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Will I Be forced in Mental ward if I Tell a doctor about Suicidal thoughts?
A year ago I was diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia & psychosis. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and they kept asking me was I ok and have I ever thought about killing someone or myself. I have thought about killing myself by overdose, or just jumping from somewhere and dying.Sometimes I wish I could die in an accident, whatever is quick. I have no family or friends to talk to. I have family problems, i'm homeless and I've been bullied all through school and have low self esteem. If I told a doctor I wanted to kill myself would they try to force me in a mental hospital?
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If I were a doctor, which I am not, knowing you are homeless and having suicidal thoughts. I would want you in the hospital if possible. I would probably ask you to go in voluntarily as involuntary commitment requires a patient to meet criteria that you may not meet. Being homeless and having suicidal thoughts does not generally meet criteria.
Big difference between voluntary and involuntary commitment to a hospital. Going in to the hospital voluntarily means you can leave any time you want, You would probably not be in a locked unit either. Involuntary commitment generally means placement in a locked unit, escorted wherever you go, no privacy and in some states you may possibly be kept until doctors release you. In others involuntary commitments can only be for a specific period of time such as 72 hours.
Given that you suffer from chronic schizophrenia & psychosis and are now having these thoughts. Committing yourself voluntarily to a hospital is a good idea. As I said I'm no doctor but I feel your medications, if your being compliant with them, need to be changed. The best place for this to be done for you, given the fact that you are homeless, is in a hospital where the doctors can monitor your reaction to the drugs.
While you are there you will have clean clothes, a warm and clean place to sleep and good food. The doctors can also take the time to care for other medical needs you may have. For you voluntarily checking in to a hospital is a win/win situation. Remember in this manner you can leave if it gets too much for you at any time.
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Dragonflymagic is sort of right, sort of wrong.
Will you be hospitalized against your will just for having suicidal thoughts? Absolutely not. However, you may be hospitalized if you meet certain conditions; it's happened to me before.
If you tell a medical professional that you have suicidal thoughts, they're going to ask you if you have a plan. They will also ask you if you can make a contract with them to not harm yourself. If you can contract with them, you are generally let go. It's when you have a solid plan and refuse to agree not to follow through with it that they may hospitalize you, often for just a few days until you are deemed okay to be released.
If you're experiencing symptoms, you should tell your doctor. Without complete information, your doctor can't help you. It's very important that you become comfortable with telling them about what you're going through.
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No hon. They don't do that sort of thing. I have a daughter who had severe depression after giving birth, apparently she had it before but not as bad, now she had thoughts of killing herself and the baby and confided that to me. We got her to see a doctor. They ask these questions to gauge how severe your depression is and what medications to put you on to help. Please be honest and don't hold anything back from the doctors because they need all the info they can get to help properly diagnosis you and give you the correct help. Even so, if a medication just isn't helping you and you still suffer, go back and tell the docs and have them give you something else.
I also had a brother who was schizophrenic (he's passed on now) He had to tell them everything too so they could adjust his medication as needed. Once he gave them misleading info and they tried some new medication and all of a sudden he was really whacked out, going really crazy instead of calm. So be truthful with your doctors, they are there to help.
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