May is Mental Health Month, and I haven’t addressed it at all yet. But I have a lot of thoughts. Every time I sit down to try to write about nursing and mental health -even just in the context of only my own life -I become overwhelmed with the enormity and complexity of the topic.
A year ago next week, actually, I had to take a leave of absence from work due to what I thought was burnout. It actually turned out to be PTSD, and over the last year, I have learned exactly how far back in my life trauma goes. But the strange and traumatic event that happened to me one night at work, and brought about my need to go on leave–it is still hard for me to believe that things like this at work can be so traumatizing. Why? Maybe because these types of events are so common. Maybe because being an ICU nurse is fraught with high-level stress and emotional highs and lows, as patients “miraculously” get better or succumb to their illnesses. And supporting the families in both of the these instances is so very difficult. It just seems like I should be able to handle it, because it’s my job…
So, how has the pandemic affected nurses’ mental health? This article (found almost by accident), really conveys a lot of what is going on, and offers some great tips.
“Nurses Are Facing A Mental Health Crisis In The Midst Of The Coronavirus Pandemic”
Healthcare workers in hospitals with COVID-19 patients reported higher than usual rates of depression, anxiety, and insomnia, according to a survey published in the JAMA Network Open journal in March. Among those with the most severe symptoms were nurses. This is especially concerning when you consider that they already have higher suicide rates than the rest of the population, according to a study by UC San Diego Health published in February.
Molly Longman, 5/8/2020, “Nurses are facing a mental health crisis,” Refinery29