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

[Msmedic68w]

I want to work in psych when I am done with nursing school. I worked it before nursing school and I loved it. Do other people look at you weird when you tell them that or make comments that only crazy nurses want to work with crazy patients? Or the "takes one to know one" comments?

I have never been a patient in a psych facility, and I consider myself quite sane....Just sayin....

[adnrnstudent, ASN, RN]

I'm a Psych Nurse with ADHD, a load of personality disorders, and often at the edge of psychotic.

[wingding]

I fell into Psych nurse as my first job -(after swearing I'd never work psych during clinicals) --- still doing it. I was raised in SF Bay area -- my floor felt like a bus stop - nothing I hadn't really met from 11yrs on up...... Kind of filled in the gaps about my family --- & when I was having some of my worst bouts with family members dying & grief, it was the one safe place for me to do something other than wallow in my pain. The people??? Working with all levels of Mental health - from mild to violent - often physically wounded, sick, -- with bare bones staff -- trying to take care of to the best of our abilities with next to nothing. I get frustrated & often say -- god help me if he has a heart attack, I got Nitro in my pyxis & a few spit wads to throw at him.

What have I learned??? Everyone has something --- & for those with their noses in the air --- my guess is there is a whole lot of something they are in denial over. So are psych nurses a little crazy? Pretty sure the answer is yes,,,, but at the same time, everyone has something - whether they admit it or not.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Somebody asked me once, "What is your problem? Are you CRAZY?!?!?!?"

"Nope. I'm entirely too effin' sane. That's MY problem."

[Elliot.Kane]

Isn't "insane" a legal designation?

[eaorn112]

Small minds say stuff like that. You are in this profession to make life better for those that need you to do so. Stay the course, and don't listen to idiots that say those things. You are doing the right thing by helping others!

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Doesn't INsane really mean OUTside of sanity?

[HigginsdogRN]

Show me any human and I will find something about them covered in the DSM. Everybody is a little crazy:yes:

[MyPrnPleaseBSN]

Yes, other nurses will talk down and say just about anything about Psych nurses, but when they encounter a real psych patient on their unit, they desperately call on us (especially in the ER) to use our "psych nursing skills" to help calm the patient.. *rolling my eyes* anyways, ROCK ON PSYCH NURSES :)))

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

The only people that tell me I must be crazy for working in psych are my family. The "inmates running the asylum" one is pretty popular. I tell then that if it weren't for me keeping them (my family members) sane, they'd probably be locked up in the loony bin too. But our family has a warped sense of humor :)

As far as non-family members go...I've never been told I must be crazy myself for working in psych. If anything, I get a look of awe and/or "I could never do that."

[shrinkyrn]

Behavioral Health nurse for 40 years....went into it right after graduation and have stayed there all these years.....Have worked all areas of psych...I'm the most sane well adjusted person I know....really!!.....probably because I have actually used the coping skills I teach to patients/clients....LOL

[Farawyn]

Behavioral Health nurse for 40 years....went into it right after graduation and have stayed there all these years.....Have worked all areas of psych...I'm the most sane well adjusted person I know....really!!.....probably because I have actually used the coping skills I teach to patients/clients....LOL

Do they know about your ellipses...fetish?

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I can stop ellipsesing any time I want...