This was not my experience. I was hospitalized twice, first for five days, when I checked myself in, immediately regretted it, and was able to get out without any treatment. A month later I was mental health arrested and stayed for forty.
Before being admitted to the psych ward, psych patients are kept in a holding area. This area in my hospital was basically a hallway surrounding a nurse's station encased in glass. It had about the privacy of an airport. About forty severely mentally ill patients were crowded together; some were also physically ill; some were homeless. People slept on benches and the floor. They had these chairs that reclined into beds, but if you weighed over like 140lb, the chairs wouldn't balance, so they were useless to most patients. There were about five private rooms available, but you had to cause a scene to get one (I did my first visit :/ I was manic and couldn't handle being trapped there). The sickest patients may have been physically incapable of demanding one, and most were empty. The temperature changed erratically. For food, the nurses had animal crackers and little meat and bread sandwiches on hand. Once a day a dinner cart went around and served the brownest, wettest, blandest mac n cheese and green beans you've ever eaten. That was it. I spent three days there my first visit and five my second. My first visit I got transferred to the ward during dinner time so I missed it in both in the holding area and the ward. I asked my nurse if I could have a couple sandwiches, but they were out. I probably went about 20 hours without eating. I did not feel that my needs were met.
When I first checked myself in during a manic break, the techs basically made fun of me to my face as I spewed my life story and demanded I take an Ativan. About 30 hours passed before a doctor evaluated me. The staff goes around doling out antipsychotics like candy; the exact same medication is offered to every patient despite everyone having different conditions. You can refuse, but they'll give you a hard time. If you breakdown, like cry uncontrollably or something, they'll forcibly inject you with a cocktail. I experienced some very unpleasant side effects. The nurses were mean and unsympathetic and couldn't give a clear answer about anything. People stayed trapped for days without any idea what's happening or any communication with the outside world beyond a public landline (they seize your belongings when you're admitted, shoes included).
There are some horror stories about physical violence and medical neglect I don't want to get into, but I am very disturbed by what I heard and saw in the holding area.
My first stay in the psych ward was just one night and two days. The first day, the psychiatrist evaluated me for about five minutes while I was half asleep. Even though I couldn't function in daily life, I could still hold a coherent conversation, so he wouldn't have learned anything pertinent. There were almost no group activities in this ward beyond a craft lady who came for an hour a day... most of the patients were too low functioning to participate so I guess they deemed it a waste of funds. Besides that there was a limited selection of coloring, books, and games. I had a private room, but there were only three showers for the entire ward. Another patient groped me. I basically spent the whole time complaining to the nurses about how I wanted to leave, and how I didn't understand why they were holding me here. I guess I wore them down because I was released the next day.
My second stay was in a much nicer ward (same hospital so I don't understand why). There was plenty of food... the meals were decent and we got snack with a lot of choices three times a day. We could always ask for snacks unscheduled. There were many activities each day. A much better selection of books/crafts/games than the first ward, and DVDs and Wii were available too. The nurses were overall pretty nice.
However, I found it an overall harmful experience. I really did not like my psychiatrist. He was also very mocking and mean. It really wasn't just me; pretty much all of his patients hated him. He even made a self-pitying remark like "None of my patients say hi to me." He seemed apathetic to my well-being as he pushed his treatment plan. For example, I had reacted badly to an antipsychotic I had been given in the holding area and asked if I could take a different one. He demanded I try it again. It must have been a higher dose because it made me violently sick. He didn't make me take it again but acted like I had been faking my reaction. The drug he settled on (Haldol), also gave me a bad reaction, but it was an improvement over the first drug and I didn't really have a choice but to take it if I wanted to get out. He started me on pills and then I was forcibly injected. It made my back hurt to the point where I couldn't sit; I was horribly restless but always tired; my thoughts and emotions were dulled; I didn't have facial expressions. By the end of my stay I would pace the halls, lie in bed for five minutes, and get back up to pace. I was counting minutes on the clock. I took four showers a day out of boredom. I didn't go outside once.
There was no therapy and your emotions would be used against you. They want you withdrawn and compliant. I regret my attempts to advocate for myself or to get anyone on staff to understand why I felt the way I did. Ultimately, it only kept me there longer.
I am glad that the hospital was beneficial to you and don't mean to dismiss your positive experience. However, not all hospitals are created equal, and some seem to punish their patients more than they treat them. I've been out for over a year. I lie awake at night replaying my hospital memories or fall asleep and have nightmares about it. I genuinely want to fight this system and am trying to figure out how I can be most helpful. I wrote a goddamn essay, and I am still omitting so much, a lot of which I'm not ready to talk about.
OP, sorry if I scared you. If you're not psychotic you probably won't stay for more than a week or two, and the medications won't be so harsh. However, I would not go in with the assumption that it will be comfortable or that the staff will be kind. I would think of it as nothing more than a place to stabilize and ensure your relative safety during a mental health crisis—it may be unpleasant, though I really hope for your sake that it is a good experience, but it's a necessary step on the way to getting better.