Psychiatric hospital

thegreatgonzo · 21-02-2014 01:46AM

Davarus Walrus wrote: »

No one wants to end up 'down in Ballinasloe'.

Well you couldn't even if you wanted to now.

finix · 21-02-2014 01:47AM

Jake1 wrote: »

even the '5 star St Pats' has a padded room

Indeed they do but its far removed from the coffee shop ! I lived in Summerhill for a year, No bars there, all running free !:eek:

whirlpool · 21-02-2014 01:48AM

A few of you are saying you found the places creepy, but you're not describing why. Was there a boogeyman? Naked aul wans chasing ya? Explain yerselves!

degausserxo · 21-02-2014 01:48AM

I visited my uncle in Pat's when I was a teenager and thought the place was awful.. wasn't until I spent some time in the psych unit in Tallaght hospital last year that I realised how nice that place is in comparison.

Chattastrophe! · 21-02-2014 01:48AM

cena wrote: »

He didn't know I was their. He has alzheimer's and dementia

Fair enough.

I love my father to bits. He has done so much for me; there's nothing in the world he wouldn't do for me. And there is nothing I wouldn't do for him. If he was suffering, I would always be there at his side. Without hesitation. Whether he knew I was there or not would be completely irrelevant.

That's just me, though.

Gremlinertia · 21-02-2014 01:51AM

whirlpool wrote: »

A few of you are saying you found the places creepy, but you're not describing why. Was there a boogeyman? Naked aul wans chasing ya? Explain yerselves!

Mullingar - visited a friend there, despite warm day and cherry blossoms along the canal outside, directly inside was freezing and dark, the contrast between the beauty outside and the cold, echoing way it was inside felt strange. Went back to visit him a few times but that contrast remained..

The patients and staff were all in pretty good form i must say, just a dark weird building..

Stained Class · 21-02-2014 01:53AM

whirlpool wrote: »

Why does a completely derelict place have security?

To stop Pikeys from stripping the place of all kinds of metal, such as Radiators, Fireplaces, wiring, pretty much anything of value.

Also if Mr Pikey injures himself pulling a fireplace from a wall, who on earth will pay for his injuries if 'God forbid' he has an accident?

Photo-Sniper · 21-02-2014 01:54AM

whirlpool wrote: »

Why does a completely derelict place have security?

Its next to an old Magdalene laundry that recently got converted into apartments. The building itself is falling apart and i'd say at least 10 people a day visit the place as its pretty well known. They just look after the place and the area. I guess for health and safety reasons overall.

Femme_Fatale · 21-02-2014 01:57AM

Photo-Sniper wrote: »

Did a photography project on St Kevins in Cork... Creepy creepy place. Completely derelict and ilegal to trespass on, but the Security are friendly and if they see you are there for a reason they usually let you have a snoop. The place is completely untouched inside...still old documents, desks etc... Terrifying yet remarkable gaff.

Is that the children's part of St Anne's? Because I know a lot of people have used that place for photography and art and whatnot over the years and it's supposed to be haunting all right; children's drawings and the like.

St Stephen's in Cork is supposed to be a sh1t-hole - little dignity for the patients apparently (from speaking to a former patient there/people who used to work there).

I accompanied a friend to the out-patient part of the Mercy Hospital psychiatric wing once. It seemed ok. It's probably moreso the wards that are the not nice parts.

finix · 21-02-2014 01:57AM

degausserxo wrote: »

I visited my uncle in Pat's when I was a teenager and thought the place was awful.. wasn't until I spent some time in the psych unit in Tallaght hospital last year that I realised how nice that place is in comparison.

So, People are not as mad as they used to be ? Are you ok now ?

Electric Sheep · 21-02-2014 01:58AM

finix wrote: »

I assume you have never visited the 5 star St Patricks Hospital Then ? Where was your dad ? St Ita's in Portrane ? Vast difference ! I think you relived your experience from a movie. What did you see ? Padded rooms ? White coats a plenty ? Were they all screaming while spit was flowing from their mouths ?
Maybe you should just go out more !

