Experiences with Being Hospitalized for Mental Illness?

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Since I realized how bad my most recent round of depression, self-harm, and very serious thoughts of suicide got, I've been very afraid of ending up being hospitalized for something like this sooner or later, yet at the same time I kind of wonder if I should have been/should be. What I'm most afraid of is being trapped among a bunch of people (especially if I'm forced to have a roommate) and unable to leave if I want to. I thought maybe it would help if I know what to expect if that should happen. If you have been hospitalized for mental illness and are comfortable sharing, I'd like to hear about your experience.

Mine was not pleasant. I think the hardest thing was that no one explained anything to me as I was a minor at the time. I sensed a lot of contempt from some of the staff, and I felt lost in what they expected of me.

I think art therapy helped the most, but it didn't solve anything as much as having someone actually try to understand how I felt,

Billing was... out of network and more expensive than initially anticipated.

Oher than that, its a very non-confrontational, controlled environment, without pressures, to help get you back on your feet.

Your mileage may vary depending on location though.

I was hospitalized for mental illness. It was involuntary. It was really boring. I had a roomate once during the stay. We got along okay but sometimes I could hear her mumble things about me under her breath. They didnt tell me how long Id be staying there although I didnt ask. When crazy or dangerouse sounding people were there I just avoided them and stayed in my room. I found the most difficult thing was boredom and lack of privacy. It was a bit stuffy. There was always people around. Since I was involuntary I wasnt allowed to leave or go outside unless accompanied by staff. They didnt take me out very much. Once when I first got there I tried to run away because I wasnt used to it.

The food was okay. Most of the staff were nice although one was a grouch. Sometimes they could be condesending though. I had to take anti psychotics when I was there because it was involuntary. After awhile they made me quite constipated. I could barely poo. I wasnt expected to take them after the hospitalization, instead a needle injection every two weeks which only side effect is weight gane.

I've never been hospitalized----but my ex fiancée was, multiple times.

There were some lousy hospitals---but, once, she stayed at a place called Payne Whitney, which was really nice, and had grounds where the patients could walk.

There were places where the therapy aides would ask for sexual favors from her. Sometimes, she didn't mind; other times, she did. Lousy places, like I said.

At least four times, right off the top of my head. At least one of those was outpatient. All of them as a minor, and more than twenty years ago at this point.
It wasn't the worst thing in the world. I always had a room by myself. Nearly constant observation bothered me. The outpatient one had a bunch of other kids, but I wasn't really allowed to interact with them. Or may not have wanted to. Probably a bit of both. That was the only one that involved a group of other people.
Other than that, I only remember one guy from another trip to the ward. Inpatient that time.
It was never voluntary, and it never helped for me. I think it made things worse. But they were always focused on the wrong issues with me then, and trying to adjust meds to deal with it. I'm never going back.

I have been hospitalized twice after suicide attempts, once at age 12, once at 26. Both were awful. I was put into isolation for self harming because I wouldn't eat the meat that came with dinner, I'm vegan. That's not self-harming.

I was emergency-hospitalized to prevent me from committing suicide. For me it was both good and bad. The actual stay was awful. I was at the geriatric ward (for people over 65) so it was just me and a bunch of dementia-patients. The age and condition of the other patients didn't bother me, I kept to myself anyways. But it smelled weird, all the food was extra soft and chewing-friendly, and the nurses had no idea how to deal with a young person.
I was miserable in there. It was terribly boring, and being locked up like that just made me worse.
However, I see now that it was really good for me to get in there, because I really needed to be looked after at that point.
Since then I've never been as low as when I got in there, because being let out was the most fantastic experience. Even if I was let out to sleep on the streets, the freedom was the most amazing thing. I was dancing around for two days, and still, almost four years later, I'm really happy about being out of there. I still have suicidal thoughts sometimes but I think those are mostly just a habit of mine now. The world is actually pretty nice to be in.

Another good thing about the stay was that my autism was pointed out to me. Took me three years to actually get a diagnosis and accept it, but hadn't I gotten hospitalized, I still wouldn't have known. I know this doesn't apply to your situation, but it's just to lift up another positive about it.

If you're thinking of getting hospitalized, I think you have a good chance to get something out of it. When it comes out of nowhere and by force, it's all just shocking and it's hard to adjust to the environment. But if you're the one who decides to get in there, you see the purpose of it and can use the time constructively.
If you live somewhere where there's more than one hospital, and you're able to choose between them, you could do a little research to find out which one is best for you. Maybe there's a way for you to know whether or not you might have to share a room, or if there are sections of the building where it's possible to be alone. I know this isn't always a possibility, but just in case. That's what I would do if I needed to get hospitalized again.

It can be really rough, to try to find help, and only find options that really aren't help.

I don't know what to tell you, but I hope you can find what you need.