A holistic-existential model for psychiatric nursing

The authors offer a holistic model for psychiatric nursing based on a existential concept of man. They assert that the biomedical model of health and sickness is not sufficient to understand the reality in which psychiatric nurses practice. Within this model, understanding clients in relation to their life contexts becomes the focus, as well as trying to comprehend what effects suffering has on their ability to function. The relationship between nurse and client is discussed from a point of view that considers central existential precepts, such as: equality, encounter/being present, self-esteem/significance, responsibility and choice, objectives, meaning and clarification of values, guilt and atonement, openness and insight, conformity versus rebellion and finally hope.