"orchard ward"

i spent eight weeks on orchard ward beginning late October and during this time I was given very little help regarding my mental health issues. it took them 5 weeks to acknowledge there was anything wrong with me at all. during this time i witnessed patients being treated like dirt, threatened with sections with no reasoning, discharging patients who were very suicidal. the atmosphere was awful and during my stay there was a lot of violence towards patients from other patients.the term acute or short stay means nothing to the ward and some patients were held against there will while being "informal" for over 9 months. the food was disgusting, the communal areas were abysmal. and the entire atmosphere of the ward was disturbing. in my 8 weeks of stay, i received 2 therapy sessions and with very little choice, I was put on anti psychotics for a mood disorder that is yet to be fully diagnosed. i repeatedly tried to leave the ward and even though i was not eligible for section, i was repeatedly threatened with this. thank god I'm home now.