Even St Pats has some of the serious wards where you do see patients like that. It's not all 5 star.

Photo-Sniper · 21-02-2014 02:00AM

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Is that the children's part of St Anne's? Because I know a lot of people have used that place for photography and art and whatnot over the years and it's supposed to be haunting all right; children's drawings and the like.

St Stephen's in Cork is supposed to be a sh1t-hole - little dignity for the patients apparently (from speaking to a former patient there/people who used to work there).

I accompanied a friend to the out-patient part of the Mercy Hospital psychiatric wing once. It seemed ok. It's probably moreso the wards that are the not nice parts.

Yep.

Its a very very chilling place.

Interesting article and photos here : http://www.abandonedireland.com/skv_3.html

bobwilliams · 21-02-2014 02:01AM

cena wrote: »

Have you ever been in one of these places?

I went into one once to see my dad and I really couldn't go back onto it. It just creeped me out.

my sis was a patient for a while,all I can say is they're great if you need them but my sis had an OD and really this place just made her worse.

Some patients were soo out of it I was actually really freaked out at the time.

Loking back it was a very sad place,it's amazing how the brain can go,one chap I remember well was used to stay at the window all day long shouting his fathers name(his dad was dead)non stop until bedtime.
Real eye opener tbh and I really respect people who are dealing with mental illness on a daily basis.

SimonQuinlank · 21-02-2014 02:02AM

Garden in St.Pats is lovely,my uncle used to walk about a thousand laps of it every time I visited him.

Photo-Sniper · 21-02-2014 02:05AM

Photo-Sniper wrote: »

Yep.

Its a very very chilling place.

Interesting article and photos here : http://www.abandonedireland.com/skv_3.html

Interesting after I just mentioning the security of the place: according to that site its costing close to 6000 euro a week for security.

vermin99 · 21-02-2014 02:05AM

In st canices in kilkenny they used to have kind of a farm that would supply the food for the hospital along with the patients getting out feeding cattle , sowing veg etc etc, the farm itself was closed in the 90s unfortunately as it was seen as "cheap labour" .now in fairnous it was a terrible decision to close it cause especielly if your going to be in there for a while and your not physically sick, you cant beat the fresh air, well thats just the way the countries gone.decision came from a office in dublin who didnt have a clue that the patients actually liked working on the farm, still pisses me off to this day

Lightbulb Sun · 21-02-2014 02:06AM

Electric Sheep wrote: »

Even St Pats has some of the serious wards where you do see patients like that. It's not all 5 star.

I think it's just the one, the Dean Swift Ward. I've no idea how things are run there but that's where the most critical patients stay. Other wards seemed perfectly calm most of the time. I stayed in one for 3/4 months.

Bipolar Joe · 21-02-2014 02:19AM

I was in one for a while. I think the creepy feeling you all had was because you expected it to be creepy. If there was a show like Scrubs, only in a mental facility, you'd just think of that instead. Your only other reference is things like Silence of the Lambs, where every body knows your name, and can smell your cunt.

Femme_Fatale · 21-02-2014 02:27AM

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

I was in one for a while. I think the creepy feeling you all had was because you expected it to be creepy. If there was a show like Scrubs, only in a mental facility, you'd just think of that instead. Your only other reference is things like Silence of the Lambs, where every body knows your name, and can smell your cunt.

Nah as I said the Mercy Hospital Cork psychiatric wing was grand when I went there with my friend; not creepy at all. She went for an assessment and consultation and said all of that was fine, and she felt much more at ease afterwards.
The CUH psychiatric wards are supposed to be fine too. It's just St Stephen's that's supposed to be a kip, and St Anne's is derelict and from a time when psychiatric hospitals were horrible places, so that's bound to evoke unease.
I've heard St Pat's is nice enough too. I suppose they can all have very sad, despairing pockets... like any hospital.

