title: How can mental health professionals best be supported in working with people who experience significant distress?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Working with people with severe psychological and social problems can affect workers' mental health. People associated with a diagnosis of personality disorder in particular have been described as evoking high levels of anxiety in workers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to explore what mental health workers find most challenging in their work, whether challenging aspects of the work are related to diagnoses of personality disorder and what sources of support staff would find most helpful.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a qualitative study. Data were collected via a series of focus groups and analysed using a grounded theory approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An overall model, working with significant distress, brings together eight categories that escribe aspects of working in mental health services, which can be challenging: joint working, eligibility criteria, complexity of reality, models of understanding, system processes, needs of workers, interventions and interface with diagnosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Workers report that the most challenging aspects of their work involve struggles within and between different parts of systems, rather than being associated with particular diagnoses. A number of suggestions are made for better meeting the needs of workers.
authors: Shropshire Department of Psychological Therapies, South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Shrewsbury, UK. Penny.Priest@sssft.nhs.uk
authors: Penny
authors: P
authors: Priest
authors: Cailzie
authors: C
authors: Dunn
authors: Jess
authors: J
authors: Hackett
authors: Kathryn
authors: K
authors: Wills
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D017144:Focus Groups; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*