Future psych nurse here, what do you want to tell me about suicidality?

[lucyna]

Hi all, hope you're doing well all things considered.

I used to be quite active here during my darkest moments and decided to study to be a psychiatric nurse, since personally I got a lot of help from them.
However, depending where you live, healthcare workers including nurses and doctors can be assholes and just simply suck. Believe me, I know and I definitely want to do my part on breaking that cycle. This is just for my personal professional growth so I help people in the same situation i used to be in as well as I can. Our situations as patients differ a lot so your input is really, really important to me.

You can write anything you like, you can vent about bad experiences and just give couple tips, here's also some questions to help you:
Do you have good or bad experiences in healthcare services?
What made them good or bad?
Where do nurses fail and what could they do better?
Can you describe your optimal, "dream" nurse? What makes them good in your eyes? Where do they differ from bad nurses?

Thank you in advance and keep going

 

[Rabbit&Blackberry]

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

 

[WishfulNeanderthal]

I have had contact with psychiatry (we call it BUP in Sweden) for all my teenage years, later, after I turned 18, I was thrown out into the wild, I recently have had some successful contact with adult psychiatry (I'm now 25). My memory of my teenage years is blurry to say, since depression's inflammatory effect on the brain. I have autism, which plays a factor in how I mask depression and/or anxiety, so what I will say is this:

First off, its commendable that you are aiming for that kind of a job, I have a degree in psychology myself (but didnt go the therapist route due to the mental strain i have heard it causes) and it shows that you care about people, so thank you for that.

I'll base my answers on the aforementioned aspects:

1. Regarding good and bad experiences, I've had several good experiences with therapists where they adapted to the information I gave to them, they were non-judgmental, and I really feel that they listened. I also feel that their mental walls were down a bit (since healthcare workers go through a lot of painful experiences/patients telling them painful experiences, I have heard they create a kind of mental wall), which made it easier for me to connect with them.

When it comes to bad experiences, I'll two examples, one is where a doctor was hearing my struggles and told me "taking a walk and training will solve that" (spoiler: it did not, thankfully he was fired), so realizing that yes a healthy lifestyle can increase the chances of wellbeing, it isnt neccesarily causative. The other example was recently an experience of talking with a doctor, and as they read through my journal they decided to put me on the same medication that i was on before (and had no effect), so the important point to take from there is that before prescribing medication, if it hasnt been shown to work before, if there are legitimate causes behind that choice its good to be super clear on why its being done.

2. A good nurse (in my case, at least) is someone who realizes that some autistic people really do mask their depression to the point of it being difficult to diagnose when having meetings with them. The same goes for suicidality. A good nurse is also someone who not only cares for the patient, but for themselves as well. Nothing good can come from an individual being overloaded by a hectic schedule mixed in with people being in psychological or physical pain, so self-care is key to being a good nurse.

And lastly, it is important to keep oneself informed and open to alternatives when it comes to therapy and medication. Some medications can obviously make someone more suicidal, while some therapy methods just simply don't work on some individuals. But of course it's worth a try, while also being open to switching to another method if one isn't working.

I hope your studies go really well, as a fellow student (well soon to be ex student) remember to take breaks, aint no use getting straight A's if the mental health isn't well. And thank you :D

 

[lucyna]

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

I totally agree, thank you for replying!

I have had contact with psychiatry (we call it BUP in Sweden) for all my teenage years, later, after I turned 18, I was thrown out into the wild, I recently have had some successful contact with adult psychiatry (I'm now 25). My memory of my teenage years is blurry to say, since depression's inflammatory effect on the brain. I have autism, which plays a factor in how I mask depression and/or anxiety, so what I will say is this:

First off, its commendable that you are aiming for that kind of a job, I have a degree in psychology myself (but didnt go the therapist route due to the mental strain i have heard it causes) and it shows that you care about people, so thank you for that.

I'll base my answers on the aforementioned aspects:

1. Regarding good and bad experiences, I've had several good experiences with therapists where they adapted to the information I gave to them, they were non-judgmental, and I really feel that they listened. I also feel that their mental walls were down a bit (since healthcare workers go through a lot of painful experiences/patients telling them painful experiences, I have heard they create a kind of mental wall), which made it easier for me to connect with them.

