Running head: HOW MIGHT AN UNDERSTANDING OF PHILOSOPHY INFLUENCE
How Might an Understanding of Philosophy Influence the Psychiatric Nurse's Practice?
Sasha Yunick
Stenberg College
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HOW MIGHT AN UNDERSTANDING OF PHILOSOPHY INFLUENCE
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How might an understanding of philosophy influence the psychiatric nurse's practice?
An understanding of philosophy may influence a psychiatric nurse’s practice drastically.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary philosophy is, “the study of ideas about
knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life, etc.” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). William James
who was a psychologist and philosopher described philosophy as, “an unusually stubborn effort
to think clearly” (Fulford, K., Stanghellini, G., Broome, M., 2004). In psychiatric nursing being
able to understand even the basics of philosophy can help a nurse to maintain an open mind and
see two different sides of something rather than always sticking to just one side of a theory or
knowledge. Being able to understand philosophy will also influence the way a psychiatric nurse
approaches and treats someone who is having auditory and visual hallucinations. American
philosopher John Hospers takes a good look at the philosophy of hallucinations, which can be
somewhat questionable when relating it to working in psychiatric care. Having an understanding
of philosophy may also influence every individual nurse’s thoughts and actions towards practice
in general. According to Rogers, “Philosophy influences important issues regarding truth,
knowledge, inquiry, goodness, dignity, and health” (Rogers, B.L., 2005). Understanding
philosophy will help influence a psychiatric nurses practice by helping to give them a “richer and
fuller understanding of how nursing works, how it can be approached most effectively, and how
it might be shaped to advance in the future” (Rogers, B.L., 2005).
In psychiatric nursing there is so much stigma and judgment that unfortunately goes
along with it. One thing that understanding philosophy can do to help influence the psychiatric
nurse’s practice is to help them maintain an open mind rather than always sticking to one side of
a theory or any knowledge associated with psychiatric nursing. Philosophy is about studying
ideas, knowledge, truth etc. to get a clearer understanding of our surroundings. Philosophy
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studies and argues the two different sides of things, which a psychiatric nurse should learn to do
in practice as well. Because psychiatric nursing is so dynamic with patient treatment, it will
benefit both the nurse and patient to always question and view things from two different angles.
By studying which approaches work better and seeing why and what made them work more
efficiently is a big influence of philosophy on the psychiatric nurse’s practice. Rather than a
nurse doing something in practice simply because they were instructed to do it one way does not
necessarily mean it is the best way, or maybe it is? Philosophy makes an effort to argue and
support why things are the way that they are, and the reasons behind this. “Nurses also need to be
able to think philosophically about their knowledge base and make sound judgments about its
continuing development” (Rogers, B.L. 2005). If a psychiatric nurse wishes to question the
philosophy and reasoning of an area of their practice and argue it, they better have a thorough
enough understanding of what it is they are arguing. It’s wonderful for psychiatric nurses to
question certain areas in practice to help continue development in that area of nursing, although
they should have a solid sense of the current philosophy behind it.
Psychiatric nurses are faced with treating patients who have both auditory and visual
hallucinations on a frequent basis. Philosophy studies hallucinations and argues that
hallucinations are things we see and hear but are not in fact truly there. John Hospers gives an
example of a person who is waiting for someone to knock at the door, and they tend to hear
“knocks” that aren’t actually there. “The false belief is induced by your expectation” (Hospers,
J., 1997). Understanding this can help a psychiatric nurse differentiate from hallucinations that
are simply induced by expectations, and those hallucinations that are unwanted and
uncontrollable by a patient. Hospers explains how in the instance of a visual hallucination we
tend to see material things which are “accessible to more than one of the senses.” (Hospers, J.,
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1997). An example of this would be typing on a laptop, we can see it visually in front of us but
we can also feel it on our fingertips using both senses of sight and touch. For a psychiatric nurse
this becomes a difficult situation when working with a patient who is hallucinating, because
philosophy tells the nurse that the hallucinations aren’t real, but to the patient the hallucinations
are very real. Until a psychiatric nurse fully grasps and understands the philosophy surrounding
“hallucinations”, it may be hard for them to clarify and be aware of what exactly is considered to
be real and what isn’t. In this situation, the nurse may actually question the philosophy
surrounding hallucinations and argue that it would not be okay to tell someone that what they are
seeing or hearing isn’t really there. How would it be okay to tell someone that their own personal
experiences and senses are not real? It is not. It could be comparable to judging someone else’s
pain tolerance, and telling them that the broken arm they have does not hurt.