Galwayguy35 · 21-02-2014 02:45AM

Was in the one in Ballinasloe visiting various family members over the years, one cousin spent all his adult life there and his brother was in and out as well for most of his life.

Twas a bleak looking place all right.

snowbabe · 21-02-2014 03:01AM

John of gods stillorgan is amazing,am sorry to hear all the horror stories here,especially of young kids being brought to hospitals to visit relatives.Alot has changed in recent years andvreading here they all sound horrific,theyre not actually.I really hope anyone reading this and possibly needs help is not put off by some second hand observations.

Lightbulb Sun · 21-02-2014 03:06AM

snowbabe wrote: »

I really hope anyone reading this and possibly needs help is not put off by some second hand observations.

+1

Chucken · 21-02-2014 03:16AM

I can't decide if the OP is talking about the buildings or the patients.
What creeped him out?
I feel that it was the nature of the illness more than the building, I could be wrong.

Either way, it's all back down to understanding mental illness.

beks101 · 21-02-2014 04:19AM

God these "creepy loony bin" descriptions are just pissing me off tbh.

I've been to many across the country as a close relative has a long-term mental illness. They're hospitals full of sick people, they're not supposed to be fun or sociable or entertaining places. Walking into a cancer ward and being surrounded by sick patients is hardly a pleasurable experience, why would a psychiatric ward be any different?

But generally they're grand. No weirdos swinging off lampshades, no random yelling or frantic rocking or airs of creepiness like people seem to think. You'll get people lying in beds with family members visiting as per any hospital ward, you'll get patients gathering in a communal area to watch TV, or play cards, or drink tea or just sit on their own.

Occasionally there may be a patient "incident" equally as distressing as if you were to witness someone rushed into an ER or collapsing in a hospital ward; you're surrounded by people in various states of mental unwellness, it's par for the course.

And yeah sometimes the nurses seem uber-cheery as if to over-compensate for the nature of the place, but I've been to quite a few and they're far from the hellholes that have been described here.

Also pertinent to note that 1 in 4 people in Ireland is affected by mental illness, so chances are most people reading this know someone who has been admitted to a psychiatric ward, be it a friendly neighbour, old teacher, former classmate, ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, aunt or uncle, whatever. It's just dumb and ignorant to be afraid of or to further stigmatize these places.

Gremlinertia · 21-02-2014 04:25AM

I think the buildings often tend to be older, therefore grim at times. No hospital ward will be a barrel of laughs exactly, but it's the setting that does it for me.. Only been to three units, but looked up more for comparison.

Irish Guitarist · 21-02-2014 04:41AM

My mother is a retired psychiatric nurse. I often visited her at work when I was a child. Years later two of my sisters worked there too. When I was seventeen I did work experience in the hospital storeroom for about eight months so there was a brief period where four members of my family were working in the hospital.

obplayer · 21-02-2014 04:41AM

Visited a friend a few times in a private place in London some years ago. Everything looked reasonably normal 'till you realised that some patients were never left alone and that to get from the patients' rooms to the outside doors you had to pass three desks.

Sir Osis of Liver. · 21-02-2014 05:11AM

Those hellholes are closed down now lads.

Ive given years working in such places as a contractor and seen some odd sh1t from patients and staff but ffs that stigma needs to be dropped.
The best of people can end up needing help.

angeline · 21-02-2014 05:16AM

Unfortunately in the past a lot of people were committed not because they needed help but for spurious reasons. This is one of the saddest aspects imo. I feel for the lost souls who died in the old psychiatric hospitals...

21-02-2014 06:54AM

I'm really uncomfortable with this thread. Mental illness is something that many people fear, and we really need to get away from some of the terms used in this thread in order to alleviate those fears. I'd hazard a guess that some folk have gotten confused between Hollywood and reality.

Hospitals are not the 'creepy' places they are made out to be in this thread. If you have are reading this and need some assistance with your mental health, or if you have a relative that could do with a visitor, please don't let this thread put you off.

Psychiatric hospital

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