67% of Nurses Say They Are Depressed or Anxious, Many Don't Seek Help - Here's Why

A nurse’s shift often starts early and doesn’t slow down. With short staffing and high patient loads, the demands can feel endless. Patients need urgent care, alarms ring constantly, doctors issue orders, and family members seek updates. This daily grind can take a serious toll on mental health.

The Mental Health Crisis in Nursing

• 67% of nurses report feeling depressed or anxious
• Two-thirds say they aren’t receiving mental health support
• Job stress is the #1 cause of burnout and depression
• 13% say their burnout is severe enough to consider leaving medicine

Many nurses don’t seek help because of time constraints, financial barriers, and—most troubling—fear. Concerns over job security and licensing repercussions keep nurses from getting the mental health support they desperately need.

The Stigma in Licensing

For registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice nurses (APRNs), even admitting they need help can be risky. In 30 states, licensing boards ask invasive questions about mental health. 22 of those states require disclosures of past diagnoses and even predictions of future impairment.

“Nurses aren’t seeking help because they are so fearful about losing their licensure,” says Dr. Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, APRN–certified nurse practitioner, study author and professor emeritus at Ohio State University. “We need to be putting real emphasis on getting help for the nurses who need help.”

Advocating for Change

Nurses face enormous stressors:

• Short staffing and high patient loads
• Poor leadership and workplace violence
• Compassion fatigue and poor work-life balance
• Higher-than-average suicide rates

Healthcare workers have some of the worst mental health outcomes, yet they’re penalized for seeking care. Corey Feist, JD, MBA, co-founder, and CEO of the Dr Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, believes licensing boards must change their approach. “There are very specific actions that licensing boards and others need to take to make explicit that the workforce is valued, seen, heard, and cared about.”

Some states are already making progress:

• Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma have removed invasive mental health questions from their nursing applications.
• Virginia’s Safe Haven law now protects nurses who seek mental health support from losing their licenses.
• Georgia and Montana are considering similar legislation.
• The National Council of State Boards of Nursing is working on national recommendations to remove stigmatizing questions.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Without proper mental health support, both nurses and the healthcare system can experience negative impacts:

• Turnover rates are 18%, with some studies predicting 40% of nurses may leave their jobs within six months.
• Untreated depression leads to higher absenteeism, lower productivity, and reduced patient care quality.
• Nurses with untreated mental health conditions report higher rates of medical errors.

“We need to allow people to get the care they need without feeling like they have to hide it,” says Dr. Anthony Papa, PhD, associate professor, and director of clinical training at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii. Many are penalized for disclosing a mental health problem, so they might choose to just ignore it instead. Dr. Papa urges more people to speak up and push for a change to make it clear that getting help won’t cost you your career. 

At the end of the day, nurses can’t care for others if they aren’t allowed to care for themselves.

🤔 Nurses, share your thoughts in the discussion forum below.