Nursing & Depression

Nurses Stress 101

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  1. Nurses and Depression/Anxiety

    • 401
      I think the incidence of depression/anxiety is higher in nursing than other professions.
    • 264
      I feel depression/anxiety has interfered with my job performance.
    • 260
      I feel nursing has played a part in my depression
    • 23
      I feel administration is as supportive to nurses w/ depression/anxiety as w/ other diseases

460 members have participated

While visiting in the lounge one day, we discovered that every nurse there was on an anti-depressant.

I have had 'Treatment Resistant Depression' for about 20 years--as long as I've been a nurse. Now I am totally burned out, on major meds, and am seeking disability d/t depression/anxiety.

I beleive years of long hours, high stress, high expectations and little appreciation (from management, not patients) has contributed to this.

How many other jobs consider you a tratior b/c you call in sick? And trying to get off for a sick child is an unforgivable sin. How many other jobs want you to work overtime on the days you are scheduled, call you at all hours of the night or day when you are off, first pleading w/ you to come in, then laying a guilt trip on you if you say "NO!" And let's not forget the mandatory inservices and CEU's that take time away from your family.

If any profession should understand the importance of the individuals' physical, mental, social and spiritual self it should be nursing--after all we are taught in nursing school about treating the patient as a whole, not just a disease! Why don't we treat our staff the same way.

Anyone out there in the same boat?

Originally posted by Rainagrey

Hello sister nurses. Let me recommend the "psychopharmacology tips" website to y'all. Once there, take a look at the Psycho-Babble bulletin board. Here's a link: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/ - just scroll down to find the discussion. Lots of interesting discussion on the topic at hand, lightly moderated by a very experienced psychiatrist - in Chicago, is he? University affiliated guy. I take a whole cocktail of meds, it's taken me about eight years to refine it, and I'm doing pretty well, although depression is always a moving target, and a pain in the ass. I've been in the ICUs for 19 years, and a lot of the time I actually enjoy the job. Of course, then there's the rest of the time...fwiw, I actually think that the fish oil thing works, although variably from one brand to the next. Strange. I use Natrol. The science behind it, or at least the studies seem to be fairly unanimous, although ymmv.

Hey, Rain! Welcome to the thread! :)

I haven't run across the fish oil in any reading. Could you please say more about it? What brands? Why it helps, etc.? THANKS!

Youda,

I have seen lots of info out there for Omega three fatty acid fish oils for depression. Try a google search. I keep meaning to get some, they also fight CAD. Seems like a great supplement for all. Gotta go fight the Mall :(.

Carrie

I'm on a quasi-vegetarian diet (I allow fish and poultry, no red meat). So you're saying me eating all this fish actually helps depression, too? Cool!

Thanks, Cargal. Will read more about this later today.

Yes Youda, something to do with the make up of neurotransmitters if I remember correctly!

Going Mall crawlin, really!

Specializes in MICU.

Couple of studies I've seen reported, one from Israel, all with significant improvements on the HAM-D thing. I was impressed enough to try it, and I was surprised that it seemed to actually work. One guy at Harvard named Andrew Stoll has gone commercial with a website and a product, I think called Omegabrite. I like the Natrol capsules myself. Pretty purple bottle cover too. One study said the patients took something like 10 grams a day of the fish oils - I take maybe 2 grams total.

Sphinx, thanks for waking up this thread.

I loved Mario's advice - it is good advice for those who can do it. It took a lot of meds to get me to the point where I could exercise, eat right, etc. - too depressed. But, when my depression improved enough, I started to do these things and have been seeing improvements, less need for meds???

If I had my druthers, no meds at all. Depression lifting tooking lots of med changes and combinations. For years able to improve to "Moderate to severe" level, not great but beats suicidally depressed. Finally got combination that brought me to not depressed, sometimes mildly depressed - feels like a miracle.

Now, able to let my body and common sense work.

I think I'll try eating fist, too.

Oh. One addition.

Worked as an NP with HIV patients. Such polypharmacy!! I would go through meds, looking for ones I could eliminate.

