PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHIATRIC NURSING

They are general principles that govern the nurse's conduct towards
the patient, to achieve an optimal result with respect to the individual's mental
health. These basic principles are:

 Acceptance of patients exactly as they are

 Contact with reality
 Personal contribution of the Nursing professional
 Patient stability and safety
 Change in patient behavior through emotional experience
 Self-understanding as a therapeutic instrument
 Patient validation

Acceptance of patients exactly as they are

Acceptance is an active process, it is a series of acts of positive

behavior whose purpose is to instill in the patient respect for himself, as the
human individual he is, and who, for that fact alone, has merit, value and
dignity. The patient must be accepted without judging him, this means
avoiding ethical evaluation.

Another method of approaching the patient is to express interest in him

as a person, not as a case or clinical problem. This interest can be expressed
by asking the patient questions and spending the time spent with him on
things in which he is interested; Also, staying with him and listening to him is
another way of transmitting our acceptance, allowing him to express his
negative emotions without fear of replies.

Contact with reality

 Many people who have developed or are susceptible to behavioral
disorders have difficulties in their contact mechanisms and exploration of
reality. In fact, many normal people tend to perceive reality as they would like
it to be and not as it is. When assisting these patients, unreality, ideas,
assumptions or non-real behavior of the patient will not be reinforced. The
aim is to bring the patient's attention to reality without requiring them to
accept it immediately.

Seek assessment from the patient

To know if we agree with what the nurse thinks about how the patient
perceives reality, one way to validate it would be to ask the patient something
that he or she believes he or she is telling him or her and check with the
patient if it is true or wrong.

Self-understanding as a therapeutic instrument

Nurses should learn as much as they can about the behavior to

increase our understanding of what is really happening. We must also learn
to apply the knowledge acquired to our own behavior and our own feelings as
well as to those of other people. The nurse must learn to accept herself as
part of learning how to accept others, she must try to recognize what she
really feels and thinks in order to be able to introduce changes in her way of
feeling, thinking and behaving towards the patient.

Personal contribution of the Nursing professional

What each nurse brings to a therapeutic relationship will be their

definitive personal contribution. That is, she is a different person from what
other people are. It is possible to establish a helping relationship only when it
is really sought and desired.

Patient stability and safety

 Every mentally ill person is insecure and restless, regardless of his or
her overt behavior. One of the most effective measures to promote a feeling
of security is stability. Stability and security in the staff's attitudes towards the
patient are of profound importance for them, since the mentally ill learn
through daily experiences what they can expect as long as it is positive.

Changing the patient's behavior through emotional experience

For psychiatric treatment and nursing care of the mentally ill, the most
important thing is the affective sphere of the personality, not its intellectual
aspect. We must avoid by all means appealing to the intellect and reason of
the patient to combat ideas that have powerful emotional support. Reason is
not an effective weapon to modify the patient's behavior.