S Nambi MD DPM FIPS
Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Institute of Mental Health
Chennai
Jitendar P. Vij
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Psychiatry for Nurses
© 1998, S Nambi
All rights reserved. No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author and the publisher.
This book has been published on good faith that the material provided by author is original. Every effort is made to ensure accuracy of material, but the publisher, printer and author (s) will not be held responsible for any inadvertent error(s). In case of any dispute, all legal matters to be settled under Delhi jurisdiction only.
First Edition : 1998
Production Manager: P. S. Ghuman
9788171796274
Typeset at JPBMP typesetting unit
Printed at Lordson, C-5/19, Rana Pratap Bagh, Delhi 110 007
To
The Suffering Mentally
Ill Persons
5Preface
‘Care of the human mind is the most noble branch of medicine’
Stress of modern life and rapid social changes, accelerated by modern technological achievements, have powerful effects on people's mental health and the quality of their life.
Psychiatric nursing has emerged as a specialised branch of nursing in the recent past in India. Psychiatric training for nurses is essential not only to manage the severely mentally ill or psychotic patients but also to so many other psychological problems which include depression, anxiety and other neurotic disorders, psychosomatic disorders, problems due to alcohol and drug dependence, emotional problems of children, adolescents and elderly population. Apart from these, patients suffering from physical illnesses are also having associated emotional problems, because of the intimate relationship of the body and the mind. The nurse should be able to recognise and take care of these mental health problems. It requires knowledge and application of technical skills.
This book Psychiatry for Nurses is written basically for student nurses, who are undergoing training in Mental Health Nursing and who have to write in their examination about psychiatry and psychiatric nursing. This book may also be useful for nurses who work with the mentally ill people in different set-ups like general hospital psychiatric departments, psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes and in community mental health programmes. The purpose of this book is to present a clear and concise account of the common mental health problems, their management and nursing care. The important aim of this book is to introduce nursing students a theoretical and practical approach of the care of the mentally disturbed persons. A sincere attempt has been made in this book to organise current practice of psychiatric nursing so as to enable the nurses to develop an understanding of the complexity of human behaviour and the treatments designed to alter adaptive behaviour. The chapters in this book are formulated 6on the syllabus recommended by the Nursing Council of India for the diploma and degree students of Nursing. The nursing students can confidently face their psychiatric nursing examination and manage the emotionally disturbed patients more effectively with the help of this book.
I am indebted to the Director, Institute of Mental Health, Chennai, for his support and encouragement to write this book. I extend my thanks to my wife Dr Shanthi who has provided the essential assistance. I also thank Ms MR Vijayalakshmi and Mr Ananda Padmanaban for their secretarial assistance. My sincere thanks to Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers for publishing this book.
S Nambi