Visited a psych ward once (because suicidal idealization was happening and I wanted/asked for help for the first time in my life).
Well if my experience in one of those facilities is not an uncommon one, then they are horrifyingly dehumanizing and actually cause harm to other people (this is what I observed).
A big problem in facilities is that the information they receive will determine more of what they will do/prescribe than what the patient is actually asking for.
I watched transgendered patients be purposely miss gendered by staff. Countless other patients being otherwise ignored or treated like anything they have to say doesn't matter because of where they are or the diagnosis that they have.
For myself I was told I was schizophrenic and prescribe meds with terrible side effects because my parents told that to the admit facility. No treatment for depression and anxiety was really given (which is what I was saying I wanted), I was ignored by the therapist and social worker assigned to me, and the contact that I wished to hear from was conveniently removed from my file.
Therapists and support staff in the public sector outside of a mental hospital are grossly underpaid, thus only the inexperienced and inept (with a few people that care too much for their own good) are the ones likely to be working in Federally funded health centers.
Mental Healthcare is a abysmal joke in the United States. Suicide is very easily a valid and top choice here.