The healing process, the road to recovery and positive mental health

This paper is designed to explore and examine the experience of loss following a hysterectomy. The painful aftermath of the ordeal and the work involved in the healing process are outlined and discussed from both a personal and professional perspective. The manuscript highlights a number of inner struggles that had to negotiated before an equilibrium in mental health and wellbeing was successfully achieved. The forces that move the dialogue forward from one theme to the other are complex in their simplicity. The enigmatic dimensions of physical pain and emotional torment are expressed and worked through in a sensitive and intimate manner. The mysteries of internalized, conflicting messages on socialization issues, such as gender roles and living in and identifying with only one culture are discussed and debated. In addition, the disharmony between spiritual ideals, the meaning and purpose of life, the process of self-actualizing and the physical realities involved in living are identified and elaborated upon. Embroidered within the tapestry of the text is the need to revisit the curriculum for the education and training of mental health nurses to enhance the quality and provision of effective, humane and therapeutic nursing care.