Has Anyone Here Experienced Being Committed for a Mental Breakdown? What happened?

4 comments

1. Talk to your doctor and get in therapy my dude. I could make a list of shit that works for me, but everyone is different. Just remember to keep pushing forward and breath.

2. I would strongly suggest seeing about getting yourself involved in an outpatient program or a therapist. There’s benefits to both and I imagine your doctor can probably explain them to you better than I can. An outpatient program something a little bit more intensive that you likely go to multiple times a week for at least an hour to a few hours a day.

   I would also encourage that you don’t ignore these warning signs, I did about 2 years ago. A lot of things simultaneously happen to me: a broken engagement, job loss, illness, covid, and moving to a new town.

   The broken engagement came at the tail end of all of that and it threw my life into a little bit of a spiral. Suddenly on top of everything else I had to get an apartment, separate accounts, adjust to what it means to live alone, and adjust what it means to live without this person in my life, split pets, split the friend group, get s*** talked, and come to terms with the fact that this person wasn’t at all who I thought they were and the wildly disappointing realization of all the wasted time and money.

   Anyway, I wish I’d started the conversation with my doctor about getting into therapy a little bit sooner than when I was already spiraling out of control. I am voice out loud to myself and my expartner multiple times that I “felt like I was hitting a breaking point”.

   When I broke it wasn’t exactly pretty. I ignore it a lot of responsibility, I had an insane amount of casual sex, had several intents and short-lived relationships with people but I should have known better than to get involved with, was extremely suicidal, and drank more than I should have. There is also a time where I was so depressed that I wasn’t eating properly.

   I actually ended up flying back home to stay with a friend’s family for a couple of weeks. In retrospect, I think there was a time where I probably should have been committed. I never actually committed to committing myself because I was concerned with how it might affect my life and the stigma surrounding it. If I ever end up that low again I will probably commit myself. I hope I never do and I don’t think I will.

   It wasn’t until after all of this and I actually started looking into therapy.

   I know that it’s hard as a guy. Not many people or institutions are designed to help us. Societal expectations say that we have to take care of everything ourselves. Hell, the average man is just absolutely terrible at talking about emotions and trauma much less supporting someone who happens to be going through something that is emotional and traumatic. Most men tend to have mainly men as their friends. Seems like we just take more and more on our shoulders until it all comes crumbling down.

   Anyway, best of luck.

3. I had a mental breakdown at 16, wasn’t hospitalized. My parents just let me work through it on my own.
   I’m 50 now and I’ve had to seek therapy several times over the years. I’ve done over 400 hours on the sofa, so-to-speak, plus some newer, experimental treatments.

   I’ve been hospitalized once voluntarily and once involuntarily. If you think you might be a danger to yourself or others, I’d suggest going to the hospital and asking if they have a mental health ward you could check into and how crowded it is. If that fits your comfort levels, please consider checking in.

   They’ll get you a bed, sometimes a room to yourself. If you need to relax and can’t, they’ll give you something. Usually you have to stay for a minimum of 24 hours, sometimes 48, but within that time a psychologist will talk with you and assess what direction your treatment should take. That might be an extended stay, or you might be put on long term medication and have an appointment to start work with a counselor.

4. Close, I went to rehab the day after I turned 41 and I had just tried to kill myself two nights in a row as life was over for me and I just simply couldn’t go on. I had lost everything I ever worked for, lost my partner of 8 years, have a family that never cared about me and never felt I fit into the world and was like an alien living with human beings.

   I stayed a month and it changed my life in every way. I kept to AA once I left and now Im 10 months out and my life and outlook have completely changed. Most days Im pretty happy, I have never been happy and thought it was impossible to ever be.

   I can accept myself for who I am, I don’t sit and pontificate all the time anymore and accept life on life’s terms vs wishing things weren’t how they are.

   Rehab is obviously a bit different, but there are a lot of similarities.