I was admitted to/sentenced to Holliswood Hospital in July 2010. I was in the ER because I told my psychiatrist that I was planning to commit suicide and, when asked if I had any preference as to what psych hospital I wanted to be sent to, I immediately requested Holliswood because they had/have (I'm not sure if it's still considered a program because I don't see it on their site, but I know that it used to be) what seemed like a pretty comprehensive treatment program for post-traumatic stress, that I had actually looked into prior to this forced hospitalization. Here is my plethora of complaints:
- When I got there, I was told that the entire trauma treatment program which they so proudly spoke of included a session with a psychologist trained in treating post-traumatic stress once a week. To make that even better, it was never actually arranged for me to meet with this psychologist, despite the fact that the hospital was not only aware of my diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder because it was on my intake form, despite the fact that I specifically requested to meet with him, and despite the fact that I was promised that that would happen.
- The incompetence of the staff was beyond unbelievable. Luckily, this didn't happen to me, but many of my friends on the unit complained about being given the wrong medications, and then having to fight with staff to convince them that they weren't the proper medications. My social worker, who, according to the information I was given prior to admission, I was supposed to meet with every day, saw me once, for around ten minutes. She asked me why I was feeling suicidal, and I gave a very vague and incomplete answer, because it wouldn't have been so easy to just blurt out, "Because I was raped yesterday, after dealing with several previous rapes and years of sexual abuse." When I didn't answer quickly, she just said that we'd talk about it another time. That was the extent of my relationship with the social worker who was supposed to be working with me every day. Throughout the entire time I was there, only one staff member figured out what was actually going on with me- a wonderful art therapist, who is the only person in the entire hospital who I cannot complain about. Nearly every patient on the unit knew what was going on with me, some who I told, and some who just figured it out, but the overwhelming majority of the staff didn't even bother to ask what was wrong.
- There was absolutely no individual attention or treatment. Patients who wanted to see their doctors or social workers literally had to pester the staff, sometimes for days, just to spend a few minutes with them. I was apparently one of the luckier ones on the unit, as it only took me six or seven hours to get around fifteen minutes with a staff member.
- Some staff practices were just plain inhumane. All bathrooms were locked and needed to be opened by a staff member which I don't agree with, but I understand. My problem is with the fact that the staff complained every time they had to open up someone's bathroom or, sometimes, made them wait a pretty significant period of time to have the door opened. It got to the point that I stopped drinking water for certain portions of the day, just because trying to get in the bathroom was so miserable and it felt so degrading for someone to give you an attitude about the fact that you need to perform a basic bodily function.
- There was absolutely no opportunity to get fresh air of any kind. I heard that that was a privilege you could "earn," but I feel that it's unbelievably inhumane to keep people locked in a hallway for days or weeks at a time. There are ways to safely take unstable people outside. That's one of my lesser complaints because I don't think it's done with ill intent, just that it's inhumane and stupid that they can't figure out a way to get everyone some fresh air, as they did at a previous hospital I was at.
- The rules were completely inconsistent and changed on a whim, often with little consideration for patients' rights and well-being. Weekends being boring is pretty much a given in a psych unit, but generally, hospitals will at least make different forms of entertainment available to you and have a group or two every so often to make sure that everyone's alright. There were no groups, and the many games and other forms of entertainment that were available were only available for an hour or so per day, max, when it was the specific "right time" to use them. Anyway, on the Saturday that I was there, in an attempt to not sit around all day and think about terrible things in my life, I tried very hard to keep my friends and myself entertained. We created unique games, using assorted objects as balls and different other random objects as goals, created playing cards through the annoyingly slow process of drawing each one out and ripping it out of a piece of paper, and we taught each other songs we liked and sang them together. The next day, we went out into the hallway, expecting to, once again, try to amuse ourselves in any possible way, when the obviously well-qualified staff supervising the unit told us that we all had to stay in our rooms for the rest of the day, straight-out telling us that they didn't feel like supervising the hallway. Stuck in a tiny room with next to no entertainment except for during the immense adventure of leaving the hallway to get our little trays of food- sound like jail, anyone?
