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Admission and After

ADMISSIONANDAFTER

IGBATTMHO Copyright 2019.

 

Being admitted into a Psychiatric Ward is not a sign of failure or the end. An inpatient hospitalization stay can be the beginning of your recovery and could save your life. While in the hospital medications can be adjusted, diagnoses given or changed, and you can get answers to questions. No, I am not saying that a hospital stay is the best thing that will ever happen, and many people do not like being admitted. Some hospitals are better than others and sometimes getting admitted can be a problem. You may be in a room with people who you are not comfortable with, be surrounded by some not so friendly staff and even have to eat lousy food, but focus on you and why you are there. Take advantage of that time to ask questions, to learn from the other people around you and to get better.

 

If you are a family member of a loved one, who is currently on a psychiatric ward, visit and be involved. Get to know the treatment team to include the Attending and treating physician (may or may not be the same person). If possible, ask for a meeting with the Social worker and or Doctor. If a date for a team meeting (a meeting in which all of the professionals involved in your loved one care gets together to discuss his or her case) has been set, try to attend. Your input is valuable and can help ensure that the treatment team is focusing on the right goals (your loved one may not be able to articulate their needs clearly). Ask questions about the diagnosis, about the medications, inquire about the discharge plan and if you have concerns, share those concerns with the team. For example, you may feel that your loved one should be in the hospital for longer than two days. If that is the case be prepared to share with the team why you feel that way, let them know what you have been observing. Please understand that the goal of an inpatient hospital stay is to stabilize not to warehouse. Meaning today many inpatient hospitals do not have enough beds to keep people long term, many of the newer psychotropic medications work faster and people can stabilize to a point where the MD may feel that they can go home quicker. However, you live with your family member, and you know the challenges that you and your loved one will have to face once he or she is discharged. So share those challenges with the team and ask them to help you to develop a realistic plan that takes into account those challenges. For example, if you know that there are limited mental health supports in your area and that the earliest your loved one can get a mental health appointment in the community is three weeks from the discharge date advocate with the inpatient doctor for enough medications to cover the time.

 

Upon discharge ensure that you or your loved has a follow-up appointment with a psychiatrist or mental health clinic in your area. It will be vital for you to follow up and to continue the work you have done while in the hospital. Follow up with a mental health professional, medications, family, friends and faith can all be important components in your recovery plan. Unfortunately, some people do not follow up with a mental health team in their community. Because they feel good after the discharge they don’t feel the need to keep seeing anyone, so they don’t, unfortunately especially in the case of many illnesses, symptoms do return. Don’t let this be you; there are treatment options for you and your loved one to get the help that you need. So get them!



