I've had lots of informal admissions and one section. I've only been in one private hospital (that was when I was sectioned) and in my experience it was no better than the NHS, in fact it was worse, but these things differ greatly from hosptial to hospital.
If you are informal, they cannot make you take medication, however they will probably prescribe you something as they are more medication focused in hospital. You will have a ward round with your psychiatrist where you can talk about medication and explain your views.
There will also be occupational therapy groups and group therapy meetings during the day which are optional but it is highly recommended you go, otherwise there is nothing to do all day and you get bored very quickly.
If you go into an acute ward, some of the other patients will be very unwell and some can get violent at times and may need to be restrained by other nurses. This is not uncommon and can be distressing to witness. My advice is to keep your distance initially from other patients until you have sussed out if they are violent or not. If you suspect a patient is about to kick off, sit in the vicinity of a nurse!
Most of my admissions have been fine and most go without other patients kicking off, however when I was sectioned patients kicked off every day and it was horrible.
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