title: "Only a manic depressive!": the zone of the untouchable and exceeding limits in acute psychiatric care.
abstract: This article addresses psychotic patients' fragile boundaries and need for professional help to restore their personal untouchable zone. We examine how nurses move into this inviolable zone and re-establish limits. Empirical data are drawn from an acute psychiatric setting and focus on one patient in different situations and on her relationships with nurses. Data from nurses' discussions and the researcher's experience are also included. The concept of the zone of the untouchable, by the Danish theologian and philosopher K. E. Løgstrup, guides interpretation. Analysis shows how and with which critical and constructive consequences the diagnosis-oriented understanding affects the patient-nurse relationship. Conclusions include premises that can guide nurses moving into the patient's untouchable zone.
authors.affiliation: University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Section for Health Science, Norway. m.h.hem@medisin.uio.no
authors.forename: Marit Helene
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hem
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nortvedt
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Heggen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001155:Art Therapy; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D003142:Communication; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D009042:Motivation; D009664:Norway; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009742:Nursing Theory; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012649:Self Concept; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012803:Sick Role; D013240:Stereotyping