PMHNP, with depression?

[Aworth1]

I am currently an RN BSN, trying to decide on a future career path. I am drawn to the psych specialty because I think it will give me the work life balance I am looking for. I don't want to work too much overtime or on call. And I want a job where it will not be too physical. However, I suffer from depression and anxiety that can get pretty bad at times and I worry that working in this field could exacerbate it. As of now, when I work with psych clients it hasn't, but I worry that surrounding my self with hearing so many negative things all the time may have an affect. Any other psych nurses have mental health issues that can weigh in on this?

[wayemika]

You can still do it. You just have to know your limits, keep your psych issues under control and make sure you don't bring your issues to work with you. From what I have seen many people have some issues. Even the ones with serious issues can still function well at work if you keep it separate from your personal life.

[harmonizer]

Work is work. You will get use to it. Unless you have private practice where you can set your own time, you will get slammed with > 10 patients per day and sometimes treated like a carwash machine or vending machine and you will be constrained by time. You will learn to let the feeling goes and effectively move on to meet productivity and satisfy the time constraint. Sorry to sarcastic :)

[Jules A, MSN]

Work is work. You will get use to it. Unless you have private practice where you can set your own time, you will get slammed with > 10 patients per day and sometimes treated like a carwash machine or vending machine and you will be constrained by time. You will learn to let the feeling goes and effectively move on to meet productivity and satisfy the time constraint. Sorry to sarcastic :)

Always frustrating to me when I read that people feel psych will provide an easier road to hoe.

[Aworth1]

Thank you for your reply. I think I'm set on PMHNP for my future, I just need to know it is possible to build a wall and keep work life separate from personal life.

[Annie_1101]

I've worked as a psych. tech and I have severe depression. I've found that the key is to focus on the patient and not on yourself. Easier said than done, but it allows you to separate yourself from the emotional side of things.

[Moved-on]

It's an old thread, but yes - you CAN effectively do psych work with your own depression (I'm an LPC and work with this sort of issue all the time). Good advice above - focus on the patient. Maybe a good idea to spend a few sessions with a good therapist as well, if you need some additional coaching on how to separate your symptoms from your perceptions of reality (often depression will create a "filter" that affects the way things look to you, but usually not too hard to cope with those distortions if you recognize your own vulnerability to feeling overwhelmed by things that would not normally overwhelm a person). Best of luck!