Stress and Contradiction in Psychiatric Nursing

This article examines the relationship between the organizational structure and ideology of the psychiatric system and the daily actions and subjective experiences of psychiatric nurses. It presents empirical data from an in-depth case study in which psychiatric nurses attempt to deal with the stresses of their work by developing various collective coping strategies which eventually become embedded in the daily routines of the institution, intensifying the very problems they were originally intended to solve. The article is divided into three main sections. The first section examines recent sociological theorizing concerning the contradictory role of the psychiatric system within modern society. The second section presents empirical data illustrating the ways in which the structural contradictions of the psychiatric sector affect the daily lives of all who participate in the system, while the final section discusses the need for organizational level interventions to relieve occupational stress in welfare institutions.