diagnosis and I believe I can cope with it in a healthy way. I may have a diagnosis, but that does not mean I’m crazy.”

Turn to peers for help. Another large risk factor for hospitalization is a lack of social support. However, strong in-group identification (identifying with others that have similar issues) can be a protective factor against hospitalization. In other words, having a strong social support network can reduce your risk of being hospitalized. Join a support group. The National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) is a United States agency and is a great place to start.

Limit or eliminate substance use. Substances can exacerbate pre-existing mental health conditions. Certain substances can also produce severe mental health symptoms such as hallucinations (hearing voices, and seeing things that aren’t there). These symptoms can make you appear as if you have a serious mental illness and can increase the likelihood that you are hospitalized for evaluation.

Have a plan in case of a crisis. Not having a plan when your thoughts (thinking about harming yourself/others, or psychosis – hallucinations, delusions), feelings (depression, mania, paranoia) or behaviors (self-harm, harming others, not taking care of your basic needs) get severe can increase the likelihood of hospitalization. Without a plan you may have difficulty coping with a crisis situation. Write down a list of contacts including your doctors, therapists, and family member for friends that might be able to help. If none of these contacts are available, have a list of emergency hot-lines you can call, such as the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Know where to go – have a list of local hospitals, shelters, as well as addresses of friend’s and family’s homes.

Involve your family. Getting to know how the people who love and care about you feel about any issues you may be dealing with can be very helpful. It can help to talk about the issues you've had with them in the past and how you feel about going there again. For example, if your family has suggested that you need psychiatric help in any way, it may be helpful to have a meaningful conversation with them. Find out why they feel this way, ask for examples of the behavior they're referring to, and offer potential solutions.