Just in case some of you were wondering why I suddenly disappeared, I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act on Sunday. I was threatening suicide and I fought with the cops (at least 6 of them!) after they were called out. I put up a big fight but was cuffed, ankle-tied and carried into the back of a patrol car, where they raced me over to the emergency department at the general hospital.
I spent 8 hours there in 4-point restraints, with a spit-mask over my head and several security guards watching over me, before a psychiatrist finally appeared and told me that I was being sectioned. So I was then transferred to the psyc hospital (a completely different facility - not just a ward in the hospital) and spent my time in the high security ward there, which is essentially a prison with empty cell-like rooms, reinforced locked doors, bars over the windows, and nothing but a bed and a toilet. Fortunately I was sedated each night so I wasn't kept awake by the sounds of screaming from the other rooms.
Wasn't a fun time, but I'm out now and feeling a bit better. The doctors have to assess involuntary patients after the first 5 days to see whether they are well enough to be discharged or if they still need to be sectioned. Fortunately I was no longer suicidal, so the doc discharged me and I arrived home last night. He suggested that I stay in one of the lower-security wards for a few more days as a voluntary patient, but by that time I'd had enough of that place and just wanted out.