Conditions That Can Land You In The Psych Ward

Clinical Depression

Clinical depression is sometimes called major depressive disorder and is one of the more common mental illnesses. Symptoms are severe and persistent, lasting for at least two weeks, but typically extend beyond this time. Symptoms of depression include persistent sadness, irritability, hopelessness, decreased energy and fatigue, and difficulty sleeping and concentrating. People can experience clinical depression in response to a major event in their life, such as after the birth of a baby, known as postpartum, or in response to the change in seasons, such as seasonal affective disorder or SAD.

Some individuals will experience depression that lasts for two years or more, known as dysthymia, cycling between severe and less severe symptoms. Still, others may experience depression with co-occurring symptoms of psychosis (psychotic) including delusions and hallucinations. Each of these categories can lead to an inpatient stay if the symptoms become so severe that they interfere with a person's daily life, or the person is evaluated as being a danger to themselves, as in they're suicidal, or others, as they have become homicidal.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder is characterized by an individual's distortion of self, fluctuation in moods and erratic behavior. Individuals with this disorder may have poor impulse control and quickly cycle between feelings of extreme elation to feelings of depression and extreme anger. Patients with this disorder tend to behave erratically or in such a way that there is no middle ground. Their goals and ideas change rapidly. Many will enter into new relationships, whether romantic or friendships with intensity, but will end the relationship quickly to stave off their feelings of being abandoned. They may also engage in behavior that is reckless and impulsive, such as unsafe sex with multiple partners, binge eating, and drug abuse. Additional symptoms of borderline personality disorder are an inability to trust others, dissociative feelings, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and difficulty controlling anger. Individuals with this disorder may warrant a psych ward stay if they begin to exhibit signs of not being able to control their anger or impulses, leading staff to believe they are a danger to themselves or others.