Is This for Me?

I didn’t want to leave your comment unanswered. I tell people all the time to be a nurse you have to want it. That being said I wouldn’t quit immediately. If your goal is psy NP. Go for it. Do research on what they do. Ask your teachers about it . Tell them your concerns. Go to NPs and talk to NPs who work psy. I wish I could give you a better answer. Talk to your psy professor too. I hope this was some help. Either path you chose good luck.?

I feel like I had sort of a similar path. Took me til in my early 30's to complete 1st degree (psychology). Very interested in doing academia/research, got accepted to several PhD programs. Ended up getting master's in counseling instead (quicker, easier, many more realistic job options). Later got nursing degree and did psych nursing (trying to get back to it) because it deals a little more with the biological aspect, and because it pays more.

To me it is the most pragmatic of the choices, as the research field takes years to get into and then you are extremely limited as to where you can work. You can make $75,000-$80,000 easily (that's in GA) for 40 hours/week, after a few years' experience as a psych RN. I didn't "want" to be a nurse, either, but if stability is what is important to you, it is a good route if you can keep things in perspective. I would never want to be any other type of nurse than psych.

From what I know of the NPs in psych, they are being utilized mostly for med management, h & p's in the hospital. No therapy.

Thank you all for your responses. Contrary to the belief about most millennials, I do not know how to utilize technology very well and don't know how to respond individually. But I really appreciate your responses. I am going to try giving it a little more time. Today I woke up feeling overwhelmed with anxiety and dread, and had a few more anxiety attacks throughout the day, all due to nursing school. I've been told "this is the norm," but I feel like my light is dimming and my happiness is decreasing significantly. I will attempt to find a way to cope better with nursing school, but if it continues to effect me like this, I can only imagine that it will continue like this beyond school? Maybe not. Maybe school is just absolute hell? Either way, as someone who is interested in psych and promoting mental health, I have to be compassionate and caring of my own.

On 8/31/2019 at 11:49 AM, Zookeeper44 said:

I feel like I had sort of a similar path. Took me til in my early 30's to complete 1st degree (psychology). Very interested in doing academia/research, got accepted to several PhD programs. Ended up getting master's in counseling instead (quicker, easier, many more realistic job options). Later got nursing degree and did psych nursing (trying to get back to it) because it deals a little more with the biological aspect, and because it pays more.

To me it is the most pragmatic of the choices, as the research field takes years to get into and then you are extremely limited as to where you can work. You can make $75,000-$80,000 easily (that's in GA) for 40 hours/week, after a few years' experience as a psych RN. I didn't "want" to be a nurse, either, but if stability is what is important to you, it is a good route if you can keep things in perspective. I would never want to be any other type of nurse than psych.

From what I know of the NPs in psych, they are being utilized mostly for med management, h & p's in the hospital. No therapy.

Zookeeper44, if you had to do it over again, would you have gotten your nursing degree?

Lmm1988, what kind of attitudes from other nurses have you seen in your clinicals, thus far? Mean and hateful nurses and doctors who eat their young is what makes me nervous about the profession, as well. I'm pretty sensitive, and fear what kind of emotional toll it would have on me if my coworkers weren't civil.

Thanks.

If I had it to do all over again, from say the age of 20-21, I would probably not become a nurse. Actually, my first year and a half of college right out of high school was nursing school, and it didn't go well for multiple reasons. However, while in psych nursing clinical, I fell in love with psych. At that point, I wanted to switch over to a psych major and then pursue a PhD. I did not have that opportunity, so didn't finish my bachelor's until much later. Ideally, I would have gone straight through to PhD and done research or possibly clinical psychologist at the time I was first in college.

Given the particular circumstances I had to work with...I still often regret my choice to NOT pursue the PhD opportunities that presented themselves in my early 30's...but as llg said...I have made the best of it and it has served my family pretty well, which for me is the real reason I work.

FWIW...IMO, psych is unique as far as the type of personalities that seem to be attracted to work in that field. They seem to *generally* be a little kinder, easier to work with, more team players (you HAVE to be in psych or you'll get hurt), more sense of humor...etc. The docs are even easier to work with.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more specific ?'s, and good luck to you!

On 9/5/2019 at 11:16 AM, Zookeeper44 said:

If I had it to do all over again, from say the age of 20-21, I would probably not become a nurse. Actually, my first year and a half of college right out of high school was nursing school, and it didn't go well for multiple reasons. However, while in psych nursing clinical, I fell in love with psych. At that point, I wanted to switch over to a psych major and then pursue a PhD. I did not have that opportunity, so didn't finish my bachelor's until much later. Ideally, I would have gone straight through to PhD and done research or possibly clinical psychologist at the time I was first in college.

Given the particular circumstances I had to work with...I still often regret my choice to NOT pursue the PhD opportunities that presented themselves in my early 30's...but as llg said...I have made the best of it and it has served my family pretty well, which for me is the real reason I work.

FWIW...IMO, psych is unique as far as the type of personalities that seem to be attracted to work in that field. They seem to *generally* be a little kinder, easier to work with, more team players (you HAVE to be in psych or you'll get hurt), more sense of humor...etc. The docs are even easier to work with.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more specific ?'s, and good luck to you!

Thanks so much for such a great response, Zookeeper44. So helpful.

I don't know why this will not let me reply individually, but anyhow..

I do understand the whole "your job should be your passion!" idea is relatively new in human history and is also somewhat privileged. I have spent all of my adult life bartending and waiting tables, with the exception of two jobs which were great and meaningful but did not pay. But for me, I don't know if I can handle the stress level, the lack of kindness that comes with the nursing field. The fact that "nurses eat their young" is a known phrase is despicable to me, and oh how I've seen it. Yes, I get that there are bad apples in every job, but this is a job where someone's LIFE is in your hands and the amount of responsibility is extreme, so it makes a bigger difference when your coworkers treat you like shite.

So, this weekend presented a new challenge to me and now I feel absolutely depleted. I suppose I had a nervous breakdown about nursing. I was unable to push through it and just study. I became really depressed to the point of being unable to make myself a cup of coffee let alone memorize meds. I've never been this bad before, and I attribute it to nursing school. I don't know what to do. I don't want to go on antidepressants just to get through this; I am not passionate enough about nursing to do that to my body's chemistry. I don't know how to force myself against my mental health to continue forward in this program. People say, "yeah but its only a little more than a year," but that is for my ADN, not even BSN, and each week for me is grueling. I feel I'm losing my joy as time goes on ? I'm not trying to sound "whiny." I have worked extremely hard all my life and have had two jobs consistently while I've been in school. I had a 4.0 (before nursing) and had over 80 credits in other subjects. Sometimes I think on my way to clinical... if I just get hit by a car, I won't have to go.... is nursing really worth feeling these ways? ?