If you want to work in psych you must be crazy yourself...

No Stars In My Eyes · Jun 12, 2015

The way I've always heard it said, it pertains to nurses who have been working Psych for a long, long time, and it is used as an explanation for peculiarities of some COB's.

Like, the COB does or says something that makes a person go, 'Huh?' Then the other person, behind the COB's back mouths, "Psych nurse." And the first person mouths, "Oh!" and nods, as if that explains everything!

llg, PhD, RN · Jun 12, 2015

On the one hand, I have known psych nurses who seemed perfectly normal and mentally healthy to me.

On the other hand ... I have met a lot of nurses who have chosen their specialty because they have had personal experiences with it. For example, people who have had premature babies sometimes want to be NICU nurses ... people who have experienced Cancer want to help other people with cancer ... people who have struggled with drug/alcohol addition want to help other people who struggle with addiction ... people who have received hospice services when a loved one died want to become hospice nurses .... people who were abused as children want to help abused children ..., etc. etc. etc.

So there might be a little truth in some of those speculative beliefs. It would make for interesting research.

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2015

On the one hand, I have known psych nurses who seemed perfectly normal and mentally healthy to me.
On the other hand ... I have met a lot of nurses who have chosen their specialty because they have had personal experiences with it. For example, people who have had premature babies sometimes want to be NICU nurses ... people who have experienced Cancer want to help other people with cancer ... people who have struggled with drug/alcohol addition want to help other people who struggle with addiction ... people who have received hospice services when a loved one died want to become hospice nurses .... people who were abused as children want to help abused children ..., etc. etc. etc.
So there might be a little truth in some of those speculative beliefs. It would make for interesting research.

This is how it was for me. I was always interested in childbirth and newborn and the care of the sick newborn. This was even more cemented with me with the birth of my first child who was born 2 month premature and even more so when my 2nd was born term but spent some time in the Special Care Newborn unit (step down from NICU and one above 'normal' nursery). As well, my niece suffers from several mental illness diagnosis and when asked why I was applying to the child psych position when i thought long and hard I realized it was due to my experiences dealing with my niece and the issues that came up with her diagnosis.

Although, I'm not in NICU or psych as a nurse both still appeal to me.

Bronte03 · Jun 12, 2015

Psych nurses are one of a kind.

It's a specialty most don't care to go into but we all have the psych patients on our floor, the community, wherever we go.

I have worked on many floors and there is always at least one "crazy" definately not my word but often heard amongst other staff.

I've worked there a few shifts and I have felt scared only because I've not had a chance to know what condition the patient has.

Sure a handover but really a minute over a patient who can be violent..

My own psych needs to know what to expect so that I can take care of them to the best of my ability.

Before nursing I worked closely with my hospitals mental health unit and to be honest I couldn't tell the difference between who was the client and who was staff. They all dressed in civvies and talked quite strangely as if they were on meds.

I did look after a patient and by the end of the shift on the unit I literally felt crazy and totally exhausted. I'd travelled the world, met umpteen versions and age groups of this client.

It takes a special person to work with so many personalities and stay sane in this field.

Black humour is a total lifesaver. No matter which specialty we work in!

blackribbon · Jun 13, 2015

I do psych as contingent and love it. It is not what I want to do full-time (they keep trying to convince me) but I do like to do one or two days a week (haven't had the opportunity so much now that I am full-time on the med/surg floor). On my med surg floor, I keep hearing nurses say "I don't do psychiatric diagnoses"...and I wonder how they avoid it since almost everyone one of my patients on that floor have some sort of psychiatric history on their medical history.

I don't think most the people I meet think psych nurses are "crazy". I actually think they are more afraid of the diagnoses because they don't understand them. I get tired of nurses complaining about patients who are actually just showing symptoms of their already diagnosed psychiatric problems. I mean, if someone has panic attacks or severe anxiety...you address that and not complain that they are "acting like babies".

