I spent a day with PSYCH WARD SURVIVORS

NOTE: this is not the experience of ALL psych ward patients. many have found them pleasant and extremely beneficial. please watch the full video before jumping to any conclusions. come back next week for I spent a day with DOMINATRIXES ≡ ▸ open.spotify.com/show/5aOLuPenneHbhLh05fmkeu  ▸ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-spent-a-day-with/i…

Imagine an SA victim becomes suicidal and goes to a mental hospital, just to be held down by multiple men after being stripped naked. You should never be stripped naked, that is a complete violation.

The scary part about some mental hospitals isn’t even the patients, it’s the staff

Her poem and the way she read it was exactly like how I experienced my psych ward admissions.

Anita: she/her Laura: she/they David: David

I went voluntarily to a mental hospital because I was extremely depressed. I was raped by an orderly. I was suddenly described as autistic according to my medical records because I started avoiding eye contact with the male staff. In my medical records, the autism was supported by the fact that I had asked a doctor for a hearing test 10 years earlier and they now decided what I really meant is that I don't understand people, and also that I'm an engineer and enjoy sci-fi as a female which is apparently an autism symptom? They changed my stay to involuntary to observe me for this "autism" but did not inform me of the reason (I only found out from my medical records later). Then they also suddenly determined me to have "paranoia" because I didn't want to take their anti-depressants and "calming" medications anymore and because I put my arms across my chest to prevent a male doctor from putting his hand down my shirt to check my heart. A week later I saw the head doctor. All he wanted to talk about was whether I would go to the police. I assured him that I wouldn't, and I was immediately released. He wrote in my medical record that I had suffered a breakdown after being dumped, which was a complete fabrication. Two separate nurses told me they had heard from several patients that they had "slept with" staff (like we have a choice when we're trapped in a room with staff who can do whatever they want with us). These two nurses seemed to find this mildly concerning, but they mostly seemed to accept it as just what happens in psychiatric hospitals. I want to ask the world to stop giving mental health professionals the power to lock people up, rape them, and then use psychiatric diagnoses to cover it up.

That woman deserves multiple awards for that poem

People who strip SA victims down and strap them down like that deserve the death penalty like how does that help someone? You’re putting them through the same trauma they’re being admitted for, don’t take clothes off people! Like wtf

I work in a hospital with a ward but we call it behavioral health. It’s scary because the staff has a rule to not trust the patient and I’ve talked to some of them, and one of them cried because she said she just wanted to go home. She said she was she came in for PPD but she felt fine after realizing she missed her hubby and new family. But no one will listen to her😔

I really appreciate how accepting Anthony is with everyone and he doesn't make them uncomfortable

jesus that poem gave me goosebumps. she's incredible

our mental health system is fucked and needs to be fixed. these people need help and to be heard not terrified and antagonized.

Her poem really summed up my stay as well. If someone mentioned wanting to die they would immediately send you to the isolation room. Which was your mattress (that they dragged from your room) and one thin blanket on the floor. They didn’t even treat us like human beings, I felt like a dog being trained to be good.

her poem was SO POWERFUL. literally i just got the strongest chills

That poem was accurate. I lost my sister after she had a long battle with mental health. I truly think the hospitals she was in made her worse. A different one every time.

I ended up being severely traumatized from a mental hospital. The place that was supposed to help me ending up scarring me for life. To this day it makes it hard for me to ask for help out of fear they’ll send me back.

Psych wards can turn people who are normal into crazy people because of how much the doctors gas light you into thinking youre ill. The first girl's poem described it so accurate.

As someone who's been in a psych ward for kids and teenagers being restrained at 10 years old is the most terrifying experience I've ever had. Being pinned down by several adult men and even though I'm screaming for someone to help me because I don't know what's going on no one gives it a second thought. I didnt even know what the meds I was being given were and to this day I've never been told. I'm 15 now and I've been admitted a total of 7 times, all against my will because they never helped me, they traumatized me. Thankyou Anthony for handling such a sensitive topic so well, you're amazing Edit: I'm doing far better than I have been. Thankyou for all your words of support kind internet people. I still deal with the memory of what happened there but I'm beginning to recover

“Because sometimes existing is exhausting” - Anthony Padillia 2021

Anita's poem made me tear up and gave me chills. I felt that. So wonderfully written. You're not alone. I've been in many psychiatric hospitals. I was 12 the first time I was placed in one for being defiant. During restraining a 7 year old, they murdered that child. I saw it. I heard him scream, cry, and moan until the silence. Then all the staff freaking out. I was placed in so many psych wards as a pre-teen and teenager. I've been in 3 times for suicide attempts as an adult. There's no shame in getting help. I do believe many people experience more harm in many institutions. We see you and you matter.