I graduated as an LPN in May 2012, and bridged to my ADN December 2014. I'm currently working on my BSN.
The reason I went to nursing was to be a psychiatric nurse. I have always been very passionate about mental health. Like many people that say that, my origins in this interest came from not always being so mentally healthy myself. I have a history of depression and was voluntarily hospitalized in March 2007 for suicidal ideation and April 2007 was involuntarily hospitalized after a suicide attempt. I was 20 at the time.
Fast forward 8 years later and I'm in a much better place. I haven't used medication or therapy for several years, though I am very open to the fact that they may be necessary in the future. One can never predict. My depression is under control, I live a healthy lifestyle and I'm able to manage both work and school fulltime.
Since getting my LPN I have worked at a doctor's office for a family physician. We get our fair share of mental health crises and it's really helped remind me of the reason why I went to school. The only reason why I'm not working directly in mental health now is that there are no places closeby to where we live now, but this summer my husband and I will be moving so he can pursue his Master's in Clinical Psychology (yeah, we're both into it. =) )
So, I'm very excited to go somewhere that has an inpatient behavioral health unit, but the only issue is....it's the same place where I had my voluntary hospitalization.
With the information I have today, I don't *believe* that I will have any problem going back there to work. I follow up that statement with this: I've had a lot of mental health inpatient clinicals and, while the first day I did this during LPN school did bother me and "take me back there" for a little while, that was a number of years ago and I've since had numerous days in different inpatient psych units. I specifically asked for extra days in this area during my ADN clinicals. And again, I've taken the initiative on a lot of mental health crises with patients in our clinic. My physician knows me passion for psych and is wonderful about letting me make decisions about treatment plans, hospitalization recommendations, etc. So again, it may be odd to go back there, but I do believe that I will be able to handle it and be resilient to any stress it adds.
That being said...I just wasn't sure if it somehow frowned upon for Psychiatric nurses to work anywhere where they have been hospitalized. I wouldn't even think twice about this with any other specialty (i.e. ICU, Oncology, ER, etc) but people treat mental health differently, so I thought I'd be worthwhile to verify that I'm not setting myself up for a huge disappointment.
I understand that it's illegal for them to ask me about my health history, but say that I got there and it ever came out somehow that I was there before (i.e. where I work now when you look up a patient's name you get the sames of 6-8 other people with similar names that have also been seen, or maybe a long-time employee could recognize me...who knows), would that be the nail in my coffin? There are so few inpatient behavioral health places around me without having a 2 hour one-way commute (which i did all through school and am really resistant to do it for another 3+ years while hubby is in school), which is why I feel like I have "all my eggs in once basket" here.
Sorry this is a book, but I value any insight that can be offered.
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
IMO (with many years of experience as a psych staff nurse and psych CNS), there is no way to disclose your own psychiatric hx to clients "in a therapeutic, professional manner," esp. if you are simultaneously withholding that info from your coworkers and superiors. That behavior is always nontherapeutic and unprofessional, and is a huge boundary "red flag."
I thought carefully about my disclosure prior. I talked with other nurses prior. My disclosure never included my diagnosis. But I told a particularly anxious client that I feel that way sometimes also but I manage to function. It was, I think, good for the client to know a person can feel anxious and still lead a productive, happy life.
My other disclosures had to do with managing mse and the importance of being med compliant.
The disclosure was so subtle, I don't even know if the clients realized I was saying I have mental illness.
Thanks for posting this, OP, as it's been great reading all these knowledgeable and thoughtful responses.
I'm hoping to go into psych nursing as well. And I have a somewhat recent history (late teens to 20s) of depression and anxiety. I have noticed a lot of people who have been through mental health issues are drawn to caring for people with whom they can empathize. I have wondered to myself whether my history will affect my career. It's nice to see there is at least some level of acceptance, and that it's sometimes recognized as asset to be able to understand what patients are going through.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I do want to add though that I agree that you should not share your mental health journey with your patients. This is risky for a number of reasons. One there is the transference issue where you are projecting your journey onto your patient and two many psych patients especially those with true psychotic disorders are very adept a reading and singling out you mental health shortcomings. It can be very detrimental your your own mental health. You can use you experience to help you but do not make the mistake of thinking your journey and theirs are the same.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
From my own perspective...... As a student in my final year I had do a placement on the inpatient mental health unit I'd been hospitalized a year before. The nurses were brilliant and everyone was really positive however for me it felt totally odd and wierd. I would not want to work on the same unit I had been hospitalised on.
