Nursing Education Site
Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing Diagnoses & Care Plans
Mental health and psychiatric conditions such as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, and substance use disorders are heavily tested on NCLEX and central to safe, holistic nursing care.
This page brings together our mental health and psychiatric nursing diagnoses and care plans so you can quickly find focused assessments, therapeutic interventions, and rationales for common mood, psychotic, and anxiety‑related disorders.
Start with the list of individual mental health and psychiatric care plans below (mood disorders, psychotic disorders, anxiety, personality disorders, and crisis/suicide risk).
Open each care plan to review: brief disorder overview, key symptoms, safety risks, mental‑status assessment, nursing interventions with rationales, and expected outcomes.
Use these care plans as a study guide for NCLEX psych questions and as a quick reference when caring for patients in mental health, med‑surg, emergency, or primary care settings.
You can group your posts into Mood Disorders, Psychotic Disorders, Anxiety & Related Disorders, and Crisis, Safety, & Other Psychiatric Conditions.
Major Depression – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Dysthymia / Persistent Depressive Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Bipolar Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Postpartum Depression – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Schizophrenia – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Schizoaffective Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Acute Psychosis – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Generalized Anxiety Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Panic Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
PTSD / Trauma‑Related Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Risk for Suicide – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Risk for Self‑Harm / Self‑Mutilation – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Ineffective Coping – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Substance Use Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Personality Disorders – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan
Anxiety is a NANDA-I nursing diagnosis in its own right: a vague, uneasy feeling of dread in response to a threat the client often cannot name, with a body stress response to match. Use Anxiety when the worry itself is the problem. Common companion diagnoses are Ineffective Breathing Pattern when anxiety drives fast breathing, Ineffective … See Nursing Diagnoses
Cognitive impairment is a decline in memory, attention, language, reasoning, or judgment that is greater than expected for a person’s age and that can interfere with daily life. It ranges from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. The nursing diagnoses used most often are Chronic Confusion, Risk for Adult Falls, Impaired Verbal Communication, and Impaired Social … See Nursing Diagnoses
Altered mental status (AMS) is any change from a client’s usual level of alertness, attention, thinking, or behavior, from mild confusion to coma. It is a sign, not a disease: something is affecting the brain, and the nurse’s job is to protect the client while the cause is found and treated. AMS is not a … See Nursing Diagnoses
Psychosocial nursing diagnosis addresses the emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of patient care that are often as critical to recovery as physical interventions. As nurses, we recognize that illness doesn’t exist in isolation—patients’ mental health, coping mechanisms, social support systems, and spiritual beliefs profoundly influence health outcomes, treatment adherence, and overall quality of life. … See Nursing Diagnoses
Bipolar disorder is a complex mental health condition characterized by extreme mood swings, ranging from manic highs to depressive lows. As a psychiatric nurse, understanding and implementing effective Bipolar Disorder Nursing Diagnosis and care plan is crucial for providing optimal care to patients with bipolar disorder. Understanding Bipolar Disorder Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic-depressive … See Nursing Diagnoses