By Abigail George
An intellectual error that has occurred in the medical fraternity is the harm that is caused whenever the psychological distress of the psychiatric nurse is not taken into account and adequately dealt with.
There are particular resources that construct our identity. One of them being trauma and our response to it. Once we have experienced trauma the individual’s behaviour can begin to deviate from the norm.
It is my perception that the psychiatric nurse lives in a heightened state of awareness once they experience trauma. They enter a period/phase of what I call “the age of complex PTSD”. In this heightened state of awareness they/we perceive a rather intense interaction with the world whenever they/we experience an adverse cognitive experience or especially traumatic incident in our personal lives or the workplace. The psychiatric nurse experiences a) a heady sense or rush of feeling and emotion, b) powerlessness, c) fear d) anxiety, e) disembodiment and/or dysregulation, f) they/we begin to lose our sense of reality/the line between reality and non-reality becomes blurred, g) lack of self-control (prone to having an emotional outburst like crying for no apparent reason or breaking down and appearing vulnerable in a moment of anguish.
We can identify this particular stress as manifesting as both social stress and work related stress. Both kinds of stress can be debilitating and exhausting to deal with. The trauma impact model is representative of both the impact and symptom of the root cause of psychological distress. One is intrinsic in nature, meaning that the impact of trauma is oftentimes internalized leading to the cause of clinical depression and other mental health issues/problems for the professional. The psychiatric nurse is hampered further in her duties by a shift in mood. The psychiatric nurse appears calm on the surface but she is experiencing mixed emotions signaling a response to stress in her body by reliving an adverse/negative reaction that she experienced in the environment.
The condition and the impact of trauma in which there is a period of development from sound judgment/good to fair coping skills to poor judgment/basic coping skills follows a pre-existing order resulting in the poor mental health of the psychiatric nurse who experiences trauma in the workplace or work related stress. This particular stress is known as social stress/combative stress in social situations and work stress in the workplace/work environment. Stress can also be seen as a coping response or mechanism as how to deal with either a positive or negative outcome. Stress is always a response to environmental factors, situations that are toxic or otherwise and people who are toxic or enabling.
There is an historical, socio-economic and a developmental need that needs to be addressed when it comes to the notions of suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
The historical context blurs the edges alongside the socio-economic context. The high risk in-patients usually comes (not always) from a poor socio-economic background where unemployment, addiction, housing problems such as homelessness/they come from a sub-economic area, substance abuse problems and self-harm are rife. In these instances and cases what would be the best solution when a highly trained psychiatric nurse who has no prior knowledge of the the suicide ideation in this patient’s mind and they are then placed in the same environment with this kind of individual who has a poor frame of mind and little or no outlook on life. The patient who displays suicidal thoughts and behaviours many times has a dismal and very negative point of view of their own life, as well as have a bleak outlook on life.
There is a link between the external stimuli in an environment, the people that you come into contact with and mental illness and isolation. It is very dangerous having no contact with the outside world. Loneliness and clinical depression is very prevalent today. Everyone is at risk for suicide ideation. Suicidal thoughts and behaviours do not discriminate.
What is the way forward? How do we attack depression going forward and stop it in its tracks once it raises its ugly head. Depression is a monster that can slowly take control of your life without you even realising it. The individual must become aware of nutrition and eating the correct proteins. Eating a well-balanced diet is very important, i.e. a) a diet that includes meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products, b) taking vitamin supplements, c) exercise, d) having hobbies that you enjoy, e) being out in nature, f) meditation, prayer and having a spiritual outlook on life is also important, g) remaining mindful and h) contemplation. These are good rules to have for life. We can live our best life possible and be the best version of ourselves.
We are all searching for happiness but what the individual seeks is reflection on the inner man.
You turn into a zombie when you are depressed, i.e. going through the motions of life and you can really let your person go. In other words, you neglect yourself.
Self-care leads to self-preservation. The survival of the fittest.
What is depression? It is a state of mind. When the mind is in flux. You cannot do anything. You no longer feel highly motivated to do anything.
When we think of depression we must think of the conceptual, intellectual, imaginative, professional and regard innovation or rather aspects thereof as it demonstrates radical conceptualisation and intellectualism.
Sources:
Author Details – South African Journal of Psychiatry https://sajp.org.za/index.php/sajp/search/authors/view?firstName=Ruwayda&middleName=&lastName=Jacobs&affiliation=Department%20of%20Nursing%2C%20Faculty%20of%20Health%20Sciences%2C%20Nelson%20Mandela%20Metropolitan%20University%2C%20Port%20Elizabeth&country=ZA