As stated earlier, understanding philosophy will help to influence a psychiatric nurses
practice by giving them a, “richer and fuller understanding of how nursing works, how it can be
approached most effectively, and how it might be shaped to advance in the future” (Rogers, B.L.,
2005). Once psychiatric nurses understand and associate regular philosophy with nursing
philosophy, they can practice more efficiently because they will be able to understand why
current nursing techniques and theories work. Not only will the understanding of techniques and
theories influence their nursing practice, but being able to understand and grasp more thoroughly
why people, particularly their patients, act a certain way and the reasons why they do certain
things will benefit their nursing abilities. “Without some understanding, however, nurses are
placed in the precarious position of blindly following the lead of other disciplines, whose needs
and foci may not be relevant to the work of nurses and their knowledge base” (Rogers, B.L.
2005). This statement supports the fact that without psychiatric nurses having an understanding
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of philosophy, they may always follow the lead of others because they are convinced it is the one
and only correct way. How will psychiatric nursing practice grow and continue to develop if no
one else ever questions or argues the current philosophy of it all? With a decent understanding of
how psychiatric nursing works, it will allow for nurses to approach practice more effectively by
questioning different angles they can take towards providing the best treatment techniques.
Philosophy can be a rather confusing discussion topic at times, but in a sense that is what
it is about. Philosophy studies and examines the issues that surround us in our everyday lives,
and attempts to give reasoning, meaning, and understanding behind those issues. Before a
psychiatric nurse even finishes their schooling, understanding just the basics of philosophy will
allow for them to develop a sense of clear and open minded thinking that will influence their
approach to practice. Philosophy is, “the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and
meaning of life, etc.” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). It allows for psychiatric nurses to see that there
may be not only be one “best” way of approaching practice when there is a rational argument to
support it. Going into psychiatric nursing with open mindedness will not only benefit the nurse
and patient, but also the future growth and practice of psychiatric nursing. In addition to this,
understanding the philosophy in regards to hallucinations can influence a psychiatric nurse’s
practice by allowing them to be able to differentiate between hallucinations that are induced by
our expectations, and those that are unwanted in patients. The philosophy behind hallucinations
is questionable though when it comes to psychiatric nursing, due to the fact that hallucinations
are said to be “errors of the senses” (Hospers, J. 1997). In psychiatric nursing we know that the
patients have some form of illness, but no one is in the right to judge another person’s senses.
This is where the philosophy of hallucinations becomes questionable, because one cannot say
that the hallucinations that another is experiencing are false. Only individuals themselves are
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capable of using their own personal senses, so who is anyone else to judge or say the opposite?
Having an understanding of philosophy has an influence on every individual nurse’s thoughts
and actions towards practice in general. Once a nurse has a thorough understanding, they will
have better knowledge to put forward in practice and arguments to base their decisions on. The
understanding of philosophy is key for psychiatric nurses to continue growth in the profession.
“Many philosophers have taken the commonalities of nurse, patient, health and environment into
consideration in developing a meaningful philosophy of nursing practice” (Courie, A. 2002).
With all of this said, an understanding of philosophy may influence a psychiatric nurse’s practice
drastically.
References:
Courie, A. (2002). IDENTIFYING A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING. Retrieved
from www.courie.com/nursing/philosophy.doc
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1994). What is philosophy?. Columbia University Press.
Fulford, K., Stanghellini, G., Broome, M. (2004 October; 3). What can philosophy do for
psychiatry? Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1414692/
Hospers, J., (1997) An introduction to philosophical analysis (4th ed.) Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall Publishing
Merriam-Webster. (2014). Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/philosophy
MORGAN, A. (2013). Philosophy of Mental Health. Theories for Mental Health Nursing: A
Guide for Practice, 1.
HOW MIGHT AN UNDERSTANDING OF PHILOSOPHY INFLUENCE
O’Keefe, C. (1995). The Importance of Philosophy: An Introductory Address to Students,
Educators, and Practitioners. Retrieved from
http://www.recreationtherapy.com/articles/okeefe-philosophy.htm
Rodgers, B. L. (2005). Developing nursing knowledge: Philosophical traditions and influences.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
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