As for disclosure to employers. I used to be fairly open about my journey as it forms how I practice. However after being denied two jobs based on that disclosure I have started being alot more 'mum' about it.
After having carefully read your post, and no where did you seek an opinion on whether or not to share your psych history with a patient or co-worker, you are asking if I believe you will suffer negative consequences if it accidentally becomes known that you are a former patient of a psych unit you wish to work on.
I think your present state of mind speaks volumes. You come across as a reasonable, articulate, self-aware adult. I would have no problem working with you if I discovered your history by accident. HOWEVER, be-ins as how you are in Kansas (I'm originally from MO and remember Senator Tom Eagleton) there may be some folks who come out from under their rock to work on your unit and might try to give you some grief. I would think a mature response like "That was years ago and I am now very successfully dealing with those issues" will suffice as you get back to work.
I also think your history WILL give you meaningful/helpful insight on that continuum known as mental health. So many of us are just one crazy day away from checking into the "funny farm". Good on you for having had a good outcome from seeking care and becoming a useful member of society. (meant to be witty remark)
I wouldn't do it. Plus, there are certain places that won't allow people to work on the floor in which they were hospitalized. And how awkward would it be to work in a place where your coworkers know all about your personal mental health issues?
I have been in a very similar situation where I was floated to the unit in which I was VERY RECENTLY hospitalized, and it was extremely uncomfortable.
Elkpark, generally people repeat behaviors that resulted in positive outcomes. They generally do not repeat behaviors that result in negative outcomes. True, this pilot did have a history. However, since that initial "burnout" he chose not to keep his employers appraised of his ongoing struggles. There is a reason for this, and it's not unreasonable to hypothesize that the reason is that he believed it would negatively impact his career and perhaps Lufthansa were not as supportive as they would now like us to believe. While I don't believe any of this absolves him of responsibility, my opinion stands as to our overall lack of acceptance of mental disorders when compared to "physical" disorders.
I'm sure that does sound like a reasonable hypothesis to you, because it conveniently fits your existing beliefs about the topic. To me, your scenario sounds like quite a stretch based on the limited information available so far. I will be following the news and revise my opinions prn as more information comes to light. However, based on what has been reported so far, it sounds like Lufthansa (presumably because of German law) did everything you are advocating for here in terms of not stigmatizing or retaliating against the pilot for having a psychiatric hx; he dropped out of his initial pilot training because of psychiatric illness; they allowed him to return after 18 months and complete the pilot training; they allowed him to continue to fly with a psychiatric hx they knew about, with the stipulation that he needed to remain under a physician's care and oversight, while not being allowed access to his medical records and relying on him to voluntarily inform them if he was found by his physician to be unsafe to fly. And the result of this enlightened, humane, supportive process is that he not only killed himself, but took 149 other people with him.
For what it's worth, this morning, it's being reported that his previous difficulties in 2009, referred to as "burnout" in the article you posted and "depression" by CNN and other sources, included "suicidal tendencies."
I think your present state of mind speaks volumes. You come across as a reasonable, articulate, self-aware adult. I would have no problem working with you if I discovered your history by accident.
Interesting that you garnered all this information from a couple of paragraphs posted in cyber space. Nothing against the OP or anyone else here but I wouldn't be willing to assess and vouch for anyone's stated of mind based on one or two posts in an online forum.
they allowed him to continue to fly with a psychiatric hx they knew about, with the stipulation that he needed to remain under a physician's care and oversight, while not being allowed access to his medical records and relying on him to voluntarily inform them if he was found by his physician to be unsafe to fly.
