Psychodinamically oriented nursing care of psychotic patients on a psychiatric ward

Abstract

In the daily hospital inpatient routine nurses carry out a role, similar to that of a mother towards a newborn: they are present at any time and as such always available for a patient’s call for help in case his clinical state worsens. By being »always there« they establish a hospital milieu which gives the patient the sense of safety. The above mentioned stands even more when having in mind the relationships in a psychiatric intensive care unit as the nature of psychotic ilnesses invariably calls for the sense of continuity, safety and warmth. The article presents theoretical backgound for the comparison of mother – child and nurse – patient ralationships and studies possibillities for a psychodinamically oriented approach to nursing together with pointing out advantages of such an approach. In trying to achieve that, for the presentation of the importance of nurses´ everyday work the article uses the metaphor of the building of a house, which may on the first look seem banalised to some degree, but from another point of view a considerable and noteworthy correlation.