 I hope that you guys have been watching my channel if you're new here. Hi, hello, I'm Lydia, and today we are going to be talking about the first time I ever got sectioned, what being sectioned means. So yeah, today's subject is being sectioned. A section is the right to detain a person in hospital, and depending on which part of the app that is, that depends on how long that can be. Section two of the Mental Health Act is a 28-day hold. Well, up to 28-day hold you can be discharged sooner, non-renewable. Then there's section three of the Mental Health Act, which is three months, then six months, then once a year. That one is renewable and can be used as long as needed. Then there's all nurse-holding powers, which are section four and section five of the Mental Health Act. And then there's the police powers, which are section 135 and section 136 and 137. So the first time I got sectioned was in Preston, and I didn't know the police had powers. And I got sectioned under 136 of the Mental Health Act, and then got put into a section two, and pretty much dragged on the ward because I tried to do a run up between getting transferred, and that resulted in me getting my neck pushed down and restrained and dragged in by a lift, and then literally dragged onto a ward. What hallucinating feels like, because a hallucination is ultimately what got me sectioned. It's hard to explain because it feels real, like what you are seeing is real in your eyes, because it's what you can see. When you stood there screaming at a police officer saying, there's a guy over there, there's a guy over there, there's a guy over there, and there's no one over there, you just feel like you're going absolutely insane, and you're not. Like when people say you're going insane, it's not a bad thing, like it's not. There's just so much, like there is so much stigma surrounding mental illness, especially hallucinating. Like hallucinating is the hardest symptom, in my opinion, to deal with as an individual who struggles with mental illness, because it's hard to distinguish real from not real, and when you live with it on a daily basis, it gets even darker and harder, and in this admission, I was convinced that there was this guy following me, even though I was on a female unit. I was convinced the guy was following me around everywhere, and I literally did nothing. I stayed in my room, I stayed in bed, in a corner, I just didn't do anything because I was afraid. Sectioning is only used if a person is either unable to understand the need for hospital admission, point blank, refusing to be admitted, and presenting as a risk to yourself or risk to others. You need it in just a lot of cases, it can be because you're on death store, your psychotic here could be because you are a risk to yourself and you can be a risk to other people without meaning to be. But I want to say this, being sectioned is not a bad thing. Don't think it makes you a bad person because you've been sectioned, it's not going to ruin your life because you've been sectioned, and it is only used when it's needed, and if you do a dental section, yeah, it sucks. I'm not going to pretend it's fun, like it's not, you're literally trapped in a hospital. Most of the time it helps. I've had experiences where it hasn't happened, it's made me a lot worse. Generally speaking, putting me in hospital ends with me getting more agitated than when I'm at home. Where's my drink gone? How have I lost? Because when you're in a section, you do not get to say, I'm not doing this because they can just make you. Obviously they can't force you into therapy, no one can force you to participate in therapy, they can make you go in the room, they're not likely to. They try to ask your opinion, they try to involve you, but ultimately it really doesn't matter what you say. They're the professionals and they will take their own advice. The first time I was admitted, it was I'm a bit of a control freak. I like being in control of my own treatment and knowing what's going on. In that first admission I had no clue what was going on, they didn't give me a care plan, they didn't give me a treatment plan, it was just what they said went. The admission, the admission happened because I was off all my medication and I've said this hundreds of times, I cannot be off medication and coping. I was hallucinating, I was depressed, I tried to kill myself and then I got convinced someone was trying to kidnap me, even though no one was there and I found the police and they put me on the 136th mental health act. That was incredibly traumatising because they immediately search you, arms out and pull on search, pay down when you're a fucking criminal. It was terrifying because all they say is you're irradiating you under section 136th mental health act and then you get forcibly taken somewhere and that was terrifying. The 136th happened in December, I was placed in section 2 which lasted two weeks. The process of an admission so you get given your rights. On a section 2 you have a right to appeal for up to 28 days and they can give you medication by force if needed. I talked about this briefly in my last hospital vlog which was from when I was on a section in January and I got injected with heliparadol, lorazepam, promethazine and heliparadol and all sorts because I was so agitated, I lashed out. Their response was perfectly reasonable like I can't fault them but I tried to escape and I got sedated, that's how it happened. In the UK physical force is only used if necessary, they are much more likely to give you medication if you refuse medication they can force it and it's not dignified, it's not anything anyone wants but it happens. Another thing they do is they search all of your belongings, absolutely everything, get a pat down, they have metal detectors, they do it for their own protection and for your own protection from yourself. There's a lot of paperwork in the beginning, you can speak to a doctor, once you've had that done and told, you get your medication shown to your room or in some wards they have dormitories, I've been in dormitories and I've always ended up getting moved to a side room because I have anxiety issues. When you get onto the ward though it's so, for the first time it is so intimidating because you don't know what you're walking into, especially with acute wards, you have no idea. I've only had a few bad experiences with patients on wards, my first mission was definitely emotional and I definitely did not want the medication that I had to take but I also didn't want to get forced to take it so I just took it. The thing I found the hardest and I still find the hardest is food and eating because they expect you to eat around a group of like 20 to 30 other people that you don't know. I'm really insecure about that stuff like that anyway, it wasn't pretty like it was, I didn't really do anything, I didn't even charge my phone on that admission, I literally just lay there looking at a ceiling and that was it, had my meds went to sleep, woke up, did nothing, had my meds went to sleep. In adult wards there is not like a daily structure like there's not activity, there's no education to do, there's nothing. Kids wards, you have to go to school but you get to the schools on the wards, there's basically an art room and a TV room and some wards have outdoor areas, it varies depending on where you go but what I can say is it is not as scary as you think, you are not likely to be attacked, no one's going to be running around screaming whatever, you're not going to see people getting dragged out rooms by staff, it's not, it's not how films portray it and I've said this for years and I'll carry on saying it. If wards were like films, you'd be safer in prison, go with a program, go with what they offer you and don't be afraid to question things, if you think you're not being treated right, speak up and say something, don't lie there and take it because at the end of the day it's your hell and you know you're better than anyone, you know you're better than you know you're better than anyone, how many times do I miss pronounce something in one video? If you do have any questions about inpatient, let me know in the comments down below and I'll try my best to answer them or if you want me to do a Q&A on this subject, feel free to, I'm going to tell some other stories from Psych Ward but I thought this would be a good introduction to the subject. So this video is a bit about my first admission, like I said it was scary but the best thing you can do is mix with people and try and talk to a few people so you've got not friends but so you can like build friendships and get to know people and talk to them. A lot of my friends I have met through mental health units, twitter um but the best thing you can do on wards so you feel less alone is have visitors if you're allowed like honestly in my last two, in my last, well not the last admission, the three admissions I had it would have been so much harder if Becca wasn't there because I had been so alone and then again visitors is nice because you get this sense of like you get a sense of the outside world. I mean I know I have very bad anxiety but I always try to talk to someone, I've always made friends on wards and I still talk to most of them now and honestly if they can take you when you're at your worst they're in luck when you're at the on your best and that's where I'm going to end this video. Thank you for watching and if you're new subscribe also if you want to go and subscribe to my monthly mental health box the link will be in the description down below you know I do stickers I have all sorts on there so go check it out it would really mean a lot like comment subscribe all that jazz and yeah I'll see you guys tomorrow with a new video peace