Health Upp A psychiatric hospital helps treat various conditions like alcoholism, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, and chronic pain, dementia, drug addiction, OCD, personality disorder, etc. People get addicted to certain health-ruining habits without even their knowledge.
Addiction and mental illness are different ailments, but they both require treatment at a psychiatric hospital. Every treatment will differ based on the illness, level of severity, symptoms, behavior of patients, and physical health. The period of stay in the psychiatric hospital also varies according to different ailments and the patient’s severity of sickness.
Types of Disorders and Length of Stay
The disorder, symptoms, and severity change from patient to patient. Some patients may recover faster, and some may not. It also depends on their willpower and restraint they show towards the obsession or addiction. The psychiatric doctor studies and records the nature of each patient and provides treatment for them. Given below are the various ailments treated in a psychiatric hospital.
Alcoholism:
Every individual starts drinking for fun or entertainment, and sometimes it slowly escalates to stress drinking. So people drink to escape from problems and fall into the hands of addiction. Some people understand their state and take up rehab sessions to recover from it.
Some may take a few months, and some may take a lifetime. Recovery depends on the resistance they’re building during the period of treatment. When an alcoholic suddenly stops drinking, they have withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, fever, sweating, tremors, headache, nausea, and many others.
The patients undergoing these symptoms should show strength and sustain this phase without drinking and surpass it to enter the healing or recovery phase. During the early diagnosis stage alone, the patient may be admitted to the hospital for a few weeks or months.
So if the patient is cooperative and showing progress, they will be discharged, and treatment will continue as an outpatient.
Alcoholism is treated with various therapy sessions and medications. For these treatments, the patient doesn’t have to stay at the hospital, but it is important to pay regular visits and attend therapy sessions regularly without fail. The treatment is as follows:
- Cognitive behavior therapy
- Dialectical behavior therapy
- Motivational interview
- Caregiver support or family therapy
- Group therapy
- Avoidance skill training
- Alternative therapy.
Bipolar Disorder:
The behavior of a person diagnosed with bipolar disorder is very uncertain. So this behavior of the patient will affect the family, friends, environment negatively. Bipolar symptoms are hard to recognize, and commonly seen symptoms are drastic shifts in moods, inability to do daily tasks, energy levels, restlessness, irritability, etc.
Bipolar is one of the most challenging disorders to treat as they occur in un-relevant patterns. Some patients with this disorder may need 24×7 support and care because they can be violent, self-harming, or suicidal.
With consistent treatment and therapy sessions, patients recover slowly in about a few months. Once the patients are back to their normal behavior, they are discharged and provided with post-discharge support and medications and treated as outpatients.
Depression:
Every individual goes through stress. People who are not able to find a way through it reaches the depression stage. People with depression feel lost, hopeless, or are even suicidal. Certain biological and social factors usually cause depression.
There are different levels or kinds of depression, namely major depression, persistent depressive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, psychotic depression, etc. Diagnosing the exact condition and treating the patient with required medication and therapy sessions reflects in their progress.
Psychotherapy is a conversational session that helps patients deal with their feelings, emotions, and symptoms. Patients can be treated as inpatients, outpatients, or treated from a nursery if required. Therefore the length of stay depends on the patient’s cooperation and progress.
Schizophrenia:
It is a chronic brain disorder, and it is a rare illness as it is diagnosed in only 1% of the population. Therefore people diagnosed with schizophrenia have symptoms like hallucinations and delusions wherein the affected person may hear episodes of voices that push them into stress, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
However, there are three types of Schizophrenia, namely paranoid, hebephrenic, and catatonic. So after diagnosis and psychometric assessment, the doctors will develop a treatment plan best suitable for the patient and their symptoms.
In case of severe symptoms like recurring violent episodes, patients are treated with electroconvulsive therapy to bring them back to their normal behavior. The psychiatric hospitals serve and support these patients closely as they encounter violent episodes.
The treatment period may last for over several years, and services are even delivered to their homes. The length of stay can not be generalized as it depends on the type of disorder, patient resistance, the severity of symptoms, and so on.
The psychiatric hospitals provide various treatment environments like inpatients, outpatients, and nursing homes. Based on the patient and the requirement, the patient is treated in the desired setting. Patients will be discharged within a few weeks if they have healed and shown progress.
