So I was in the Psych ward of the ER for 24 hours. Beyond all the other stuff that I could go on about (and boy could I go on about it for a while: the screaming alone is really something else, and I'm no newbie when it comes to listening to people scream at 2:30 in the morning), I just gotta say that it's really fucking boring in the Psych ward. Like mind-bogglingly boring. Bored to tears. I've never been so happy to see a newspaper in my entire life as I was when the depressed panhandler with withdrawal problems in the next room over offered me her copy. Not even a decent newspaper, only the Daily News, but at the time it felt like the most amazing literature I'd ever seen. I read that entire thing twice over; even the celebrity gossip section.
There's nothing to do there. They take everything, leave you in hospital scrubs or whatever and have you stare at a wall for hours on end. It's almost like a metaphor for depression: they take away everything that matters to you, and sit you in a grey cube, with nothing to do. You sleep until you get bored of sleeping. Periodically you try to explain your problems again to someone new, while hoping they'll either leave you alone or help, somehow. You're terrified of saying something that will trap you here. You have some vague hope that eventually this will all be worth it and maybe you'll get better, but you are also haunted by the thought that this was a terrible idea, that you're trapped, and you should escape at any cost.
Twenty-four hours in an emergency room, followed by seven hours today doing an intake, all so I could get a single slip of paper with a phone-number to call to try and do another intake at a place that might actually provide something useful. It should say something when the highlight of my day was listening to a man describe his experience in Bellevue (yes, that Bellevue, it's right here in NYC) where he repeatedly assaulted sex offenders (short version: if a man says "I will assault sex offenders if you put them in my room", he's probably serious). And all of this could be instantly avoided if we had enough money for a private doctor, but alas the money is just not there.
Honestly I'm in no mood for spoilers, so quote if you want. Compared to being in the ER, this is a surplus of privacy and personal space.