Nurses and Their Patients: Informing Practice Through Psychodynamic Insights

Research has shown that a patient s emotional state can definitely affect the physical processes of disease and recovery.

For patients undergoing hospital treatment, their relationships with nursing staff may have a major influence on their emotions and thus affect their ability to cope with their condition.

This book explores the importance of the nurse patient relationship in the light of psychoanalytic theory.

Written by contributors from many different nursing backgrounds (ranging from mental health to paediatrics to palliative care), Nurses and Their Patients also includes a number of practical case studies and a section on research and clinical supervision.

Anyone involved in caring for patients will find this book helpful, inspiring and thought-provoking.

Contents include: Part I THEORY - The nature of the unconscious Developing relationships The experience of illness and loss Passing on the blame Part II CASE STUDIES - A personal experience Visiting time The bubble bath Sadie s baby Pre-operative anxiety: understanding why?

Joe s story Thoughts on the impact of a suicide PART III THE WIDER CONTEXT: RESEARCH AND SUPERVISION - Reviewing the evidence base for psychodynamic principles in nursing Fevered love Using Winnicott (1960) to create a model for clinical supervisio