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Bipolar disorder is a deadly illness – make no mistake about it. Approximately 11% of those with bipolar die of suicide while up to 50% attempt suicide. This is something to be taken very, very seriously. I am one of those who have attempted suicide and I know about the importance of treating a suicidal crisis the right way, the humane way, the way that actually works to make people better.
I also know how infrequently this happens. I also know how people find going to the hospital a negative experience. I also know how some people have experienced dehumanizing treatment after experiencing a suicidal crisis. It seems that healthcare professionals forget that suicidal crises are a symptom of a serious illness and not a behavior simply committed to inconvenience them.
Don’t get me wrong – if you have attempted suicide or are in a suicidal crisis (acute suicidality), you should go to a hospital. After all, some people consider this the turning point in their recoveries.
The only people who know what it’s really like to be hospitalized after a suicidal crisis are you – the people who have experienced it. And the issue is that your voice rarely gets heard. Your voice rarely is heard by professionals. And your voice isn’t taken into consideration when it comes to making things better. Well, this survey aims to help amplify your voice.
The following Voices of the Patient survey aims to quantify what hospitalization experiences are like for those who are in a suicidal crisis.
If you have bipolar disorder and have ever been hospitalized for acute suicidality or a suicide attempt, please take the anonymous survey and share your experiences with the world.
Click on this link to do so: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WH368RG.
This survey matters because if we sit in silence and never speak up about the issues faced by those in our community, nothing can ever improve. Doctors and healthcare institutions can’t get better if we don’t tell them what’s wrong in the first place.
The nonprofit Hope Xchange, Julie Fast and the International Bipolar Foundation, along with myself, are supporting the taking of this survey. Please note, we also have a corporate sponsor – NeuroRx. Yes, they are a pharmaceutical company but, no, they will not receive any individual’s information. All information, including a person’s IP address, is anonymized for this survey.
[For your information, NeuroRx is working on a drug to help those with bipolar disorder who are suicidal. I believe it could be a great step forward in saving the lives of people with bipolar disorder.]
I, personally, have taken this survey and I hope you will too.
Please step up, help your sisters and brothers and take the survey.
Click on this link to be taken to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WH368RG.
When the survey results are ready, I will report that in my newsletter. You can subscribe to my newsletter (and get a free eBook) here:
Image by Flickr user David Ip.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
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I also went on and did the survey. I typically don’t but for whatever reason; this one hit me rather soundly.
I have had 4 IPs since 1993 with my last being 2006. I’ve had a minimum of 3 days and as long as 28 with the pdoc trying to have my insurer authorize more days to no avail.
The only one I have to say that I benefited the most from was the 28 day one. I really did go into that one completely off my rocker. I had to go, I realized, later when looking back.
The last one was in 2006.. 5 days maximum and I officially was first diagnosed with Bipolar. It was hinted about for a few years prior to but that IP was the one that the diagnosis (along with some others) was finally typed out onto a medical record document.
Now… if asked if there have been other periods of time of which I should’ve gone but refused or for financial reasons, couldn’t? Oh yes… yes yes yes… I won’t lie… yes. Likely another 5 or so.
I is a nut who is continually cracked by life.
Noticed many of the last few alphabets of my comments got cut off…
I may try the survey,it’s not like I don’t want to help ppl.
But,I find these kinds of things triggering for myself.
I reside in a small city we only have 1 psych hospital
The staff used to be way way better
Now even the cafe where the patients w a pass
Could eat ( good/ healthy food) is gone…
If the staff treats you like shit / disrespectful
You aren’t going to feel very positive…..or co operative back.
I have had my best treatment as an outpatient …..
Of course,we all share different views here.
I believe outpatient saved me more than hospital =
Bandaid on a wound.
They pump your stomach stich your wounds….
But they never touched the wounds gaping from my heart
I needed a very unique Dr that took 3 more years out of hospital.
It’s only been now things dramatically changing
Though
Never perfect.
Everyone finds there own path towards wellness
Took the survey today as I’ve been to the psych hospital twice. The first time I was 21, manic and in a delusional state. & Of course you couldn’t convince me to believe I was ill.
When I made it back home from college one weekend, I actually busted the backyard door open with one strong shoulder bump (underestimated my own strength!) because I was under the impression that my parents intentionally locked me out when in all honesty they simply just weren’t there.
Full of irratable energy and a minor cold I chose alcohol, xanax, and a couple gulps of nyquil to calm me down and catch some zzz. When I woke up my mom said were going to the hospital because of my cold. At the time it made sense but little did I know this would be my first time being involuntarily commited to the psych ward.
I was in such denial I tried to escape multiple times. I kicked, screamed, and cried until a code 12 was called and I woke up the next day feeling heavily sedated, out of place, and completely grossed out. I was just counting down the days.
The second time I went was this past January, 3 years later. Its something about the holidays that bring out the suicidal thoughts. Analyzying my dysfunctional family & reliving traumatic events led me to a dark place.
I immediately got in my car and drove to the very same psych clinic I went to before except this time voluntarily.
This time was different.
I was more accepting of me being bipolar. I wanted the dark thoughts to cease and I wanted to be in control of my emotions with whatever coping mechanism & help that was offered by the psych medical team.