It Not Easy

 
Hard, struggle and painful are adjectives used by some people who live with clinical depression and persistent negative thoughts to describe their life. If you have not walked in their shoes please don’t speak against their walk. Encourage, support, speak life, go the extra mile when they can’t, pray for them when they don’t have the strength and most of all love them and encourage them to get help as needed. People don’t kill themselves because they don’t trust God, don’t have anyone to talk to are sick, broke etc. Ultimately people kill themselves because at that moment the strength that they had been using to fight the persistent negative thoughts and to keep hope alive paled in comparison to the strength of the negative thoughts that they were currently facing. Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors go together. They were not weak or selfish, just at that moment overwhelmed. 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Yes, we are encouraged to stand in the Lord and to cast down those thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, however how we operationalize those mandates may look different depending on what we are facing and on how long we have been dealing with a specific persistent negative situation. For example, a long-term illness like clinical depression or one that requires ongoing tests and medical interventions can lead to up and down emotions such as fear and worry. One day you are full of faith and feeling good and the next day you are afraid and feel like giving up. Cycles that have us vacillating between a clean bill of health, treatment, remission, re-occurrence, treatment, remission etc. can wear us out. Sometimes we are going through so much (job problems, family issues etc) that we can feel as if we do not have the physical, mental or spiritual strength needed to deal with the same thing or another day. But guess what? The Lord is not disqualifying you because you feel like giving up. Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Before you knew anything about yourself there was a God who loved you. Even when you are without strength, positive attitude or hope He loves you. Sometimes we try to work and stay busy in hopes of putting a distance between us and our negative emotions but negative thoughts can be relentless.
When you have to confront the same negative thought, same health concern, the same fears over and over again you can become tired and weary. And even when things seem to be going well for the moment you can live in fear and with a sense of dread. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because  your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Thoughts that lead to our destruction (spiritually or emotionally) are tools that the enemy uses to destroy us. And just like the enemy who goes to and fro seeking whom he may devour, negative thoughts never give up. Negative thoughts such as those that generate fear, sadness and or defeat can seem like a formidable adversary in our quest to remain sane, hopeful and upbeat. Even when we are smiling and feeling good, those persistent negative thoughts can creep in. And when we least expect it those thoughts can invade our feelings and remind us that we are not really happy. Sometimes you just don’t have the emotional, physical or spiritual strength to keep going, but He does. We can sometimes think that if we are not quoting scripture, praying or confessing that we are not in faith. But faith goes beyond quoting scriptures and a good confession (while these things are important). Romans 4:2-4 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. The Lord knows that sometimes you will be dealing with something in your life that you will not have the strength to face. So don’t beat yourself up if you feel as if you don’t have the testimony that you think you should have or are not speaking in faith in the way you think you should. Each time your spirit cries out and points in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ that is a manifestation of your faith. This is the time in which all you need to do is to trust Jesus. Your faith is found in your trust and reliance on Him and He does not count or measure your faith in the same way that you do. Never discount the Love of God. Jesus Christ is not as hard to get along with as you think. He will meet you when you don’t have the strength to meet him. He will sustain you even when you don’t have the strength to pray, fast, go to church, read your bible, put a smile on your face, talk faith or think positive thoughts. He will meet you where you are even when you don’t feel Him. If you don’t have the strength that you feel you need He does, even in your silence, your fear, worry and tears He is there and His strength is sufficient. So stop with the self-condemnation and feelings of guilt.  You do not have to do anything extra in this season but just rest in Him.


Be Honest

Assessment-Sometimes we all need to conduct a honest, biblically based assessment or evaluation of our lives. This assessment should include a hard look at our thoughts, feelings and behaviors as well as our strengths and weaknesses. Doing so can help us to identify those areas in our lives that if not dealt with now can cause us problems latter in our lives.

Unfortunately, some of us have been hurt so much in our past that we equate any situation or person that points out a flaw in our lives as the enemy when this is not always the case.  Don’t lie to yourself about yourself and don’t let other people lie either. Face up to your mistakes, realize your triggers, identify the doors in which the enemy can come in, set up precautions and yield to the Lord.

Not being honest about who you are can put you in a situation in which you are blindsided or leave a door open for the enemy to come in. When you ignore or minimize problems, it prevents you from being honest with yourself. It’s ok to want to believe the best about other people or ourselves, but to do so while overlooking blatant character issues or habits is not wise. How many people are in martial counseling now over issues that should have been dealt with before they got married but instead they ignored the issue, convinced themselves that they were different from other people, or told themselves that they could change the person.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about confrontation of issues not ignoring them. The Lord loves you flaws and all which is why He came to redeem us back to Himself. His spirt will lead and guide us into all truth but we have to ask Him for the power to be honest and to repent. Don’t minimize, overlook or make excuses.  You don’t have to do that, because the Spirt of God in you can handle you.  Some people minimize problems, shortcomings or weaknesses because they feel that by identifying problems they are somehow being disloyal to the person, to God or to themselves. Don’t do that.  Identify your triggers, bring them to the cross and be free. Not being honest keeps you in bondage to your flaws and puts you in a situation in which you are pretending to be something that you are not. For example, how many people are dealing with lust, anger and fear but who are going to church Sunday after Sunday pretending to be free. Don’t pretend when you can be free in Jesus. When you are honest the enemy can’t keep you in bondage with fear. Fear that people will know what you are thinking, fear that you will say the wrong thing, fear that people will not understand, fear that you don’t fit in, fear of judgement etc. The key to walking in the liberty in which Jesus Christ has made you free is to be honest. Remember a Biblically based assessment is not afraid to look at both the good and bad, a biblically based thought pattern does not walk around only looking at the good in life or thinking positive, instead a Biblically based mindset takes into account both the good and evil and biblically takes an honest look at what needs to be changed.

 

Trigger – anything, as and act or event, that serves as a stimulus and initiates or precipitates a reaction or series of reactions (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/trigger)

 

Proverbs 26:2

 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

 

1 John 2 1-3

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.



 
 

 

 

 

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