text: if a man has been in a pshychiatric facility for over a week does that mean they have a serious illness? being in their for so long i have been in psyc. hospitals before for longer than 2 weeks. a lot of it depends on how the person is doing. they start them on meds and if they are o.k. they may come home in a few days. if they have reactions to it and have to start them on another, they may be there longer. it also has to do with how well they participate in their treatment. if they don't go to groups, talk, etc then the staff may think they are not healthy enough to go back out into the world. just because he's been there over a week, doesn't mean he's seriously ill..people are admitted for different reasons. depression, addictiion, etc. it may just be that they don't think he has progressed enough to go home..they may still be watching him on his meds.