Two different 14-day holds, lots of criticisms
Due to my schizoaffective disorder, I have twice been placed on a fourteen day hold and held against my will in a psychiatric hospital.
Both times, I was given a free lawyer from Disability Rights Oregon who told me that the fourteen day hold was an alternative to going to a trial for civil commitment, where I might be committed to the Oregon State Hospital for as long as six months. I saw it as akin to taking a plea bargain instead of taking a criminal case to trial.
I want to emphasize that psychiatric patients are treated like criminals. I’ve been to juvenile hall and I’ve been to the county jail and the standards of living and care are only slightly higher in the psych ward than in the county jail or juvie. That was my overall impression of both hospitals, that they were very much like jails.
I wanted to offer more details for any Portlanders who are thinking that they might need to go away for a grippy-sock vacation. Here’s my thoughts on different aspects of my stay at both hospitals. I repeat myself a few times, as some things about each stay were very similar.
Providence Emergency Psychiatric Ward
I was treated at the Providence psych ward in May of 2025.
Patient Care
I was restrained and given shots against my will at this hospital. I was not always told why I was being restrained or what the shots were. This also happened to other patients.
Once I saw a heavily psychotic woman being restrained in her room while Bob Marley was being loudly played. It did not really look like patient care, more like an MK ultra experiment.
Overall, I would say we were given slightly more freedom and care than inmates in the county jail.
Therapy
Art therapies and a few other therapies were offered several times a week.
Patients sometimes had access to a television with some control over what channel was being played. I only went once or twice, and mostly to huff fresh air from the window of of the room with the television in it.
I didn’t attend much therapy at this hospital and preferred to stay in my room, or to pace back and forth down the hallway.
Medication
Medication was readily dispensed and readily altered to suit patient needs. I had some say in which medications I took and how much, but not all of the time. The doctors were willing to negotiate with me a bit.
When I left I was given a 30 day supply of several medications.
Hygiene
I was worried about both the hygiene of the patients and the overall cleanliness standards of this hospital. Patients, some of whom are acutely psychotic ,are expected to ask for basic hygiene things like dental floss or having their sheets changed. However, when I asked for these things, I was given a limitless supply.
The people and rooms at this hospital could both be cleaned better, to everyone’s benefit.Also, some things were just totally absent from hygiene, like bras for the women. I complained loudly about the lack of bras and was given a bra the day before I left.
Food
The food was surprisingly good, and I was fed vegetarian options that offered me more than enough calories and nutrition to meet my needs. Snacks were readily available at all times of the day, and a coffee and snacks cart went from room to room twice a day.
Outside Time
Going outside is not allowed in this hospital. Ever. It got to the point when I was huffing fresh air from a partially opened window in a common area.
Internet & Phone
Internet access is available in this hospital either from a borrowed tablet or your personal cell phone, either of which you are only allowed to use in your room for privacy reasons. Both have to be given to staff to charge, because chargers are a choking risk in a psych ward. Having access to my personal cell phone and wi-fi was one of the best things about this hospital. It made my stay more tolerable and less of an interruption to my life.
Visiting Hours
I was allowed visitors multiple times a week and allowed to control who visits me.
Criticisms & Suggestions
- Therapies and medications should not be used as punitive measures in the way that they .
- Lack of access to outside time felt like a huge human rights violation.
- You can’t smoke, even if it’s part of your religion. I would allow smoking in designated spaces at designated times.
Strong Points
- Food was good, especially the availability of vegetarian and vegan options.
- The ability to have access to my personal cell phone was a game changer. This should be allowed, at least for part of the day in every psych ward unless there are very strong reasons for not allowing it to specific patients. This would make going to the hospital far less of a disruption to daily life.
- I did not have a roommate at this hospital, which I preferred over having a roommate at Unity. I like the privacy of having my own room. I think people should get to choose whether they want roommates or not.
Unity Behavioral Health Psychiatric Hospital
I was treated at Unity in February and March of 2026.
Patient Care
I was restrained and given shots against my will at this hospital. I was not always told why I was being restrained or what the shots were. This also happened to other patients.
Twice, I was put in isolation (essentially the same as solitary confinement in jail) without access to a bathroom for so long that I urinated on the floor.
I met a woman who told me that she was given electroconvulsive therapy against her will as a punitive measure. I didn’t see it happen but it doesn’t seem hard to believe given the other things I’ve seen in psych wards.
Overall, I would say we were given slightly more freedom and care than inmates in the county jail.
