Mental Health

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Specializes in Psych, Emergency, Med/Surg.

So I had a Nutrition professor last semester tell me that if a nursing students is diagnosed with depression, s/he will not be able to work as a nurse. I live in Florida, in case that matters. I don't think I am depressed, but I know that the average person has their own bout with depression at least once in their life at some point (I am only 32).Does anyone know if this is really true?

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Your nutrition teacher is wrong. Half of my class is either on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs. (we graduate in May 2008)

I wonder where this person is dreaming up these things! If a nurse were to be banned from nursing because they were Dx with depression, there would be no nurses. If being DX in nursing school barred you from becoming a nurse, I doubt there would be any nurses.

During my peds rotation I took care of a 2month old who had extreme brain damage, (father shook him), a 1month old who was dischared to hospice to die, a 7month old who had burns so bad he needed skin graphs, ("dipped" in hot water and held there by caregiver).

I have also had pts who did not survive codes, who were desperate to stay pregnant one more week(23weekspregnant and on 100%bed rest) because it ment the differance in maybe saving their unborn child, and one who was admitted on the one year anneversary of being told her cancer was in remission, (It wasn't, the cancer was back, and there was little hope of longterm survival.)

Unfortunatly, depression comes with the job. You must have a good support system and know what you need to do for YOU! If you can't take care of yourself, things can get pretty bad.

~~~If there were no valleys, there would be no peaks.~~~ It's not all bad. The good can be better than anything you have ever felt or imagined before. Extremly rewarding.

I hope I didn't scare you off nursing. :innerconf I just wish that people who teach, who hang out in clean, calm, classrooms, wouldn't talk about what they know nothing about. Honestly, think about nursing. You help babies to be born, you help people to live, you take care of the sick and wounded, and you hold the hands of dying people. To say that someone who experiences depression can not be a nurse is absurd. If you didn't feel depressed at some time, then you have flatlined emotionally and THAT would make for a bad nurse.

~BlueBug

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Your professor needs to have his own brain checked. lol I hope he didn't scare away any potential nurses with that info as it couldn't be more wrong. Where did he get that from?! Oy.

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Specializes in ENT, UROLOGY, PLASTIC/BURN.

That is so untrue. It has been my experience that many of the best nurses are prone to anxiety and depression. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the best characteristics of a nurse may also be an individuals greatest challenges. Being very analytical, sensitive, a problem solver, meticulous, wise beyond ones age.

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Specializes in Psych, Emergency, Med/Surg.

See that's what I thought and really, it makes a lot of sense. I appreciate your feedback and look even more forward to nursing now that I know I am allowed to be human!!! :up:

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