Health Professionals' Interactions with Mentally Ill Patients and What They Receive for Themselves When Remaining in Their Position

This chapter suggests that what health professionals, including care professionals [vernepleiere] and registered nurses, receive for themselves in interactions with mentally ill patients may provide a basis for remaining in their professions. To this end, the chapter explores empirical examples of what the care professionals and nurses receive in their interactions with mentally ill patients admitted to an inpatient ward of the mental specialist healthcare service. Central notions drawn from transformative learning and therapeutic interactions are utilized as analytical tools to explore the examples further. Through interactions with mentally ill patients, the care professionals and nurses are given opportunities to be challenged themselves and be affirmed themselves, which leads to getting to know oneself. These opportunities enhance their capacity to interact with mentally ill patients, implying that the care professionals and nurses can engage with a more dynamic professional identity and meaning perspectives. Facilitating critical reflection on how such capacity changes contribute to a more dynamic professional identity and meaning perspectives can, in turn, support the care professionals’ and nurses’ commitments to providing care for mentally ill patients and continuing to work in mental health care.