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?

mattsmom81, I sure agree with you. Nurses are legally and morally responsible for the care of their patients. But, when we are consistently given unsafe staffing, high patient-to-staff ratios, poor and faulty equipment, it sets us all up for failure. Admin takes the position that whatever conditions we are given, we have to make it work, even when it is so unrealistic as to be "abusive." It isn't just all a personality type. We are set-up to fail, and bound to take the responsibility for those failures (check out any BON position statement or ask any lawyer). Yes, admin can get nailed, too, but they have the assets and legal department to protect them from the consequences. Nurses lose their livelihood. We are setup to be powerless and setup to fail. How can we NOT feel depressed or suffer burnout? Well, I have to get up tomorrow early so I can clean and winterize my 1984 transportation. When's the last time you saw anyone in admin driving an old clunker? We're setup to fail.

I am concerned about you, carpe deum. I feel strange posting on board but I am responding to a public post.

Your last post, combined with earlier ones, makes me wonder if you have reached the true end of your rope. If you feel that is the case, go to a psych ER. If you have an HMO with separate company for psych, call them and say it is an emergency.

People with severe untreated chronic pain and severe untreated depression often reach the point where suicide seems the only option. In depression, that belief is chemical. I know this from experience.

From what I've read in your posts, you started sounding OK, ended up with a new psychiatrist (possibly due to a move), who will not continue a previously successful med regimen. You did not sound hopeless before, now, off the med, you do. Call your old doctor, ask for his help. Go to an ER. Just try these before you give up hope.

Sorry for being personal. Just a sense I've gotten from your postings.

Wow! After 200+ replies, I can say again only what worked/works for me:

After years of depression, which I tried to treat with various combinations of alcohol, prescription drugs, anorexia, compulsive spending and sexual promiscuity:eek: , just to name a few, I finally found a decent, if expensive, shrink (25 miles away, no less) who tore through all my BS excuses/denial, found the right combination of meds (Synthroid, Estratest, Effexor and Remeron), and hooked me up with 12-Step programs.:)

Everyone should be so fortunate. I realize that most people spend decades searching for the right whatever, never to find it or find only part of the answer.:o Don't give up, don't let the cost scare you off. It's your life, and it's the only one you get;)

Your imagination can help as well. Imagine you have a drill instructor who comes out of a box inside your hippocampus when ever you get the blues. This is the meanest, most unforgiving drill instructor whose mission is to keep you mentally fit. The drill instructor is a hardcore combination of your id, ego and super ego, and will never stop barking at you until you feel happy.

Your imaginary drill instructor immediately harps on you about how the mind and body are really one, and the drill instructor makes fun of you and all the ways you come up with to avoid exercise. The anti-blues drill instructor shames you into exercising, and eases off you when you have reached your target heart rate. Once your imaginary drill instructor sees that you have broken a sweat for at least 20 minutes, he/she magically does an about face and marches back into your hippocampus and salutes you, until he/she is summoned again to come forth and chase your blues away.

Mind and body are one.

Mario,

Glad to see no more questions re how meds feel, quite a distraction. Hope you decided to try for yourself.

I see you are a student. We nurses and depressed are quite thrilled with your informative and educated encouragement. Is this the same approach you plan on taking with hypertension, diabetes, cancer, etc., etc.? Will you encourage patients who are hemorraging to imagine their vessels closing?

Just curious.

Mario has a unique take on life and I feel he is trying to be helpful here. He has experienced some lows as a student and is exploring depression. Let's not discourage a student exploring.

What he is describing is akin to guided imagery and self hypnoses/meditation states some holistic practitioners ascribe to. Some docs and nurses feel it's BS...others do not. I try to stay open.

Some cancer specialists ask their patients to imagine the cancer cells exploding and dying while chemo is infusing.

Therapists ask us to 'go to a place' where we feel safe..then learn to recreate this in times of stress.

I personally feel this stuff has some merit...I agree with Mario the mind is a powerful thing.:)

As part of my stay-out-of-depression campaign, I've been studying, and learning to do, meditation and relaxing techniques. When I feel myself start to get anxious and tense (the beginnings of depression for me), I do some breathing exercises that you can do fairly unobtrusively wherever you are, and they seem to really be helping. Then, I'm trying to spend about 30-minutes a day in meditation, just noting where my mind goes and trying to get into a "higher" state. It's been absolutely astounding the images and thoughts that have popped up, all that have been very helpful. The brain does try to heal itself if you give it a chance.

I'm just a traveller and a novice. I don't know if these things would work for everyone. But, they're helping me.

While I love encouraging different techniques, recommend guided imagery to others, try to take that advice myself, I'm not quite sure a drill instructor is a particularly helpful image for me when I am deeply depressed. I was also disturbed that this posting came after one that alarmed me as someone with previous suicide attempts had reached the end of their rope.

I suppose I am also a bit discomfited by the general sense I have gotten from a series of posings, i.e., somene who has had to put up with depressed family, lets us know just how annoying depressed people are to be around, really wants to know how meds make us feel - high, ... - and also wants to know if we are dangerous, unable to perform our duties cause, hey, he has to work with us.

While all of these may be valid concerns, I know how difficult I am when I am depressed, I have been around enough people who are more concerned with how my depression impacts them than with the fact that I have an illness.

Pardon me if I offend. I suppose Mario is trying to come to terms with living around depression. I am selfishly focused on my own illness and how it can be best treated. I've determined, for myself only, that the drill instructor image that is my normal state of depression, might not be the best one to get me out of it.

Originally posted by abrenrn

While I love encouraging different techniques, recommend guided imagery to others, try to take that advice myself, I'm not quite sure a drill instructor is a particularly helpful image for me when I am deeply depressed.

Comfort and hugs, empathy and caring, work better for someone who is depressed.

A drill sargeant image would surely send me running down the road screaming . . .

Lol, it has been shown regular exercise decreases depressive eposides, I don't have the data in front of me, but think it's important to note fitness since it is a factor.

Imagination is a part of everything we do. If the drill instructor doesn't work (understandably) then think of an angel who flaps it's wings and blows you into motion. YOU have trillions of neurons and brain cells so you might as well utilize them while you have the chance :-)attachment.php?s=&postid=227660 If an image sends you running down the street, it works! But be careful and run easy because of the pounding your knees will take. Try a stairmaster first or something :-)

But I must add that with a combination of anxiety and depression (which are often comorbid), "thinking" too much is absolutely the WRONG therapy. When you're already obsessing over something, throwing a drill instructor into the mix is not the right approach. Personal experience.

Thank you, abrenrn for speaking your mind.

Mattsmom--we've missed you!!!!

Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Originally posted by montroyal

I apologize if I did not make myself clear. I was not assuming that the ativan caused the accident. I was stating that it is illegal to have a drivers liscence while on ativan. I live in North Carolina and the law states if you are a habitual (daily) user of a narcotic, even if it is a Rx, you are not eligible for a drivers liscence. If you take any mood altering medication, you must report this to the DMV and they often times require a note from the treating MD stating the medication does not empair your driving ability. This also goes for HTN,DM and several other medications. What this incident has made me painfully aware of, is the number of people driving today who should not be or have failed to follow the law. I applaud anyone who seeks treatment and gets treatment for their disease. I just am concerned by the people who don't recognized the potential danger to themselves and others.

Again I will remind you-ativan is NOT a narcotic......
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