Were there people there that I felt didn’t deserve to work in the medical field? Of course.
Were there lower functioning patients that made me somewhat uncomfortable at times? Yes.
The willingness for me to pick up the pieces & redirect my mind to become a better me was 10% doctors/ancillary staff/ medication/group therapy etc. and 90% ME DOING WHATEVER IT TOOK TO GET WELL!!!
I had this weird tunnel vision and my goal was stabalizing, getting the most out of every group/ one on one session, and gaining a better understanding of living with bipolar disorder.
Sorry for the long post. I just feel like you get what you put in. In my opinion, hospitals are there to prevent you from harming yourself and others at bare minimal and the rest is what you make of it.
Take care!
People saying that you shouldn’t be working in a medical field because you have bipolar? They’re wrong of course, but I’m not surprised. I’ve had people tell me that I shouldn’t foster or adopt kids because my wife and I have bipolar. We’ve fostered over 35 kids successfully and adopted 6 of them! Our 6th grandchild is on her way! Yet I have been told that this should not be because people with bipolar are “unpredictable and dangerous!” Our kids and grandkids would beg to differ…
I agree that you get out of the hospital what you put into it. I have found that the resources available at our local hospitals have diminished greatly in the 14 years between my first and most recent hospitalization, The staff tries though, they’re good people at both of the hospitals I’ve been inpatient at.
Hi Natasha
There’s so much that goes on in hospital….simply triggering
Theres guys going into double female rooms while females are naked ( I complained to nurses,they just said
Just tell them to get out(?!!!!!)
Gross,disgusting)
I had one guy,just released from the big house say to me during me: man, you must be really fucked up all those
Pills!”
Immediately,they had to seperate us I was ready to hit him wear it counted
He went right back to lockdown the nurse apologized…..I said yup thanks,wonderful establishment you ha
Another time I went in of my own free will the Dr told me if life was so terrible yes,YES! DO IT! GO
HOME a& KILL YOURSELF!!!!
No JOKE NOT KIDDING REAL DR.
I’ve experienced being in a locked ward ( dying in hell,just because I was super manic…& hallucinating)
2- weeks ALONE!!
6-7 don’t really recall) SHOCK TREATMENTS age 18
My memory SO TERRIBLE ITS PRETTY MUCH FULLLY BACK IM 55 YRS OLD.
On the sunnier side of life …..positive parts
I’ve lived alone over 23 yrs
I’ve an adorable kitty
Best for last I’m hospital free ……?.over 8 YEARS!!!!!!
( psych things,this is what this blog is ref to)
Think what my secret”
Or turning point was is accepting I have a illness
I have limitations because of this ….it doesn’t matter if I don’t like that.
These are the cards I’m dealt with,so I try & do the very best I can ….
Some days I’m triggered ,
Some days fly by & it’s smooth
But as the experts,Natasha too stresses this only too well SLEEP & TAKING MEDS ON TIME
Truly will make A DIFFERENCE.
Anyway.
It’s kept me ……out of hospital
But,I accept I will always be BP but that DOESNT MEAN THE END OF THE WORLD FOR ME
Unless that’s my decision……
It’s not.
I also feel science is advancing / medicines will improve over time.
I’m impatient by nature,as are my fam.
So,addBP on top……
But also strong willed like my father was?& very stubborn
Probably helps me stay strong because you can’t always expect someone else to nurse you along during
milder episodes…..
Believe me, I feel everyone’s pain frustration mania depression ….
I believe in myself now,which in itself are very powerful words
I get thru the triggers,
The mild episodes.
Not easy.
But doable.
Peace.
I am bipolar and have tried to take my own life not once, not twice, but three times. It’s in fact one of the reasons I founded Hope Xchange Nonprofit – because I didn’t want anyone else to go what I went through alone.
My nonprofit is one of the supporters of the Voice of the Patient Survey, and like Natasha, we support it for very similar reasons. Hope Xchange, and many other advocates, work with those with bipolar disorder; and, sadly some are at high risk for suicide, particularly those who leave health care facilities.
We believe that treatment in these situations can be better. We believe it needs to be better. We believe people in these situations deserve better. We hope this can improve care for those with mental illness who have attempted suicide or have experienced acute suicidality and have been hospitalized for it.
We hope this can save lives.
For me personally, I took the anonymous survey because I want health care providers to understand what it really feels like to go through a suicide attempt: how hospitalization made me feel about myself, my 3 suicide attempts and, how it impacted me after I was discharged.
If you’ve found yourself in a similar situation and have been hospitalized, I hope you too will share your experiences. This mission doesn’t work without you. Only you can share a real experience.
With gratitude.
Kerry Martin, CEO and Founder, Hope Xchange Nonprofit
“Preventing Suicide & Improving Mental Health Outcomes in Youth, LGBTQA+ & Bipolar Communities”
Thanks Natasha : Your survey will be a very important tool for all who struggle with suicide attempts and their treatment in hospital environments. With my treatment in 1984, I promised my Wife and Myself, that I would never have a BP Episode again. That promise still holds true Today with achieving over 35 years of Episode – Free Stability. I am now 75 years old and living a happy and healthy retired life !
Just took the survey and shared on Facebook and Twitter!
Thank you so much, Jim! I appreciate your support.
– Natasha Tracy