Introduction: Burnout is syndrome common among psychiatric nurses and lack of attention can lead to depression, low job satisfaction, reproach, blame, and lack of empathy towards patients, decreased job performance, increased interpersonal difficulties, family dysfunction, and consequently affect the care of patients. The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of psychiatric nurses regarding burnout in psychiatric hospitals in Mashhad in 2013. Materials and Methods: This research is a qualitative study with interpretive phenomenological method. Participants were selected from psychiatric nurses based on inclusion criteria through purposive sampling to reach data saturation (n=12). Data collection was done by in depth and unstructured interviews and every interview was tape recorded then data analysis was done by the method of Diekelman et al. (1989). Results: The results of this study were categorized into three main themes and 10 sub-themes: 1- Walking on glass (violence, to confront unusual behavior and speech of patients, physical and psychological needs of patients, the unwanted interventions), 2- Living in a spider's web (high volume of work, lack of understanding of managers, shortage of personnel) and 3- Dark clarity (financial needs, life responsibilities, family problems). Conclusion: Many of the symptoms of various conditions affecting burnout in this study suggest that interventions should be individualized and attend to all domains of life such as behavior, social, and the work. Also, further support and involvement of managers in the prevention of burnout is a necessity.

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