CORE 1010: Essay Writing

Depression and Anxiety

Article Citation:

Tsaras, K., Papathanasiou, I. V., Vus, V., Panagiotopoulou, A., Katsou, M. A., Kelesi, M., & Fradelos, E. C. (2018). Predicting factors of depression and anxiety in mental health nurses: a quantitative cross-sectional study. Medical Archives72(1), 62.

This essay constitutes an analysis of the article cited above. The focus is on the concepts of depression and anxiety and how it impacts the nursing profession. The authors argue that the profession of nursing is one of the most stressful as well as emotionally demanding professions (Tsaras et al., (2018). As a result, it is believed that many nurses are experiencing anxiety and depression due to their profession.

Article Summary

When conducting this research one of the authors’ main objectives was to examine whether or not mental health nurses suffer from depression and anxiety and whether or not these disorders are influenced by characteristics such as age and education level (Tsaras et al., 2018). For categorical data, researchers used frequencies and percentages to illustrate the features of nurses. The researchers used averages and standard deviations to highlight the characteristics of nurses (independent variables). Relationships that hadn’t been adequately investigated before this research led to the occurrences of melancholy and anxiety (dependent variables). Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals working in Greek state hospitals were included in the sample.

One hundred and ten of the people in the sample were chosen at random to be psychiatric nurses from two state mental hospitals in Athens, the Greek capital. A stratified random sampling approach was utilized at each site to obtain samples. A total of 10% of the source population’s nurses were included in the study (Tsaras et al., 2018). Psychiatric illnesses, including sadness and anxiety, are common among mental health nurses, according to a study by Tsaras et al. (2018). Mental health nurses have discovered that being single, divorced, or widowed and older, more experienced, and holding a master’s or doctorate may be risk factors for depression and anxiety.

Article Analysis

According to Taras and colleagues’ results, stressful workplaces may be linked to mental health issues, including depression and anxiety (2018). A favorable correlation may be seen when Tajvar et al. (2015) claim that depression is the most common mental disease among nurses. While anxiety is the least common mental illness among nurses, depression has a higher prevalence rate than other mental illnesses. Some 62.5 percent experienced anxiety symptoms, 60.7 percent had somatic symptoms, and roughly 59 percent were suffering from a mental illness in their research, according to Tajvar et al. (2015). Because of this, it is said that specialty nurses are more prone to occupational stress than the general population, and a strong link between occupational stress and mental health may be shown.

Like Tsaras et al. (2018), this paper acknowledges that their occupation puts healthcare providers at risk for psychological suffering. Even though there is a scarcity of nurses in the United States, the frequency of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and other sleep disorders among healthcare professionals remains a severe problem. The issue of mental illness is on the table, which is becoming more and more common in contemporary society. Since then, the mental disease has been a serious worry in the healthcare industry. The emotional well-being of healthcare workers is associated with medical mistakes and subpar performance. Even minor medical mistakes or failures may have a long-term effect on the health of people who have been affected. Mental health problems among healthcare employees are also linked to high turnover rates, which negatively impact medical institutions’ finances due to higher training costs and decreased output levels. Patients’ health may be harmed by combining these things (Kim et al., 2018).

Conclusion

The existence of mental suffering is accompanied by broad sensations of tension, worry, and hopelessness. The authors of Tsaras et al. (2018) state that poor mental health is related to psychological discomfort, which may be a symptom of depression or anxiety disorders. Individuals experience psychological pain for various reasons, which must be understood to create more effective therapies for people who are affected by it. As an example, nursing may be a physically challenging profession. When an individual’s job and personal challenges collide, stress may quickly accumulate inside them, resulting in symptoms such as anxiety or depression. This might influence the performance of nurses, putting the lives of their patients in peril as a result. For example, nursing managers may employ tried-and-true methods of enhancing nurses’ self-esteem and minimizing the psychological harm caused by job instability to avoid this from happening. It is necessary to respond more aggressively to the fear and anguish of nurses in the workplace.

References

Tsaras, K., Papathanasiou, I. V., Vus, V., Panagiotopoulou, A., Katsou, M. A., Kelesi, M., &   Fradelos, E. C. (2018). Predicting factors of depression and anxiety in mental health nurses: a quantitative cross-sectional study. Medical Archives72(1), 62.             https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc5789556/

Tajvar, A., Saraji, G. N., Ghanbarnejad, A., Omidi, L., Hosseini, S. S., & Abadi, A. S. (2015). Occupational stress and mental health among nurses in a medical intensive care unit of a general hospital in Bandar Abbas in 2013. Electronic physician7(3), 1108–1113. https://doi.org/10.14661/2015.1108-1113

Kim MS, Kim T, Lee D, Yook JH, Hong YC, Lee SY, Yoon JH, Kang MY. Mental disorders among workers in the healthcare industry: 2014 national health insurance data. Ann Occup Environ Med. 2018 May 3;30:31. DOI: 10.1186/s40557-018-0244-x. PMID: 29755753; PMCID: PMC5934846.