The brain IS an organ in our body and most psychiatric diagnoses are just over chemical imbalances in that organ....no different than diabetes is a chemical imbalance of the pancreas...or hypertension is often a fluid overload condition. It is a MEDICAL problem. And it is my experience, if I can explain it to the patients like that, they are more likely to be compliant with their medications instead of trying to go off of them to prove that they "aren't 'crazy". It is on the psychiatric floor that patients are the most vulnerable in the whole hospital...they need advocates more than any other place because it is their brain that is betraying them. They are not mentally challenged but rather have real medical issues that can be address and improved in most cases.

Mandychelle79, ASN, RN · Jun 13, 2015

I work psych, and while I have never been dx with a mental illness officially... ADHD and Antisocial personality disorder traits, per our attending psychiatrist. I often say if I wasnt a bit crazy I would not be able to do my job. Seriously what sane person would voluntarily sit in a room to talk to someone who was just screaming in your face threatening to beat the crap out of you. Or sit across from a new patient who looks like they are going to explode and calmly say you look like you could use a hug ( to which he replied, that would be nice, gave him a hug and he instantly became a different person).

WinterLilac · Jun 13, 2015

When Other People's Parochial Perspective becomes so Important that it makes One Question a Worthy Endeavor, it's time to Take Stock.
Self Satisfaction and Happiness is not contingent on what Other People believe. Self Satisfaction and Happiness are the Result of Being at Peace with Oneself.

Amen.

WinterLilac · Jun 13, 2015

On the one hand, I have known psych nurses who seemed perfectly normal and mentally healthy to me.
On the other hand ... I have met a lot of nurses who have chosen their specialty because they have had personal experiences with it. For example, people who have had premature babies sometimes want to be NICU nurses ... people who have experienced Cancer want to help other people with cancer ... people who have struggled with drug/alcohol addition want to help other people who struggle with addiction ... people who have received hospice services when a loved one died want to become hospice nurses .... people who were abused as children want to help abused children ..., etc. etc. etc.
So there might be a little truth in some of those speculative beliefs. It would make for interesting research.

That would be a research paper I would love to read! Great idea!

No Stars In My Eyes · Jun 13, 2015

Years ago when I was still a relatively new (4 yrs in) nurse, I floated to pass meds 3-11 on a med-surg unit in a small hospital . We received an admit from the ER, a poor fellow in his late 40's, early 50's, who was having a complete breakdown. He was writhing and thrashing, and grunting, and had unintelligible speech.

When I got through with my 8 PM meds pass, I went in and sat down beside his bed and asked if he'd mind if I held his hand. He threw his hand out like a shot. I said very dryly, with massive understatement, "You seem to be having a rough time." and he snorted out a "Yuh. Ha."

As often as I could during the next several evenings, I'd go in and sit with him.

Later, before his discharge, he told me that just by my not being afraid of him (which several of the nurses and aides were) helped to keep him from completely losing it. He said he was 'acting like an animal' and he couldn't control himself at all, in any way, and it scared him. He thought he was dying and this condition of his was just 'the first door to hell.' He said that I provided him 'profound relief' by treating him like an individual human person when he didn't feel in the least like a human being, and certainly did not feel himself to BE himself.

He continued to get better over the course of a week's time.

Never, since then, have I had to deal with an acute psych episode, but I have never forgotten that experience.

BUT! That doesn't mean I would feel safe or comfortable working psych! Uh-uh! Noooo way!

Jules A, MSN · Jun 14, 2015

BUT! That doesn't mean I would feel safe or comfortable working psych! Uh-uh! Noooo way!

But it sounds like you would be a natural. Your story warms my heart psychosis can be so scary. Thank you for taking such good care of one of mine.

fawnmarie, ASN · Jun 15, 2015

I love psych nursing! My facility has served this region for many, many years and is well-known throughout the community. I enjoy the reaction I get when people learn what I do. I have often heard, "You're the last person I would expect to work there!" I am one of those psych nurses that was "meant" to be a psych nurse. I don't want to work any place else. I love, love what I do!

Jules A, MSN · Jun 15, 2015

I love psych nursing!
I am one of those psych nurses that was "meant" to be a psych nurse. I don't want to work any place else. I love, love what I do!

I agree 100% and that is what frightens me, lol.