Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the effects of long-term hospitalization of a psychiatric in-patient on her specific psychiatric symptoms and behaviors to provide suggestions regarding nursing support for in- patients. Unstructured interviews were conducted over several months with a long-term female patient (Ms. A) hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital between August 2017 and 2018. Analysis was performed using descriptive and interpretive phenomenological methodology. Four themes emerged from the patient’s interviews: (1) Reduced interactions with others and becoming autistic due to a restless life when she was first admitted to the hospital; (2) Persistent psychological resistance due to fear of treatment through medications; (3) Delusion due to missing her family; and (4) Delusion due to longing for a stable, normal life. Our interpretations of the results for the phenomenological study on Ms. A's long-term hospitalized experience indicated that she has been living her life, reconstructing her life story by incorporating her pre-hospitalization life with her family and her longings for a normal life into her current life through delusion. We recommend that nurses should pay more attention to mental symptoms and behaviors, such as delusions, and understand the experiences behind delusions.

Key words: Psychiatric hospital, long-term hospitalized in-patient, mental symptoms, experiences, phenomenology.