I'm not a fan of psych hospitals, to say the least, but if you have to be in one, I think you have an absolute right to be treated humanely, not have the hospital lie to you or misrepresent their services, and get treatment from qualified people who can help you actually get through the problems that caused the hospitalization in the first place. If you're thinking of hurting yourself and need this kind of supervision, trying committing a crime and going to jail- you'll get better treatment.
I am glad this young woman spoke up and exposed the real truth of what goes on at holliswood hospital. the woman from long beach can call me to get a class actionn lawsuit going. i know someone else who also wad given wrong meds and both of us had severe reactions needing medical er attention, that wasn't given. i was misdiagnosed most of the time there till police faxed a report on a sexual assault that occurred. i was given wrong medication and i couldn't walk and i was asking 1 patient to call my father because i was on the floor and staff didn't care. I went to court to try to stop the misdiagnosis, and any meds to be wrongfully given. the med given did this to me and put me in a wheel chair and into physical rehab to walk again! And they had to withdraw mey system from this wrong med by giving pain meds and physical thetapy massage etc for months. even after i was done as an inpatient physical therapy i still had problems with my legs! Email me at (((REDACTED)))@yahoo.com you were right about the small space of hallway and just the not paying attention when having to go to the bathroom and having an attitude not caring if ypu pee on yourself. there was a guy there who wss given wrong meds too and he couldn't move his neck to straight and was laying waiting for them to counteract this drug to help him move his neck. tbey even had him in there past the time allowed for his age! And another patient knew this. it happened to him to, and he tried to help get him out of the hospital kniwing his rights were being extremely violated and taken advantage of by his family who had luttle education on rights legally etc. there is another guy who witnessed both of us and the meds causing reactions meds for wrong diagnosis. he was a volunteer study getting paid to try meds out. we have to get a class action lawsuit even if sometime has passed due to knowing more peoplevsuffered and wete not cared for the way the hospital stated in their advertising and falsifying their motto on being theraputic .
the girl from long beach article is also right about time spent talking to an assigned csw. i didn't talk to one for weeks! Not even being able to discuss what happened because it was assigned dates in advance. Tjey kept saying the nurses save your thoughts for the csw when you see her. Which was maybe once for a short time once aweek! Bad program and messed up patients with wrong meds wrong diagnosis doctors constsntly being called by patients to talk and when they did getting no help. one med made me not pee! I couldn't pee at one point and they took me to an ER to help fix what these psych people did with administering wrong med! Even a guy i knew agreed how much of jail feel to it couldn't go outside to get fresh air! a lockup other hospitals like this took people in a group for fresh air some even could smoke cigarettes. i felt bad for some smokets cause they were given a patch and you could tell it just made it worse for them wanting a cigarette and their body being used to nicotine. If some hosp. Let them smoke and go outside why not holliswood. Director and nurses didn't really care. they did things to patients there were uneccessary and just only exercise you coyld get was if you made it to a certain level of length and doing chores! It was probably like a mentality that soldiers boot camp was used to. they expected certain tasks for people who were traumatized. poor mgmt. poor therapy.
In my situation of sex assault the DOD and cops wete involved and ididnt even realize how the DOD was and is worse today. the DOD has a program of experimenting on citizens through the NIH NYSDMH to attack and asault citizens with directed energy weapons torturing them physically and psych. this device u.der targeted individuals can be directed at the brain of many women and men whistleblowers and average citizens using them to experiment in the field of psychiatry and mind control methods such as mk ultra done by cia. ys ago. FBI have a big sadistic role in this along with certaun military army navy airforce labs etc conducting these experiments INHUMANELY. i am trying to get the united nations to help me and hope they help others here in USA and worlwide. The army use this device in IRAQ and it has been given to police retired contractors hired to use on them.
