Fundamental and special: The dilemma of psychiatric-mental health nursing

This article explores the tension between defining psychiatric-mental health nursing as fundamental to the discipline yet also special, an historic dilemma that continues to influence efforts to establish a secure place for the specialty. Analysis focuses on the formative work of three pioneers in this field, using primary and secondary documents in the archives of the Center for The Study of The History of Nursing. The findings of this research indicate that early reliance on interpersonal theory provided an uncertain basis for differentiating psychiatric-mental health nursing from other areas of nursing practice.