What to expect as a Psychiatric day patient.

LegacyUser

Hi all,

I have been going through a rather traumatic peroid of depression over the last couple years and have been recently been referred to the Johnathan Swift Day clinic. I have my appointment this week and I'm unsure as to what to expect.

I posted here a week or so ago about a Psychiatric evauation which I was going for, I had this and the further referral is as a result of that...

On the day of the appointment as in most days my attention span was pretty low and I didn't really take in much of what was being said to me!

My main question is what happens here, what should I expect?? I think this is a day cinic and that I'm only going to be there for a couple mins/hrs twice or so a week??? Can anyone enlighten me on this, it would be much appreciated!

flour!

Nevyn

Honestly it can depend on what treatments and activites have been prescribed for you.
You will arrive in and there will be a schedule for you but together by the team and you do the sessions, be they 1 to 1 or group or occupatoinal therphy or what everis reccemended for you.

Why don't you get in touch and ask for them to send you out some infomation I am sure that they will be glad to do so.

LegacyUser

I'm slightly backward in asking direct questions like that so I basically shut up and accepted the appointment....

What kind of activities would you generally be talking about?

I am not clued up on these things at all and I seriously don't want to ring or talk to them until I have to go there...

LegacyUser

i attended a day clinic a good few years ago now, not the one you mentioned though. i basically walked in off the the street and broke down in front of the first person who came to the door. in hindsight i can't believe that i did that but hey - i was in a bad place and i had no idea of where else to go at the time. i was in a city where i knew no one, severely severely and deeply depressed and it was the first place i thought of.

anyway i was brought to a room and when i calmed down i was seen by a psychiatrist and a psychiatric nurse. there were 3 nurses there and each had responsibility for a few patients. the psychiatrist spoke to me at great length and was very different to what i thought they'd be like. they prescribed antidepressants and went through exactly what that entailed. with the nurse i agreed to attend daily, 10am to 4pm daily i think it was. that was good for me at the time as i was stuck in that awful cycle of staying in bed all day, etc etc so from a really simple point of view it was good to have something to do all day.

the days were made up of little routines, a sort of welcome group meeting in the morning, where we would discuss what kind of evening and night we had, then tea and scones, then an activity, which could be arts and crafts or discussing the day's newspapers or cookery or plan making, then lunch, always a hearty and nutricious meal. this was good as again i was in such a bad place i hadn't been eating at all properly. then medication time, this was overseed by the nurses. in the afternoon we would have another group session of therapy which was always very supportive, then meditation and one to one sessions with the psychiatrist once a week. there were free times every day where you could do what you wanted, watch an hour of tv, play table tennis, pool or use the treadmill or excercise bike, and a quick group meeting before we left to share our plans of what we would do for the evening.

whenever anyone new came there was a great sense of excitement and acceptance, i do remember that. you kind of buddied up and showed them the ropes so to speak. i look back on it as a really safe and secure place and time for me to get my head back in the right place, the psychiatrist and nurses were always on hand and made time for you, the people were in there for very different reasons but we shared the common goal i suppose of getting better enough to be in charge of ourselves again. that's the way i saw it anyway.

the place you have you appointment might be completely different to the place i was but don't be nervous or anxious, OP. the proffessionals are there to help you. good luck with it. if you put in the effort you will get better, and you've made that first step in asking for help.

LegacyUser

Hi!

Just had my appointment there today, was quite an interesting but difficult experience...

Firstly, went to reception and ended up waiting in the day room for 10 mins. (grand)

Then, met with a doctor and nurse and chatted with them for 45 or so mins, so so hard.

Finally, told to come back next week and given further appointments and they would also be in contact with me regarding meds!

All that this was in aid of was a get to know session and they won't proceed further until they know me and my situation, which I was relieved at!

So all in all, it was good in one way but extremely hard talking to people.

Thanks!