Went to the hospital because I was high and paranoid. Got misdiagnosed schizophrenic and trapped in a dystopian mental health system for a year. This really happened to me and I'm worried it could happen to you.
In 2014 went to the hospital because I got a bad case of anxiety and paranoia due to being high. Yeah, dumb. I was hoping they could help me with the anxiety, which was pretty bad. Well, they admitted me for overnight observation...and then wouldn't let me go. I'd gone to the hospital with the boyfriend, who was pretty worried about me. The doctors asked him a bunch of questions, and the symptoms they came up with was....you guessed it, paranoia and delusions (because I was so freaked out by all the tracking companies were doing on our phones, websites, GPS, etc. Also, I guess these doctors don't follow the latest tech news because them's all true blue facts, ma'am. You'd have to be slow not to be at least a little disturbed). These were things that I shared with the boyfriend, not with the doctors. But because of the boyfriend's comments to the doctors, they brilliantly diagnosed me as schizoaffective and held me at that hospital for three freaking months. You heard right. THREE MONTHS.
It was bad, you guys. Conditions were bad. Really bad. The stench alone. And because of these comments made by the boyfriend, the doctors kept extending the hold on me. I was trapped there until they decided to let me go. I was traumatized.
TL;DR: Even though I walked into the hospital of my own free will, I couldn't walk back out. These psychiatrists are working with a diagnostic manual that doesn't account for a legal, controlled substance that alters your affect. What happened to me was like a doctor diagnosing a drunk person as being bipolar with mania, then locking them up at a mental hospital and forcibly medicated.
You can stop reading here. Be careful because we need advocacy in marijuana laws in mental health situations. I am open to getting contacted by advocacy groups.
Marijuana is getting legalized in more and more states. What happened to me could easily happen to other people.
But doesn't end there.
Lack of marijuana awareness, laws, and procedures may have gotten me into this mess. But the corrupt nature of this particular hospital kept me trapped in the system.
Got out. Was like, wow. Was that even legal? Was traumatized. Example: was punished for throwing my cards on the floor of my room in frustration and slamming the door because it was month 2 and I still couldn't get out. How was I punished? Three or four people put me in restraints and forcibly injected me with a tranquilizer that put me out for a day. And three or four male additional male nurses insisted on smirking at me as they lowered my pants to administer the shot. Is this really the US? Isn't this illegal, to punish someone using restraints and medication?)
But I figured, I got out. Wrong. That diagnosis followed me. In 2017, I got trapped in that same corrupt hospital.
Was stuck with an attending psychiatrist who played power games. Didn't listen to me when I said he was standing too close to me. I was lying down and he was standing too close to me while I was in a vulnerable position. I told him so. "Please move, I'm uncomfortable because you're standing too close with your private region close to my face." He told me, smugly, "I'm fine where I am."
I directly told him, "If you don't step out of my space then I will regard this sexual harassment."
He said, "Go right ahead."
#MeToo
I was aghast. I told him and everyone on staff: "I'd like to change doctors."
Answer: That doctor is the only physician available.
I told him and everyone on the staff, "I'd like to leave. I don't need or want to be here."
Answer: Doctor told me that I was "gravely disabled" and that he'd extended the hold on me. That happened time after time.
He LIED on my chart, saying that I was "homeless" and "aggressive." Because I dared talk back to him. He testified in the little hearings they give you that I "didn't have a plan for self care" and that I needed to be held further at the hospital. It was a kangaroo court.
I was not, am not homeless. Was working at home on my novel, living with parents, with my own savings.
Got worse. Was punched in the face by a male nurse. They hustled him out of there. I was on the floor, hurt ribs, bloody head. No doctor was called, no police. None of the nurses would give me his name, or their name.
Got even worse. Was injected with a tranquilizer the morning of my hearing with the judge for the case of conservatorship. I felt beyond tired, like I hadn't slept in a week. It was painful, and it was everything I could do to remain awake and coherent in front of the judge. Then heard the testimony from the psychiatrist, who told ridiculous (skewed/false) stories to convince the court that I was unfit to look after myself.
And then, oh look, a coinky-dink. I was placed under conservatorship, transferred to a LOCKED facility for a YEAR where I didn't have phone access until 6 months after that attack. Guess what the statute of limitations is on that assault case? Yeah, 6 months.
TL;DR2: I was sent to a locked facility for homeless people, based on a doctor's malicious testimony + coverup of an assault. Kicker: He's part of a hospital group that is touted across town and media as being award-winning. I can't escape mention of this damn hospital.
Got out April of 2018.
I couldn't talk about the incident in full detail before now. I just went about getting a job until I could wrap my head around it.
Meanwhile, I've been spontaneously throwing up and gaining weight even though I maintain a diet of around 1200-1600 calories. Was talking to a friend who was diagnosed with PTSD with similar weight problems that his doctor said is the body undergoing hormonal imbalance due to overwhelming stress.
TL;DR3: Got too high, sought help, was stupid enough to think mental health in this country had progressed past the 1890s where you're not in danger of getting trapped inside a mental hospital and abused.
More to this story. If you know how to help, please help. If you know of any advocacy or legal groups, please send them my way. Better place to post this? Please let me know.
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