Mental health continues to be a topic that many people ignore entirely. Some think it’s taboo to speak about it openly. Others might rush to judge those with mental health issues without digging deeper. While still others choose to ignore their problems instead of tackling them with the help of licensed professionals.
Most people’s experience of psychiatric hospitals, for example, comes from movies and TV shows. However, reality can be more gruesome, brutal, and bizarre than fiction. Redditor u/N3SSDOGG sparked a very open discussion after asking the people who have either worked at or been admitted to mental health units to share the strangest things they’ve witnessed. You’ll find their candid stories below.
Bored Panda reached out to the author of the thread, redditor u/N3SSDOGG, who is currently working in a psychiatric hospital as a mental health technician. They shared their thoughts on why there's still so much stigma surrounding mental health and revealed some of the signs of a great mental institution employee.
Warning: keep in mind that some of these stories are rather unsettling and might not be for all of you Pandas.
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I was supervising a patient overnight on a snowy December night. This guy *loved* Christmas. I mean, *loved* it. In the early morning hours, we got some calls from other units saying they were missing their Christmas trees. We wondered why they thought we knew where they went, until we saw trails in the snow of ornaments and artificial pine needles leading to his bedroom window. Upon opening his door, we discovered a forest of Christmas trees packed into his room, at least 6 or 7, with him giddily sitting in the middle of them. At some point he snuck out through his window and stole Christmas from everyone. How nobody including us heard him is still a mystery to me. Another time, we had a group of three patients all strip completely naked, elope from the complex, and run two miles away to the local Police Department. The leader of the group did this more than once, and the police officers all knew her name and if they saw her, they simply met her out front and took her back.
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