ABSTRACT
There are specific workplace triggers and patient-related experiences that contribute to the development of psychological distress in nurses. As a caring profession, nurses feel rewarded taking care of patients, but there are patient-related experiences that can be traumatic. It is the chronic and cumulative exposure to traumatic patient experiences that can lead to psychological distress. These experiences include patient resuscitation efforts, deaths, and physical and/or verbal abuse. As a consequence, symptoms related to depression, anxiety, moral distress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may develop. Environmental triggers are most often associated with burnout syndrome and include long work hours, overtime, inadequate training, and staffing issues. Chapter 2 will share powerful personal narratives from nurses who participated in resilience intervention using writing to improve cognitive flexibility and cognitive reprocessing. The narratives were labeled as traumatic and experiences that were still causing a level of distress in the nurses’ personal and/or professional lives.