When it comes to bad experiences, I'll two examples, one is where a doctor was hearing my struggles and told me "taking a walk and training will solve that" (spoiler: it did not, thankfully he was fired), so realizing that yes a healthy lifestyle can increase the chances of wellbeing, it isnt neccesarily causative. The other example was recently an experience of talking with a doctor, and as they read through my journal they decided to put me on the same medication that i was on before (and had no effect), so the important point to take from there is that before prescribing medication, if it hasnt been shown to work before, if there are legitimate causes behind that choice its good to be super clear on why its being done.

2. A good nurse (in my case, at least) is someone who realizes that some autistic people really do mask their depression to the point of it being difficult to diagnose when having meetings with them. The same goes for suicidality. A good nurse is also someone who not only cares for the patient, but for themselves as well. Nothing good can come from an individual being overloaded by a hectic schedule mixed in with people being in psychological or physical pain, so self-care is key to being a good nurse.

And lastly, it is important to keep oneself informed and open to alternatives when it comes to therapy and medication. Some medications can obviously make someone more suicidal, while some therapy methods just simply don't work on some individuals. But of course it's worth a try, while also being open to switching to another method if one isn't working.

I hope your studies go really well, as a fellow student (well soon to be ex student) remember to take breaks, aint no use getting straight A's if the mental health isn't well. And thank you :D

Excellent points, thank you so much. It's very cool that you have a psychology degree, I used to want to study it! I can definitely see myself building a "mental wall" further down the road which definitely doesn't help in scenarios of patients mental wellbeing. The nurses I had which ended up saving my life definitely had their walls down with me and that's a point I didn't realize until now, as usual the doctor was an asshole but I demanded further help so I got it lol. Masking is also such a great point, we have little education on neurodiverse people (I have ADHD myself) so your reply is worth more than gold to me. I think self-care is an excellent point too and I definitely agree. You're well spoken and intelligent, the degree definitely wasn't for nothing! I'm sure you can use it for good.
Thank you so, so much for replying, I wish you the best in the future!

 

[sleepy_redcar]

Hi all, hope you're doing well all things considered.

I used to be quite active here during my darkest moments and decided to study to be a psychiatric nurse, since personally I got a lot of help from them.
However, depending where you live, healthcare workers including nurses and doctors can be assholes and just simply suck. Believe me, I know and I definitely want to do my part on breaking that cycle. This is just for my personal professional growth so I help people in the same situation i used to be in as well as I can. Our situations as patients differ a lot so your input is really, really important to me.

You can write anything you like, you can vent about bad experiences and just give couple tips, here's also some questions to help you:
Do you have good or bad experiences in healthcare services?
What made them good or bad?
Where do nurses fail and what could they do better?
Can you describe your optimal, "dream" nurse? What makes them good in your eyes? Where do they differ from bad nurses?

Thank you in advance and keep going

This is kind of unrelated but myself as a student thinking of switching to psych nurse route (i've never been treated due to fear of being diagnosed) this post and the replies really helped me understand more from the experience of being a patient, I wish you the best luck in your studies, and hope you become someone's helper in their darkest time

 

[WishfulNeanderthal]

I totally agree, thank you for replying!


Excellent points, thank you so much. It's very cool that you have a psychology degree, I used to want to study it! I can definitely see myself building a "mental wall" further down the road which definitely doesn't help in scenarios of patients mental wellbeing. The nurses I had which ended up saving my life definitely had their walls down with me and that's a point I didn't realize until now, as usual the doctor was an asshole but I demanded further help so I got it lol. Masking is also such a great point, we have little education on neurodiverse people (I have ADHD myself) so your reply is worth more than gold to me. I think self-care is an excellent point too and I definitely agree. You're well spoken and intelligent, the degree definitely wasn't for nothing! I'm sure you can use it for good.
Thank you so, so much for replying, I wish you the best in the future!

Thank you so much for the kind words, I appreciate it alot! I am sure you will make a great nurse! I hope your day goes amazing and I wish you well <3

 

[always_sad]

-- A therapist didn't believe me because my history of child abuse was "too much" and at the end of the session he said "do you even want to be alive at this point". It was rude and unprofessional. Avoid making statements or assumptions, if you believe someone might be suicidal just ask them

Do you have good or bad experiences in healthcare services? -- Mostly bad. When I was at my worst I was treated like I'm a bother, crazy, unreliable. I didn't even do anything bad, I just locked myself in my room, became a dropout and stopped showering, sleeping and interacting with people. I would wear same clothes for weeks. My parents did absoultely nothing, they just kept blaming me for everything and told mental health professionals that I'm "driving them insane" and that I'm "problematic". No one asked me how I was doing, it was all about comfort of my family and not making them look bad. I was treated like a broken object that needs to be fixed so my parents can stop being bothered by my mere existence

Where do nurses fail and what could they do better? -- Rude comments, "that bitch is crazy, she's _ years old and she's still a shut in" was an insane thing to hear. Fuck nurses who are in this profession just because they want to have power over weaker people.

