Booty Shots and 1013s: A look Inside a Mental Hospital

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WARNING: This piece talks about triggering subjects like mental hospitals, self-harm, and traumatic experiences. Please proceed carefully. 

”Peachford is supposed to be a place where it’s not ideal to go, but it should at least not give people post traumatic stress and be terrified of getting sent back to any facility.” 

I talked to an anonymous source who was recently sent to an emergency mental health facility called Peachford Hospital in Dunwoody, GA. My friend was having suicidal ideations, and the hospital concluded that they were in need of help from an emergency facility. The process of getting sent to a mental facility is a tasking one, and their experience took about 24 hours. “I went to the emergency room to get a psychological check recommended by my doctor. As soon as I answered the questions, they took me to a locked part of the building with boxed televisions, no pillows...nothing that you could even dream of hurting yourself with.” Emergency rooms are designed to address many different emergencies, and it is usually very chaotic. If the hospital staff have reason to believe that the person entering is a danger to themself or others, they confiscate and remove anything that could be used to hurt oneself or others. The person I interviewed was placed on a mental health hold, which means the hospital was allowed to hold them for 72 hours for a psychiatric evaluation. 

Before the hospital does the psychiatric evaluation on the patient, they first must clear the patient for any medical issues. “They [the hospital staff] put an IV in my arm which is standard procedure [of the hospital], but [other than that] the whole situation before going to the facility is mostly a blur.” they explained. “I remember them talking about getting security guards to make sure I didn’t have anything to hurt myself with. It was weird! Like, an hour ago I was watching tv and texting my friends, and now I’m locked in this place with my parents freaking out.” 

The evaluation process prior to admission is usually four steps: a face-to-face interview, gathering of collateral contact information, consultation with other professionals like a doctor or social worker, and resource planning. “A doctor came in and told me that I either was going to get sent home with a safety plan or go to an emergency facility.” my friend described. “I talked to a social worker about the situation, and that was when they decided to call the 1013.” When I asked them what a “1013” was, they replied, “It’s basically when the doctors don’t trust that you aren’t going to hurt yourself or others, and you get transported to an emergency facility. In my case, that was Peachford.” To call a 1013, the patient has to exhibit, “a substantial risk of imminent harm to self or others” as shown by recent behaviors that present a high likelihood of “physical injury to self or other persons,’”.

The transportation to an emergency facility is different in many situations, but the person I interviewed noted that their parents were, “almost catatonic as [they] got onto the stretcher.” Upon arrival, this person recalls: “I remember it being very off-putting, but I don’t know how a mental hospital could be comforting. It was intense, and after about five hours of sitting around, they let me into the unit.” The “sitting around” part is usually when the facility puts the patient’s information into the system and evaluates the patient on their own terms, separate from the hospital that advised admission. 

“I was in unit three or one -- I don’t remember -- with the adolescent girls.” The units are separated for a reason, and usually, there are different units based on age, stability, . When asked how the other girls were, they stated, “I mean, as nice as you can be when you’re in a mental hospital. You couldn’t believe anything anyone said there, though.” they explained “No one knew who was a pathological liar and who wasn’t. There were about 36 of us [teen girls], and some were nicer than others. Sometimes, someone would get upset, and they would get violent.” 

It’s no surprise that in a mental hospital, someone would get violent. When I asked if there were any memorable circumstances of this, they said, “Definitely. Yeah, a few hours after I got there, someone started flipping tables because they were on unit restriction.” Unit restriction is where you’re not allowed to go to the cafeteria, outside, or anywhere except the unit..My friend watched alongside another patient as they watched the upset patient get sedated by professionals with what is known as a “booty shot”.

I researched the term for sedation in mental hospitals, and it is indeed a thing. WFAA sources state, “the injections often contain powerful anti-psychotics” and when a patient who is a minor gets sedated, they do it without the parent’s knowledge. There have been many lawsuits against these psychiatric hospitals for illegally subduing children. While we don’t know if the patients’ parents or guardians get notified if their child gets injected with the ‘booty shots’ at Peachford, we do know that the parents/guardians usually do not get notified at other facilities. These facilities have been getting away with it because the patients either don’t know it is illegal or simply do not have enough money to sue. Many patients’ insurance runs out before they can even get their treatment, which is sadly a reality for an exorbitant amount of people in mental health facilities. 

The patients spent the day in Peachford by mostly doing group therapy, which is, in their point of view, when “nurses would give some printed out papers about feelings, and [they] would talk about it.” Throughout COVID-19, mental health and physical health has been a challenge, especially in mental hospitals. “We started out getting asked Covid exposure-related  questions, temperatures taken, all that. No one wore masks, so that was another risk we took. Since we were all in the unit, if one of us got covid, all of us would have gotten it because we ate, slept, and did everything together. My source also explained how they made the personal choice to avoid the communal cafeteria, shared by all Peachford patients, and instead stayed in the unit dining area to avoid other cohorts. I.” 

Most hospitals’ procedures changed throughout COVID-19, and instead of having visitors, they would have allotted phone calls each day. “The calls were the most dramatic part. You have to spend all of this time pining over your issues with your parents and everyone else’s, and it’s exhausting. Like, the emotional turmoil was incomprehensible. Some people would cry themselves to sleep if their parents refused to talk to them or if they said something harsh.”

When reflecting on the overall emotional toll of being in a mental hospital, they said: “You’re in such a fragile state there, and it absolutely takes a toll on you. I still have nightmares about it, and I only went for seven days a few months ago. I could never imagine going to the long term facilities and being at a place like Peachford for months.”

“I’m, like, repeating all of this stuff, and I’m just like, horrified. It’s messed up, that people would go to such lengths to destroy these people’s spirits when they’re already in such a fragile state. It’s even weirder to think that I didn’t even say all of the stuff that happened there.”

The interviewee and I absolutely do not want to demonize getting help from an institution, because there are many places where you actually get better. This article seeks to bring justice to the patients of Peachford Mental Hospital. While there have been many issues with the mental illness stigma and treatment throughout the world, try to have someone to talk to about things. “I sound like a therapist, but, like, it might get bad. And I’m not gonna say all of that ‘oh what about others’ stuff, because it’s stupid. If you base your only source of happiness and reason for living on other people, it will never turn out the way you want it to.” It won’t be all roses, but it will, of course, help you in the long run. Even if you aren’t going through something, being with a therapist and practicing ways to sustain healthy mental health is always beneficial.

By Caroline Lackey