Therapy for prospective psych nurses?

[mrs.captain.kangaroo]

Hi what are your thoughts about a prospective psych nurse having therapy? I have friends who have earned degrees in counseling programs (i.e. M.S.W) and they were required to undergo psychotherapy as part of their curriculum to help them better deal with their clients and their own reactions to their clients.

Do you think it would be helpful/should be a requirement?

[PsychNurseWannaBe, BSN, RN]

I think that any additional experience or education is a great thing. But I don’t think that this would be a thing for RNs to have to do mandatory. The reason is… that type of therapy is outside our scope of practice. Don’t get me wrong… we do dabble in counselling but it is done using therapeutic communication. The point is to use TC techniques that will help the client explore the situation they are in via reflection, restating, silence, etc. We do not really pry… we guide. Psychotherapy is more of a prying…

I don’t know if my post made sense… the difference can be subtle.

[mrs.captain.kangaroo]

Thanks PsychNurseWannaBe. I thought maybe therapy would be helpful if a patient was creating a reaction in the nurse maybe out of proportion to the situation so the nurse could id what exactly was bothering her .... I know sometimes I get annoyed with someone and it is because I have the same 'bad' trait!

Guess I can check out the personality disorder sticky thread, as I'm sure I have some tendencies and it is cheaper than a therapist!

[NPAlby]

I'm a psych nurse so I'm gonna have to say that I think everyone should get some therapy! And then some more while working as a psych nursing. I think it helps with transference issues. Especiallly when working with borderlines. Don't think it should be mandatory but a good idea if you can afford it.

[mrs.captain.kangaroo]

Thanks RNalby. I am kind of interested in being in therapy, to see what it is like, work out some issues and to know myself better. I did buy a book that is a Cognitive Behavior Therapy workbook.Studied psych years ago and then they didn't really say much about borderlines but it seems there is a lot more about borderlines now. Need to learn more about that diagnosis.