Therapy
Art therapies with behavioral therapists and religious therapies with chaplains were offered several times a week. Art therapies consisted of things like drawing emotions and religious therapies consisted mostly of mindfulness meditation techniques.
Patients sometimes had access to a television with some control over what channel was being played. Sometimes, patients were able to play video games.
Chair yoga was offered several times per week. I asked about a non-chair yoga class and they said it was possible that they could add that.
There was a chart on the wall that showed how many miles you could walk if you paced back and forth different pathways down the hallway. I would go for one mile at a time.
Sometimes, patients had access to a guitar they could play.
Medication
Medication was readily dispensed and readily altered to suit patient needs. I had some say in which medications I took and how much, but not all of the time. The doctors were willing to negotiate with me a bit.
When I left I was given a 30 day supply of several medications.
Hygiene
I was worried about both the hygiene of the patients and the overall cleanliness standards of this hospital. Patients, some of whom are acutely psychotic, are expected to ask for basic hygiene things like dental floss or having their sheets changed. However, when I asked for these things, I was given a limitless supply.
Just like at Providence, the people and rooms at this hospital could both be cleaned better, to everyone’s benefit.
There was an unfortunate incident when my toilet was clogged with standing water and feces in it for an entire day. Things like this should not happen in wards where some people’s sheets aren’t changed for weeks at time. Especially when it looks like some people on the ward might have active infections.
Also, some things were just totally absent from hygiene, like bras for the women. I complained loudly about the lack of bras and was given bras I could wear by my Mom who visited. More patients were wearing their own (approved, drawstring-free) clothing at Unity. At Providence it was more like the odd sweater or bra was allowed.
I was allowed to shave with an electric razor that I was provided and to use hair removal cream that my mom brought under supervision at this hospital, which was nice and made me feel more human.
Food
Just like at Providence, the food was surprisingly good, and I was fed vegan options that offered me more than enough calories and nutrition to meet my needs. Snacks were readily available at all times of the day. The food here was only slightly better than at Providence, where the food was also good.
Outside Time
One of the best things about this hospital is that you get to go outside and hang out in a garden for up to two hours per day! Going outside was not allowed at all at Providence and it made me very happy at Unity. The garden included plants to appreciate, a walking path and a basketball court. You can even bring your coffee or headphones out there with you.
The gardens are pretty beautiful, and I think it would be cool if working in them in a gardening capacity was added as a therapy at this hospital.
The drinking fountains were non-functional and there was an inconvenient absence of a bathroom for people to use during garden time that didn’t require the whole group going two floors up earlier than usual.
Internet & Phone
I had access to the internet here, but only through a borrowed tablet in my room or common rooms or a computer in a common room. I was not allowed access to my personal cell phone like at Providence, which I found to be disappointing. It made my stay more of a disruption to my regular life than it had to be.
Visiting Hours
I was allowed visitors multiple times a week and allowed to control who visits me.
Criticisms & Suggestions
- Therapies and medications should not be used as punitive measures in the way that they are. I repeat, twice, I was put in isolation (essentially the same as solitary confinement in jail) without access to a bathroom for so long that I urinated on the floor.
- Lack of access to my personal cell phone made the stay more of disruption to my day to day life, even though there was internet access.
- You can’t smoke, even if it’s part of your religion. I would allow smoking in designated spaces at designated times.
- I had roommate at this hospital, which I did not prefer over not having a roommate at Providence. I like the privacy of having my own room. I think people should get to choose whether they want roommates or not. My roommate slept most of the time.
Strong Points
- The food was good, especially the availability of vegetarian and vegan options.
- The ability to go outside to the garden was a game changer. This should be allowed, at least for part of the day in every psych ward unless there are very strong reasons for not allowing it to specific patients. Fresh air is necessary for human life.
The State of Portland’s Asylums
We could be doing a lot better for the mentally ill in Portland. Jails should be more like psych wards, psych wards should be more like regular hospitals, and regular hospitals should be more like nice hotels.
The closer we get to the image of “nice hotel” when people picture themselves in the asylum, the more willing people will be to go there when they need to. Right now they think “scary jail.”
I don’t have much else to say about my involuntary vacations besides these two things:
- What doctors write in their reports about you while you are in the hospital might not always be accurate. I recommend making your own reports about what happened to you in the hospital accurate.
- For the love of all that is holy, treat people like human beings. Crazy people are still human. I promise. The experience of being in the hospital is way more dehumanizing than it has to be.
Esoteric Epistemology 