An Open Letter to Emergency Nurses From an Overdose Patient

The anonymous author describes her experiences in the emergency room where she was taken after she deliberately overdosed. The staff only seemed to be interested in what she had taken & not why she had overdosed. She asks nurses to realize that some suicide attempts, especially when there seems to be no cause, may be post-traumatic stress responses & not attention-seeking behavior. She offers some guidelines that nurses can follow if the context of the attempt does suggest post-traumatic stress.