Psychiatric Hospitals: A Mother’s Perspective with Deena Watson

Our guest on the show for today is Deena Watson and she joins us
to share her experiences with psychiatric facilities as the
mother of a child who struggles with chronic mental health
issues. When Deena’s son Brian was in between his seventh and
eighth school year he experienced his first manic incident. In
our conversation, Deena recounts the story to listeners, telling
us about how Brain’s behavior was assessed by a series of medical
professionals before he was finally admitted to a psychiatric
facility. Deena shares her own experiences through the whole
process too, which went from an initial feeling of fear and
powerlessness to a subsequent period of learning. 

The facilities and people that Deena interacted with along this
journey with her son’s condition gave her experiences and taught
her lessons that shifted her entire perspective on what a normal
life should look like. Today we hear about the place of hope that
Deena finds herself in several years down the road, and the story
she tells shines a new light on the positive perspectives and
gratitude that people who endure such extreme trials are blessed
to experience.





Key Points From This Episode:


How Deena entered the mental health world by discovering her
son Brian’s illness.

What happened when Brian had his first episode and set up
several shrines in the house.

Brian’s diagnosis that suggested his issues were not physical
but psychological.

Limiting factors to whether a patient will get care in a
psychiatric ward: space availability.

Intake procedures at psychiatric hospitals: advanced
security, precautions, and screening.

What happened on the day Brian was admitted: interviews and a
video conference diagnosis.

Deena’s emotions after leaving the hospital: guilt, fear, and
powerlessness.

Brain’s behavior, experiences, and journey back to reality in
his first week in the ward.

Feelings of reassurance Deena felt after visiting Brian and
seeing he was peaceful.

Benchmarks for patient release: can patients self-administer
medication?

Critiques of the outpatient program: it didn’t show Brian how
to handle his chronic illness.

Support Deena found at her therapy group after realizing many
peers had mental issues.

Challenges faced around returning to school: peer, teacher,
and staff responses.

How the family prepared Brian to be at school again by
teaching him safe words, etc.




Tweetables:


“We visited with the family therapist. I don’t even know if it
was for 15 or 20 minutes, and he took us outside and he said, ‘I
need you to go immediately to a psychiatric hospital. Your son
needs to be hospitalized today.” — Deena Watson [0:04:03]


“I walked out of the facility and fell to the ground and just
sobbed.” — Deena Watson [0:13:40]


“I’m not scared to admit him to a hospital anymore. I think its
the right thing to do when I see those signs going up that he is
entering a manic episode.” — Deena Watson [0:39:09]


“I don’t wish this on anybody, but in the middle of it, roses are
beautiful but they have thorns. We still like roses. That’s the
attitude that we have chosen to adopt.” — Deena Watson
[0:45:46]





Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:


Mosaics of Mercy — https://mosaicsofmercy.com/


Hope Pieced Together —
https://mosaicsofmercy.com/hope-pieced-together/


Sherry Burkhard —
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherry-burkhard-9a128b16a/