I'm the veteran of almost 30 inpatient admissions, including one that lasted an entire year. My therapist made a rule after several destructive "friendships"...do not make friends inpatient and then bring them outpatient. It was a wise rule. Bonding over an illness when we're in a closed environment is natural. On an inpatient unit, other patients are our only social contact. However, for me, illness is not the reason to bring someone out of an in-patient unit and into my child's life. As much as we think we might know someone who shares our hospital stay, we don't know them. We only know what they tell us. I brought home people who were stalkers and people who turned out to be dangerously manipulative. However, to me, they seemed like soul-sisters in-patient. You can't truly know someone when everyone is in a controlled environment and everyone is extremely ill. Be very cautious.