Psychological problems in nursing

Psychological problems are those problems that have to do with the mental status of the individuals. They arise from different factors which may be work related or personal related factors. Psychological problems are likely to weight on individual quality of life because they affect individual performance. It is only when individuals are in their optimum health condition that they can perform to the expected standards.  Psychological problems in nursing may arise from work related factors or from personal or interpersonal factors. They are likely to affect the performance of the nurses and this will have an impact on the overall productivity of nurses.  Coming into contact with traumatic situations in their practices the degree of impact of these traumatic experiences varies within nurses but it is evident that most nurses are psychologically affected by the situations they are likely to face (Jennings 4). The degree to which nurses are psychologically affected depends on the situations they encounter in their career practices.

Nurses work under stressing conditions. Nursing care is not just like medical care because the point of contact between nurses and patients is prolonged and sometimes traumatic. For physicians, the point of contact with patients is limited compared to that of nurses. Nurses usually have a prolonged contact with patients before and after they have had contact with other medical staff. For example, even before they have contact with other medical staff, nurses are always the first people to receive patients who are brought in critical conditions. This means that on daily bases, nurses encounter traumatic conditions (Piko 10).  In many cases, nurses have seen patients die in their own hands while still attending to them. To sum it up, nurses encounter traumatic conditions each moment of their lives.  Like other people, nurses have feelings and they are likely to be affected negatively by these encounters.  They are likely to develop psychological problems in the course of provision of nursing care that may have serious impact on their ability to deliver nursing care.

One of the major psychological problems that affect most nurses is stress and even depression. Most nurses work under stressing conditions and most of them are likely to develop stress related disorders. With the current shortage of nurse experienced in both public and private healthcare facilities, available nurses are overworked. They gave to take care of more patients because the ratio of nurse to patient is small (Hemenway, Solnick, & Colditz, 12). Recent research findings shows that there is a high frequency of psychosomatic symptoms like sleeping problems, tension, headache, chronic fatigue, regular heave drinking, frequent use of tranquilizers and sleeping pills, and other  stress related symptoms among nurses. This is related to different work related issues among them overworking. The hectic nature of nursing schedule is another major cause stress and other psychological problems in nursing. Nurses have to take more than one duty at a time with high degree of accuracy.  Stress in nursing is a major psychological problem that inhibit on effective performance of most nurses. They have to take some days off attending therapy where stress debilitates their productivity. Some nurses have ended up developing depression and quite the profession. Depression is the most diagnosed psychiatric illnesses. It is mainly characterized by sadness, pessimism, self-dislike, and loss of energy, motivation, and concentration (Scott 3).   Recent research shows that most nurses are developing depression of out stress related to work or interpersonal problems at the work place. Depression is a major psychological disorder that affects most nurses. Current literature shows a higher correlation between high rate of suicide among nurses and prevalence of depression. Work related stress has been identified as one of the major factors contributing to high turnover of nurses.

Another major problem affecting most nurses is post traumatic disorders.  Research has found out that among the emergency nurses, post traumatic disorder is a major problem that is   impacting on their performance. Emergency nurses are often exposed to traumatic events and some are not able to recover from the traumatic experience. When nurses are exposed to traumatic events over a long period of time, they are not only likely to develop second traumatic stress (STS) and compassion fatigue (CF) but also a wide range of psychological problems (Piko 5). Research has found out that nurses who are continuously exposed to traumatic events develop symptoms like intrusion, avoidance, and arousal that are major factors leading to job dissatisfaction and nurse burnout (Elvira 8). Recent statistics shows that most nurses are likely to exhibit arousal symptoms mainly reported in irritability. They are also likely to show avoidance symptoms mainly in intrusive symptoms manifested in avoidance of their patients and a number of nurses also show intrusion symptoms manifested in intrusive thoughts about their patients.

Therefore, psychological disorders are a major problem affecting most nurses. Nurses operating in traumatic environments and they are most likely to be exposed to some emergency situations that will have lasting impact on their lives. Psychological problems in nursing emanate form   workplace encounters and conditions of work.  Since most nurses work in stressing environment, they are likely to develop stress related disorders. They are also likely to develop depression and other post traumatic disorders which bring about psychological problems.