That is what is insane, imo. Like the honor jar at the local vegetable stand? Unbelievable that the government would allow patients with mental health diagnosis to self report without a safety check in place. What a travesty and I can only hope this brings about changes that will attempt to better protect both the person with mental health diagnosis and the innocent public.
NEVER Disclose. It's NONE of their business, and don't make it their business.
Anytime people hear involuntary hospitalization they think "danger to self or others" and/or "gravely disabled."
People are afraid of what this means.. it means somebody supposedly considered you a "danger" to self or others... Look at one of the first posts of this thread, they think some guy is going to run into a mountain range (which appears to be based on pure speculation, but people are put into psych wards based on speculation of what they may or may not do) bc he decided to not disclose some so-called mental illness. So what do people think? Shootings, people crashing planes (probably a reason they will take away your car if called on), ect... while there are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS if not MILLIONS who will get involuntarily hospitalized. Even those who get some court (even with a public defender/lawyer) who will say they have to be institutionalized, taking away their freedom and rights to refuse drugs/questioning/activities, oftentimes, restrained to a bed or gurney in painful positions.
Look for a second on what they might think one is by saying that. It's sickening and frightening what people claimed you were and what people might think if they know.
People assume involuntary hospitalization or hospitalization = attempt, but actually it can be bc you say you are being followed/stalked, say people may have poisoned you, disrupt the public in some way, have a history of diagnoses and/or somebody called on you (911, security, ect), say you are bi-polar and a whole plethora of other reasons that people can rationalize to get a person locked up based off what they say or do.
How would one like to be the person up late at night thinking, How could I be 'that' person to get institutionalized? This is horrible and not true. Am I really that awful? What if people find out, I would be ostracized, could lose jobs, lost firearm rights (aka, not eligible for military or ROTC, either, or some other jobs), get kicked out of school (read all the online stories of people getting kicked out of school if haven't heard of it, e.g., college stories are out there, but can also be k-12), people could be afraid or think horrible things... even when you are NOT?!
Employers, co-workers, schools, and classmates, and/or strangers can think you are a liability if you say somebody diagnosed you before or labeled you with mental illness.
There are reasons why statistics out there say "80% unemployment" and "50% of employers" will think twice about hiring somebody who says they have... "62% of workers say they would not work with somebody with schizophrenia." These are really, imo, low statistics for what the life-long issue could be with the public.
Keep It a Secret! Expunge those documents, petition, seal those records, and tell no one. I cannot emphasize it enough... it's a rough world out there and you don't know how somebody could react including long-term ramifications. This is an anonymous board vs public. There's a reason why requests for medical records will say "HIV/AIDS/STD" info and "mental illness/diagnosis" information to be sealed and such on the form... it can be damaging if people know.
I see red flags all over the place, but then I know if you get a board complaint what will happen.
If you ever get a board compliant, well in AZ at least they order psych evals like hot cakes, your expense. You sign a paper that you release all medical records . DO NOT EVER DO THIS.
You need to get lots of malpractice take them to court all the way. all the way.
and you'll be fine. and the part where you mention, "take me back there" a psych will jump all over that statement. It was a psych that did me in , high paid liar, a court room whore, so I am not too thrilled about psych. What ever floats your boat, and be aware one out of every 10 , molest their patients. fact.
read the reality ARIZONA STATE BOARD OF NURSING CORRUPTION best.
I agree do not disclose anything . Go soemwhere else. Dont mention it to anyone.
If you were licensed when you went in, they would have NO problem reporting you to the Board of nursing. 100% chance getting a psych eval , you pay about $1500. ,and then you must sign to release it to the BON, and then it goes on the web site cause it is public record ! Dont think so?
And they can under nurse practice act. Think hippa applies to nurses? think again .
vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN
2,717 Posts
I thought carefully about my disclosure prior. I talked with other nurses prior. My disclosure never included my diagnosis. But I told a particularly anxious client that I feel that way sometimes also but I manage to function. It was, I think, good for the client to know a person can feel anxious and still lead a productive, happy life.
My other disclosures had to do with managing mse and the importance of being med compliant.
The disclosure was so subtle, I don't even know if the clients realized I was saying I have mental illness.