Antiretrovirals - Ideally three, otherwise becomes resistant. Now they have a single pill - with three drugs. It's still 3 drugs.

Bactrim - I'd love to stop it, but with tcells less than 200, past hx of pneumocysitis, I can't.

Acyclovir - I'd love to stop once a day but if I do they will have an outbreak - and end up taking more pills (Finally decided to ask - how many outbreaks in 6 months? Went prophylactic or treat outbreaks according to number of pills would be less).

Tricor - If I stop that, cholesterol goes up and triglycerides go to 1000. Even with diet.

Neurontin - They can't walk otherwise, thanks to peripheral neuropathy.

Right there, seven drugs. Can't stop a single one without all sorts of other problems. Some are so resistant they need four antiretrovirals. Some need antifungals every day (I know the Bactrim contributes, but pneumocystis will kill them). IF they end up with TB, MAC, other infections, they need more drugs. Otherwise, they die.

Someday we will know more, need fewer drugs. Someday we will cure. All we can do now is keep them alive until someone figures out how.

Many of the patients on these drugs have had the disease for ten or twenty years. They don't like it, but they don't complain. They have seen the alternative happen to too many of their friends.

I am also on antidepressants which I beleive is because of Nursing, I have been a nurse for 3 years and on antidepressants for 2 and a half! I don't know about others, but I go to work everyday and try my best to not let my emotions and personal life show, I knew I was depressed and needed something when in the middle of the hallway with at least five people trying to ask me something and four more waiting on me, I broke down, went to the bathroom and cried for at least ten minutes. All the nurses I work with take antidepressants also.

This week I just seemed to lose all my self confidence I've rediscovered the past 6 months. So very frustrating.

Maybe my return to work was not such a good idea... With a kid in college it sure sounded good at the time...Hard to know if it's Christmas blues kicking in, or a backslide.

Sassy... today I sure can relate to the overwhelmed feeling...(((HUGS)))

I guess in retrospect I let myself get panic stricken about all the meds my doc had me on for awhile. I just felt so zoned I couldn't find myself anymore. Ya'll are right of course....multiple meds are needed in many many cases and psychiatric meds should be looked at no differently than other types of meds in controlling a patient's symptoms and helping them to live a normal life.

Well, I'm off to work...in spite of a particularly strong urge to crawl back into my warm bed and call in a resignation later.

Luv ya'll! (and I'm on the stinky fish oils too...I hear walnuts are a good alternative???)

Oh, don't get me wrong, I think the healthy eat right, drink right and exercise approach is great......and good for you in so many other ways. But when you are severaly depressed it just isn't alwasy realistic. I do try. I need to work on the exercise part, but it has truly been hard for quite some time. I manage to get up and work most days (but it's getting harder).......but I find everything else near impossible. Work takes everything out of me. Once I'm home, my idea of "exercise" is getting up and going to the bathroom, haha. (I hydrate well at least!)I'm hoping that my mood will be better as winter rolls on, and will feel well enough to get out and walk when the temp gets a bit warmer. As it is, if I don't work, I can hardly even shower.....even when I do work, it's a darn chore.

