Mental health is as important as physical health. Worryingly, mental illness has hit epidemic proportions in the US, affecting over 1 in 5 adults (23.1%, or 59.3 million in 2022) to some extent.
When a person reaches a breaking point, assistance must go beyond weekly counseling or outpatient treatment. This is when inpatient treatment becomes a possibility, a more concentrated, structured form of treatment for achieving safety, stability, and recovery in the person.
Inpatient care for mental health is not solely for extreme or crisis cases. It is a lifesaving therapy for a person with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, trauma, or any other disease that has spiraled out of control.
Even as the number of U.S. adults who received treatment for mental illness increased to almost 55.8 million in 2022, cost and stigma remain discouraging impediments. As these obstacles are present, it is little wonder that so many people have absolutely no idea about inpatient care and when they may need it.
What Is Inpatient Mental Health Care?
Inpatient treatment is therapy performed in a hospital or residential setting where the patient will remain overnight, usually for days or weeks.
The goal is to offer round-the-clock care and a safe environment in which patients can become stable, recover, and learn how to sustain long-term health.
Unlike outpatient treatment, where a person visits a provider and leaves the same day, inpatient treatment provides:
- 24/7 medical supervision and emotional support
- Medication management
- Therapeutic services, such as individual, group, or family therapy
- Structured routines to encourage healthy habits and coping mechanisms
- Crisis intervention, if needed
Who Needs Inpatient Care?
Inpatient treatment of mental illness is helpful for patients who have:
- Suicidal thoughts or behavior
- Risk of injury to themselves or others
- Sudden downturns in depression, mania, or psychosis
- No longer functioning in their daily roles because of illness
- Need for heavy-duty detoxification or medication treatment
- Failure after continued outpatient therapy
Just consider it: when a person has a broken bone, the person is taken into the hospital to receive the proper sort of attention. It does the same when a person’s mental health is under distress. Inpatient treatment is simply a means of giving concentrated care during a very difficult time.
How Inpatient Care Helps with Mental Health
As scary as it sounds, inpatient care is supposed to be a healing sanctuary, the start of recovery in earnest.
This is how it operates:
1. Immediate Safety and Stability
First and foremost, inpatient centers offer safety and stability, especially for individuals who can harm themselves or others.
There are nurses, social workers, and psychiatrists at the ready 24/7 to intervene, monitor symptoms, and provide protection to patients.
For someone in crisis, this system can be a lifesaver. They know they don’t have to face it alone, and help is always available; it makes a great leap down the path to recovery.
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2. Holistic and Individualized Treatment
Patients receive complete evaluations during a stay to determine the cause of their problems. A customized treatment plan is designed, typically incorporating:
- Therapy (CBT, DBT, trauma-focused therapy, etc.)
- Medication evaluation and management
- Holistic treatments like mindfulness or creative therapies
This system of care, on an integrated basis, provides a far higher level of care than outpatient therapy can do by itself.
3. Relief from External Stressors
Sometimes, a person needs some room to breathe. In fact, he needs a room to think and to heal. Inpatient facilities provide relief from everyday stressors such as work, family responsibilities, or social environments that may be instigating their wretchedness.
This break provides the person with a feeling of clearness and fortitude to begin working on developing coping mechanisms in a non-threatening way.
4. Peer Community Facilitation
Group treatment is usually the center of most inpatient care.
Discussing with others who have similar problems can make the patient feel less alone and more understood. It’s here, in these moments of concern and similarity, that they begin to heal.
5. Seamless Transition to Ongoing Care
The value of inpatient treatment isn’t to “fix” someone and release them. Rather, it’s to stabilize and prepare an individual for the next step of their mental health treatment.
Discharge planning most often entails:
- A referral for outpatient counseling or support groups
- Medications and instruction on their use
- Recommendations for lifestyle changes for ongoing wellness
This continuum of care is not meant to permit people to check out of a center to heal on their own from then on.
When to Consider Inpatient Care
If you or your loved one is in crisis, and outpatient treatment is not working. Don’t delay. Signs that inpatient treatment is needed are
- Sudden withdrawal from family members
- Paranoia or mood swings of extreme intensity
- Suicidal thinking or self-harming behavior
- Inability to function in daily activities
- Untreated drug addiction or relapse
It isn’t cowardice to seek assistance, because it makes you strong. Inpatient care doesn’t involve losing control; it’s seizing control with the assisting hand.
And though recovery is a marathon, inpatient rehab can be the first genuine turning point that results in lasting change.
Conclusion
If you are prepared to assist people at this turning point, search for psychiatric nurse practitioner schools online. With the proper training and compassion, you can assist in forging new paths in mental health care, one patient at a time.
