Background: Around 60 000 persons are yearly treated, within psychiatric inpatient wards, for different psychiatric diagnoses such as psychosis, depression, anxiety, eating disorders and personality disorders. Psychiatric inpatient care is firstly voluntary, though in some cases involuntary treatment can be necessary. Nursing staff will inevitably have some kind of authority over patients within psychiatric inpatient care. Studies have shown that could result in patients feeling powerless towards the nursing staff. Research has also shown that there is a stigma attached to psychiatric illness that could make it more difficult for psychiatric inpatients to claim their rights. Studies furthermore show that psychiatric inpatients can experience difficulties approaching nursing staff and have a feeling of being a liability.

Aim: To explore psychiatric inpatients experiences of the personnels’ attitudes concerning meeting and interacting with them.

Method: literature review based upon 14 qualitative studies concerning the patients’ experiences.

Results: Patients’ experiences were examined and categorized into: “Clear Information”, “Power shifts between personnel and patients”, “Occupied and Stressed Out Personnel”, “The Need for Social Interactions and Activities” and “An Empathic Approach” with subcategories “Privat matter”, “Person instead of a diagnose”, “Nursing Staff Empathic Characteristics” and “Empathy to Resolve Conflicts”.

Conclusion: The included studies, in this literature review, show that patients within the psychiatric inpatient care have a need for being seen as the individuals they are behind their diagnoses. The psychiatric inpatients wish for more time with the nursing staff, in order to be able to build a trust and to dare to open up. Lack of time and stressed out staff was a recurring theme within the included studies, that seemed to stand in the way of more frequent interactions.