And sassy, I know what you mean about breaking down and crying at work. It's happened to me at all my nursing jobs at one time or another. My last job it only happened twice, once when a girl refused DC, and I had to give her the papers about insurance, and private pay, and she tweaked........I went in to ask my supervisor what to do (I was barely off of orientation) and burst into tears. I was mortified. The other time I was drawing blood, and she had crummy veins, so I used a syringe, and it was slow and clotted a bit, and like an idiot I tried to needle it into the tube with "gentle pressure" (told you I was an idiot) and splash! it was everywhere......my face/mouth/eyes.......I calmy wiped myself off, excused myself, went into the batroom to was and changed, then started to bawl. They made me get an HIV test, and that scared me to death, even though the pt last test was negative......and I only had a small splash in the eye. Anyway. My first job.....I actually don't remember specifics, but know there were a couple small incidents here and there. My current job I've been at for 2 years, and was pretty much free of depression, or maybe only a low level depression up until early fall/late summer. I'd cry in my car all the time (I do homecare), but could always put on my happy face at my patient's door, and in the office. It was only a month or 2 ago that I lost it in the office. I'd worked on call the previous weekend after working like 50+ hours the week before.....9-10 hours both Sat and Sun. On Sun the weekend supervisor called me with an opening, and I said in my little semi sarcastic voice (which all my teammates know) "thank you!", in quite the joky, haha, sarcastic way. We continued to talk, and she said the pt was OB, and I said great, I'll get to keep her, and that was that. My boss called me in her office a day or 2 later saying the supervisor had "accused" me of saying "f*** you", rather than what I really said. I was in dead shock, as I'd never be so stupid as to say that to ANYONE at work, let alone a supervisor! I ended up bursting into tears, even though my boss et al believed me when I explained my side, etc. I was just floored, and had been so stressed and depressed, I was just a puddle. I finally went out to see aptients. My first patient wasn't home, so I drove to Eckerd and parked. I couldn't stop crying. I cried and cried, and ended up calling my husband. I just couldn't keep working. My husband came to get me, told me to call my boss and tell her I couldn't work the rest of the day. I actually stayed home the next 2 days. I was humiliated, but so depressed I hardly cared.

Anyway, Mattsmom, sorry to here you're feeling overwhelmed too. Do the holidays ever get you down??

Oh, and re my talk with my boss Friday. I'd hoped to hear back today......I didn't hear. I couldn't get into the office, cuz initially I had 7 patients, but even though 1 cancelled, I was still out late, and left home early.....she could have called though, she did on Friday........oh well. Probably got the blow off with my luck.

OH, rambling OFF!!!!!

Hope you are well this evening!!!!! I must now go do my paperwork!

I'm starting to believe in intuition. If your intuition tells you not to go to work, don't. Sometimes our right brains know what we are supposed to do, our left brains (logic, reason) are behind and tell us to do other things.

I stopped being depressed when: I got the right meds then quit my nursing job. Since I've stopped being depressed nobody I know likes me. I have realized there were very good reasons why I was depressed; nursing helped keep me there. You get depressed when someone tells you everything is your fault, you sense it isn't but can't get anyone else to believe. What's the saying, "If you can't beat them, join them?" The only way to join is to beat myself as badly as they do.

Can't do it anymore.

Originally posted by abrenrn

I'm starting to believe in intuition. If your intuition tells you not to go to work, don't. Sometimes our right brains know what we are supposed to do, our left brains (logic, reason) are behind and tell us to do other things.

Wow! You just put something into words that I "knew" but hadn't processed consciously yet! Thank you! I read this and said, YES!

I had a therapist once who said that everytime I heard myself or anyone else use the word "SHOULD" then I was being judged. I "should" go to work. I "should" be a nurse. I "should" be cleaning my house or going into town to do errands instead of sitting here reading allnurses! Those things are all value judgments that imply that you are "bad" or "wrong" or that what you choose to do right then is WRONG!

When we get enough of those messages, from ourself or others, we start to judge ourselves, too, by believing that we are "not good" or "not right" or that there is "something wrong with me." We start to dislike ourselves because we (and others) will always have some "should" that we "should" be doing, or some trait we "should" have but don't, or be something we "shouldn't" be, or feel something we "shouldn't" be feeling, etc. The "shoulds" always will make you feel shame and guilty.

Instead, he said, if you hear "should" from yourself or others, STOP and DECIDE what you'd rather do instead of responding to the "should" and the guilt and shame that you or someone else is putting on you! Invariably, this shame and guilt caused by "shoulds" will cause depression! Who wouldn't be depressed when they always feel wrong, shamed, or guilty, or falling short from what they "should" be or "should" be doing or "should" be feeling?

Somewhere in our brains, the intuitive side tells us what we NEED to be doing, and that is a much different thing than what we "should" be doing!

Thanks again, Anne, for reminding me to listen to MYSELF! :kiss

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