Holliswood Hospital Reviews
I was admitted to/sentenced to Holliswood Hospital in July 2010. I was in the ER because I told my psychiatrist that I was planning to commit suicide and, when asked if I had any preference as to what psych hospital I wanted to be sent to, I immediately requested Holliswood because they had/have (I'm not sure if it's still considered a program because I don't see it on their site, but I know that it used to be) what seemed like a pretty comprehensive treatment program for post-traumatic stress, that I had actually looked into prior to this forced hospitalization. Here is my plethora of complaints:
- When I got there, I was told that the entire trauma treatment program which they so proudly spoke of included a session with a psychologist trained in treating post-traumatic stress once a week. To make that even better, it was never actually arranged for me to meet with this psychologist, despite the fact that the hospital was not only aware of my diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder because it was on my intake form, despite the fact that I specifically requested to meet with him, and despite the fact that I was promised that that would happen.
- The incompetence of the staff was beyond unbelievable. Luckily, this didn't happen to me, but many of my friends on the unit complained about being given the wrong medications, and then having to fight with staff to convince them that they weren't the proper medications. My social worker, who, according to the information I was given prior to admission, I was supposed to meet with every day, saw me once, for around ten minutes. She asked me why I was feeling suicidal, and I gave a very vague and incomplete answer, because it wouldn't have been so easy to just blurt out, "Because I was raped yesterday, after dealing with several previous rapes and years of sexual abuse." When I didn't answer quickly, she just said that we'd talk about it another time. That was the extent of my relationship with the social worker who was supposed to be working with me every day. Throughout the entire time I was there, only one staff member figured out what was actually going on with me- a wonderful art therapist, who is the only person in the entire hospital who I cannot complain about. Nearly every patient on the unit knew what was going on with me, some who I told, and some who just figured it out, but the overwhelming majority of the staff didn't even bother to ask what was wrong.
- There was absolutely no individual attention or treatment. Patients who wanted to see their doctors or social workers literally had to pester the staff, sometimes for days, just to spend a few minutes with them. I was apparently one of the luckier ones on the unit, as it only took me six or seven hours to get around fifteen minutes with a staff member.
- Some staff practices were just plain inhumane. All bathrooms were locked and needed to be opened by a staff member which I don't agree with, but I understand. My problem is with the fact that the staff complained every time they had to open up someone's bathroom or, sometimes, made them wait a pretty significant period of time to have the door opened. It got to the point that I stopped drinking water for certain portions of the day, just because trying to get in the bathroom was so miserable and it felt so degrading for someone to give you an attitude about the fact that you need to perform a basic bodily function.
- There was absolutely no opportunity to get fresh air of any kind. I heard that that was a privilege you could "earn," but I feel that it's unbelievably inhumane to keep people locked in a hallway for days or weeks at a time. There are ways to safely take unstable people outside. That's one of my lesser complaints because I don't think it's done with ill intent, just that it's inhumane and stupid that they can't figure out a way to get everyone some fresh air, as they did at a previous hospital I was at.
- The rules were completely inconsistent and changed on a whim, often with little consideration for patients' rights and well-being. Weekends being boring is pretty much a given in a psych unit, but generally, hospitals will at least make different forms of entertainment available to you and have a group or two every so often to make sure that everyone's alright. There were no groups, and the many games and other forms of entertainment that were available were only available for an hour or so per day, max, when it was the specific "right time" to use them. Anyway, on the Saturday that I was there, in an attempt to not sit around all day and think about terrible things in my life, I tried very hard to keep my friends and myself entertained. We created unique games, using assorted objects as balls and different other random objects as goals, created playing cards through the annoyingly slow process of drawing each one out and ripping it out of a piece of paper, and we taught each other songs we liked and sang them together. The next day, we went out into the hallway, expecting to, once again, try to amuse ourselves in any possible way, when the obviously well-qualified staff supervising the unit told us that we all had to stay in our rooms for the rest of the day, straight-out telling us that they didn't feel like supervising the hallway. Stuck in a tiny room with next to no entertainment except for during the immense adventure of leaving the hallway to get our little trays of food- sound like jail, anyone?
