ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to explore how nurses can improve their recognition of ethical issues related to their day-to-day practice and as part of the ethical reasoning process. This involves the mental health nurse becoming more ethically sensitive while at the same effectively managing the moral distress that can arise from being exposed to difficult situations. Mental health nursing practice can throw up situ - ations that feel similar and yet can be quite unique in their own way. This unique ness emanates from the interpersonal nature of mental health practice, meaning that the nurse has to be sensitive to common ethical issues such as con - sent, and at the same time unique ethical elements that are values-related (Smith 2012b; Bloch and Green 2006; Roberts 2004). On this basis this chapter will present an extended scenario that a mental health nurse could well encounter in their practice. This scenario will also be explored throughout the rest of the book as part of the ethical reasoning process.
