Many nurses on depression or anxiety meds?

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While going through the different forums here, it seems like many of the nurses and student nurses are taking depression or anxiety meds. I realize this site serves as a place to vent so maybe that is why it seems to come up often. But I was wondering how common is it to hear of nurses on your floors having to take these meds? Do you think it is mostly for personal reasons or related to their job? Maybe its from a difficulty of transitioning from nursing school to working as a nurse? I'm sure theres plenty of reasons. Just curious what others may think. Thanks!

I think that in the general population depression is very much under diagnosed. This leads to self medication with alcohol and other chemicals. I hope some of the reason that many of us use antidepressants is for that reason. Anti anxiety meds may be related to the lifestyle we lead in terms of things like shift changes, traffic, undiagnosed PTSD that many nurses suffer from some of the things we see and treat without much support.

Problems in sleeping are associated with all the above. Also high blood pressure, elevated blood sugars, etc.

We need to take care of ourselves and each other. Eating each other is similar to the wood taking on Easter Island. Soon the only thing that will be left is stone. In the case of nurses that might mean only those with no compassion and who live in their left brains all the time.

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Specializes in Telemetry.
i have an unpopular opinion. i've seen so many of my classmates say they've had to go on antidepressants/anxiety meds due to the stress of nursing school. i look at them and think, why is it that you don't believe you can do this, and why do you think you need a pill to survive? i've suffered with anxiety too, but i choose to plod on without psych meds because i believe life and nursing school is messy, but i can do it and grow stronger.

ok, now i know there are many who must have meds due to organic conditions. i get that. but i think some of my classmates lack confidence and are over-saturated with psych pharma advertising.

:flamesonb

my decision to go on antianxiety medication had nothing to do with my disbelief that i couldn't do this and i need a pill to survive. i began having panic attacks and decided that i was either having a heart attack or a panic attack. i decided that it was in best interest to seek treatment for whichever condition i was suffering from. it turns out my heart is fine! my physician put me on a very low dose of antianxiety medication and i feel much better now! so unless you know what level of anxiety your classmates are experiencing, please do not judge them. it is a very scary thing to have heart palpitations, tightness in your chest, chest pain, shortness of breath, lightheadedness. don't judge until you have been there!

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:dncgbby:There's no shame in seeking help. Recognizing the problem is the first step to solving it.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
my decision to go on antianxiety medication had nothing to do with my disbelief that i couldn't do this and i need a pill to survive. i began having panic attacks and decided that i was either having a heart attack or a panic attack. i decided that it was in best interest to seek treatment for whichever condition i was suffering from. it turns out my heart is fine! my physician put me on a very low dose of antianxiety medication and i feel much better now! so unless you know what level of anxiety your classmates are experiencing, please do not judge them. it is a very scary thing to have heart palpitations, tightness in your chest, chest pain, shortness of breath, lightheadedness. don’t judge until you have been there!

i have been there. i was so anxious my first semester, i was physically sick for weeks. i only made it through because of the help i received from my allnurses friends who talked me through my terror on the phone. (a great big thank you to those folks, you know who you are, and you all are dear to me. :redbeathe) i was temporarily c-r-a-z-y due to my own fear.

this is not a tit for tat conversation, though. i'm not judging my classmates, and i don't think there should be shame in seeking help. i will stand by my statement though, that it is my opinion that too many turn to pills before they discover their own strength and resilience. the advertising of the big pharma's psych drugs has an effect. for example, approximately 1 out of 10 working age women are on psych drugs in the united states. i do not believe 1 out of 10 american women have a chemical imbalance.

that is not casting you or anyone else specifically in that net unless you place yourself there.

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Thanks for clarifying your post multicollinearity. I've had a number of people tell me that medication for anxiety and depression isn't required and that I should stop taking my medication, which gets frustrating. I've tried various talk therapies, including CBT and am involved in peer support groups and regular counseling sessions in addition to seeing a psychiatrist. For me medication is the only thing that has made a difference and has made a huge difference in my life.

I try to be pretty open about my illnesses, but sometimes it's hard. One thing I can say though is that while I struggle at exam times, being at nursing school has actually been really good for me. It's not always easy and I still have bad days, but it has given me more of a sense of purpose than I've had in years.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Sometimes, you have to be able to focus in order to help yourself. While innately, I knew that I was experiencing anxiety attacks, that frightening feeling can keep you from facing daily life. When I go through those stages, I would rather stay in bed because it is too scary, or I am overly stimulated...a situation, I am sure that most nurses encounter whether they take meds or not. I start to feel outside of myself, want to run and sort of take on the emotions of the patients, staff and situations. Sometimes, I am dizzy, shaking and all of the deep breathing and relaxation exercises in the world wouldn't help at that moment because my mind is facing too much to focus and see things for what they really are.

It is hard to gauge what came first, the chicken or the egg, but we have to find a way to live in this world, continue to work, care for families and selves the best way we can. Unfortunately, the way things are set up, the world does not have the patience we may sometimes need to get ourselves together...it can take some people weeks or months! Meanwhile, we place ourselves in situations where taking too much sick or vacation time can be a threat to our jobs, having employers and collagues watching us like hawks waiting for us to fall, the bills are still coming, the children and spouses still need us and those in school still have to function safely in clinicals. I can see what multicollinearity is saying as well, but I think that the choice has to be individual, and no one can count on a pharmaceutical remedy alone. I am just trying to get to that area to think clearly enough to help myself.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

I had a horrendous car accident almost 3 years ago and I was unable to drive my car on the highway without preparing myself for a panic attack. I have only ever had two both on the highway and I am petrified of ever having another ever again. The docs put me on a medication which allows me to be able to drive almost fear on highways again and not be an emotional wreck.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele, ER.

LOL I've been clinically depressed since I was 12, so I don't think nursing did it.

Lily should give me some free t-shirts or something though, for how often I recommend my particular SSNRI to my co-workers.

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I'm on both but I was before nursing and will be until I die.

Mental illness, alcoholism and depression don't run in my family, they gallop.

Nice...

You've heard of the invisible elephant in the room? My mother tries to convince everyone that once they SEE the elephant it'll all be better, I put a saddle on it years ago, my sister is trying to teach it tricks, and my father can't see the elephant but knows all that (insert vulgar word for manure) in the corner must have come from somewhere...

All joking aside, I'm on my third try with antidepressants. I was really glad to be off of them and did well for nearly two years, then some situational crap came up and I got really bad, and when the situation got better, I kept getting worse and realized I probably should go back on (and stay on, in view of my chosen profession and its stressors) the meds.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Thank you. You are so right with your entire post, but I liked this line exceptionally. Had I not had the meds and professional help in my personal life, I would never have had the focus to start school and a professional life.

I missed the big picture of everyone dealing in different ways no matter whether the illness is physical or mental.

Hey, it is what it is. I plan to survive and be happy. If meds will help get that edge off in order for that to happen for me, then, I'll do it. People have choices to either take or not...it is an individual choice. :up:

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