Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing Diagnoses & Care Plans

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.

How to use this guide

• 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.

Suggested care-plan list structure

You can group your posts into Mood Disorders, Psychotic Disorders, Anxiety & Related Disorders, and Crisis, Safety, & Other Psychiatric Conditions.

Mood disorders

• 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​

Psychotic disorders

• Schizophrenia – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan

• Schizoaffective Disorder – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan​

• Acute Psychosis – Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan

Anxiety, OCD, and related disorders

• 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

Crisis, safety, and other psychiatric conditions

• 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