PMHNP: Safety

resilientnurse · Apr 4, 2014

It is not so much an "underserved" population but the "mentally unstable." To be honest, if someone wanted to hurt my colleagues and I ... we would be sitting ducks. The director once remarked: "Well, the police station is nearby." In my opinion, no one in this country is making the connection between mental instability and mass violence--no one in a position to do something about anyway.

elkpark · Apr 4, 2014

What "connection" between mental instability and mass violence do you want people to make? While each individual occurrence gets tons of press, the percentage of the mentally ill who have ever, or will ever commit any act of aggression or violence is quite small. They are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. But thanks for doing your part to contribute to the huge (but unnecessary) stigma these people have to live with ...

"It's time that, as a society, we begin to knock down stereotypes and start breaking down the stigma associated with mental disorders. The first stereotype to go down -- permanently, we hope -- is that people who suffer from depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, an eating disorder, or any other type of mental disorder, are somehow more violent than others. This simply isn't true, unless they are involved in substance abuse. Use and abuse of substances such as drugs or alcohol is often correlated with an increase in violence anyway (e.g., due to impaired judgment). Violence is most often a criminal activity which has little correlation with a person's mental health. Most people who suffer from a mental disorder are not violent -- there is no need to fear them. Embrace them for who they are -- normal human beings experiencing a difficult time, who need your open mind, caring attitude, and helpful support."

Psych Central - Dispelling the Myth of Violence and Mental Illness

PG2018 · Apr 4, 2014

This story is true but entirely for entertainment.

My father had a cousin in California who worked as a clinical psychologist in a mental hospital. I think he was in radio too or something because we had these tapes of him he'd mail occasionally with him talking followed by music when I was a child. When I was a teenager I met him and he said he'd seen all types of violence there. For that reason, he said when he finished school he was an unathletic, pot bellied PhD. He had a beard, was about 5'6", and smoked cigars. He said he began lifting weights and taking some kind of martial arts, and when I met the man he was like a cross between Arnold Schwerzwhatever and Chuck Norris. I've never yet worked in psych, and I'm not saying anyone will be flipping patients over tables, lol. I just think Sydney made himself ready in case somebody tried to shank him, lol.