Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons^™

How An Intake Conversation In Mental Healthcare Nearly Led To Suicide, Lies Sercu

Patient Experience Journal

As a patient of mental health care, I want to share and reflect on an experience I had during an intake conversation. I had been dismissed from a hospital stay and my psychiatrist had arranged for an intake conversation for a program specialized in treating people with anxiety and depression in another hospital. Given the state of my illness, I was prepared to give this new program a try. My expectations were that I would be treated with dignity and respect as I had been treated in the hospital from which I had been dismissed. Yet, my experience turned out …