Can you describe your optimal, "dream" nurse? -- Just a normal person who doesn't make assumptions and rude comments, doesn't threaten people or sugarcoat issues, not pushy. I just want them to be normal...

 

[versuchskaninchen]

I know this sounds obvious but find a way to try to remember names..being referred to as the wrong name just felt like I was forgettable by my own nurses which did make me less likely to go to them.

Also, please try to see if you can help accommodate with hygiene things if the place you end up in lets you. I have curly hair and they just handed me barely a penny worth of conditioner and a comb my hair broke..made me feel unclean and awful and a nurse who helped me apply for a hairbrush and more conditioner being allowed let me at least not dread showers more than I did.

 

[milkteacrown]

I am very glad you're looking to become the change you want to see. I sincerely hope you can—I believe in you.

1) Do you have good or bad experiences?
Bad, largely. I experienced institutional abuse in my psychiatric hospital and I had to lie in order to get out and go home. However, one doctor, one supervisor, one tech, and two nurses were lovely people and I felt safe only around them.

2) What made them good or bad?
Most nurses didn't seem to care about me. They were pleasant towards me when I was in a good mood, but when I was breaking down, they would become incredibly cold—sometimes even being cruel towards me, like a nurse who laughed while I cried and told me I was being irrational. The psychiatrist in charge of deciding whether or not I could go home diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder and everything went downhill, because despite my pleasant and polite attitude, people had it in their heads that I was "crazy" in a way that wasn't worth respect. I also experienced abuse, which I experienced dissociative amnesia with, so I don't remember the details of that.

3) Where do nurses fail and what could they do better?
I think it's important for nurses to know that, when you're being held at a hospital against your will and placed at the mercy of strangers, it is extremely easy to lose trust. Small situations where you feel as though you were placed in danger may make you feel as though you are all alone and the people in charge are out to get you. This deeply worsens paranoia in, for example, patients with psychotic disorders.

4) What is your ideal nurse?
A nurse who sees me as a person, not a patient. A nurse who doesn't patronize me or overly exert control over me, who shows genuine compassion when I am struggling and has more than simple filler words and medication for me. Overall, a nurse I can trust with my wellbeing and feel safe with.

 

[whywere]

No matter what type of medical body or mind or both, a lot of the times when I have gone to a clinic or hospital and everything in between, when the person puts of white or other solid colors nowadays, they automatically seem to get a HUGE ego and attitude about themselves.

I have had so many run ins with doctors and nurses who come into the room where I am waiting and treat me as if I am so much less than they are and the worst part is that my thoughts about my ONW body and mind mean nothing to them, and it is never taken into account in regards to any form of treatments.

Just one time I would so love to have a doctor or nurse come in say: "Hi Walter, what brings you in or how are you today". NOPE it is shut up, sit still and do whatever we say without even breathing or it is DISRESPECT. If I counter them, so many times, it is GET OUT, REALLY?

If GOD gave a person, the ability to help others then help others and do not bring all the ego baggage with please.

I have been kicked out of so many mental health and medical clinics because I question something and BANG I am out.

If you are either a mental health nurse or going to be, PLEASE try and do not forget where you came from and also that folks are no less important.

We are ALL the same and we are ALL in this together.

Every day, one still learns new things every day from anyone and everyone and that is the power of being human.

Walter

 

[Holu]

Maybe a future clinical psychologist here(still studying lol 5 more years for my PhD yippee) and I'm sort of worried regarding the freedoms I'll be provided in regard to assisting my patients. So I'll ask a question to you that I've had to ask myself.

What do you plan on doing if someone expresses ideation, plan, intent to commit suicide. Let's say it's someone you had communications with, and you got the impression that while they feel this way, they are entirely autonomous and such thinking likely won't be deterred by a 3 day 5150 hold.

I've personally be hospitalized. It's not fun, I hated it, and from that point on I started just lying to everyone about my overall state. I'd feel awful doing the same to someone I could relate to but on the same note it would be a violation of the oath.

I'm curious what your thoughts on this are.