I'm not a fan of psych hospitals, to say the least, but if you have to be in one, I think you have an absolute right to be treated humanely, not have the hospital lie to you or misrepresent their services, and get treatment from qualified people who can help you actually get through the problems that caused the hospitalization in the first place. If you're thinking of hurting yourself and need this kind of supervision, trying committing a crime and going to jail- you'll get better treatment.
I am glad this young woman spoke up and exposed the real truth of what goes on at holliswood hospital. the woman from long beach can call me to get a class actionn lawsuit going. i know someone else who also wad given wrong meds and both of us had severe reactions needing medical er attention, that wasn't given. i was misdiagnosed most of the time there till police faxed a report on a sexual assault that occurred. i was given wrong medication and i couldn't walk and i was asking 1 patient to call my father because i was on the floor and staff didn't care. I went to court to try to stop the misdiagnosis, and any meds to be wrongfully given. the med given did this to me and put me in a wheel chair and into physical rehab to walk again! And they had to withdraw mey system from this wrong med by giving pain meds and physical thetapy massage etc for months. even after i was done as an inpatient physical therapy i still had problems with my legs! Email me at (((REDACTED)))@yahoo.com you were right about the small space of hallway and just the not paying attention when having to go to the bathroom and having an attitude not caring if ypu pee on yourself. there was a guy there who wss given wrong meds too and he couldn't move his neck to straight and was laying waiting for them to counteract this drug to help him move his neck. tbey even had him in there past the time allowed for his age! And another patient knew this. it happened to him to, and he tried to help get him out of the hospital kniwing his rights were being extremely violated and taken advantage of by his family who had luttle education on rights legally etc. there is another guy who witnessed both of us and the meds causing reactions meds for wrong diagnosis. he was a volunteer study getting paid to try meds out. we have to get a class action lawsuit even if sometime has passed due to knowing more peoplevsuffered and wete not cared for the way the hospital stated in their advertising and falsifying their motto on being theraputic .
the girl from long beach article is also right about time spent talking to an assigned csw. i didn't talk to one for weeks! Not even being able to discuss what happened because it was assigned dates in advance. Tjey kept saying the nurses save your thoughts for the csw when you see her. Which was maybe once for a short time once aweek! Bad program and messed up patients with wrong meds wrong diagnosis doctors constsntly being called by patients to talk and when they did getting no help. one med made me not pee! I couldn't pee at one point and they took me to an ER to help fix what these psych people did with administering wrong med! Even a guy i knew agreed how much of jail feel to it couldn't go outside to get fresh air! a lockup other hospitals like this took people in a group for fresh air some even could smoke cigarettes. i felt bad for some smokets cause they were given a patch and you could tell it just made it worse for them wanting a cigarette and their body being used to nicotine. If some hosp. Let them smoke and go outside why not holliswood. Director and nurses didn't really care. they did things to patients there were uneccessary and just only exercise you coyld get was if you made it to a certain level of length and doing chores! It was probably like a mentality that soldiers boot camp was used to. they expected certain tasks for people who were traumatized. poor mgmt. poor therapy.
In my situation of sex assault the DOD and cops wete involved and ididnt even realize how the DOD was and is worse today. the DOD has a program of experimenting on citizens through the NIH NYSDMH to attack and asault citizens with directed energy weapons torturing them physically and psych. this device u.der targeted individuals can be directed at the brain of many women and men whistleblowers and average citizens using them to experiment in the field of psychiatry and mind control methods such as mk ultra done by cia. ys ago. FBI have a big sadistic role in this along with certaun military army navy airforce labs etc conducting these experiments INHUMANELY. i am trying to get the united nations to help me and hope they help others here in USA and worlwide. The army use this device in IRAQ and it has been given to police retired contractors hired to use on them.