Nursing is based on relations with other people – interpersonal relations that are especially important in mental health nursing. In their professional practice, psychiatric nurses face complex challenges concerning the establishment of therapeutic relations, ensuring patient’s safety and reducing means of coercion. In their everyday practice, they often face multi-dimensional dilemmas regarding care for persons with cognitive or behavioural disorders at various stages of the disease. Nurses can also encounter other constraints (both external and internal) that make it difficult for them to act in line with the ideals of professional practice and put them at risk of developing moral distress. Moral distress (MD) is described as negative feelings in situations where one knows the correct actions to take but they are constrained from taking them. Moral distress can also occur when medical personnel faces moral dilemmas or experience moral doubts in the course of their clinical practice. Moral distress can occur in any medical discipline, but due to the prevalence of difficult situations, it is particularly important in mental health patient care. The goal of the study was to present the selected issues related to moral distress in mental health nursing.

Key words: moral distress, mental health nursing, psychiatry, nursing.