Resiliency and Creativity in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing

Resiliency can be defined as the power of a person to put the pieces of herself/himself together and adapt herself/himself to her/his new life after traumatic events. People may go through the same traumatic events but psychological problems and their intensity may differ. Resiliency plays an important role in such cases. Resiliency is closely related to creativity which comprises self-confidence, flexibility, critical thinking, inventiveness and high-level awareness. Creativity does increase resiliency. Nurses frequently experience and witness stressful life events which, indirectly, traumatize them. This is especially true of mental health nurses that work with patients who are stigmatized, have difficulties in communication and have experienced traumatic life events, with indirect trauma being significant. Therefore, the resiliency of mental health nurses must be improved in order to protect their own mental health and help them develop appropriate approaches to those who have been traumatized. This article aims to study the importance of these two terms for psychiatric and mental health nurses for themselves and patients and the relation between them.