Depression In Nursing Essay

Among nurses, substance usage rates vary anywhere between 10% (Dunn, 2005) and 20% (Bennett & O'Donovan, 2001) with the most common drug of abuse being alcohol. However, one fact that remains constant is that nurses who are more exposed to the emergency departments and intensive care units have much higher rates of alcohol abuse (Dunn, 2005). The main cause of this increased rate of abuse could be due, in part, to the increased exposure to patient death and suffering. These nurses’ exposure encompass all four categories of stressful work environments that directly contribute to increased rates of depression, namely dangerous working conditions, interpersonal conflict, heavy workload, and unfair treatment (Netterstrøm et al., 2008). Examining the relationship between work stress and alcohol abuse demonstrates that depression is also a by-product of alcohol abuse among nurses
The relationship is very complicated, especially when some factors (such as sensation seeking) relate to alcohol abuse and depression in a unidirectional fashion, whereas other factors (such as job insecurity) interact with both alcohol abuse and depression in a bidirectional way. Other biological, psychological and social factors interact with these bidirectional and unidirectional relationships, also influencing alcohol abuse as well as depression (for example, gender). Even though the interaction among various factors and alcohol abuse and depression is complex, there are very specific elements that contribute to both depression and alcohol abuse that are unique to the nursing profession. Examples of this are the issues of workplace violence directed at women, and unfair discipline directed mainly towards men. These two factors are specific within nursing and interact and compound other nurse-related issues which only makes the stress that arise from these two issues even more