[The nursing process in the care of the mental patient--nursing diagnosis].

The nursing process, in the area of mental health nursing, is a philosophy and a scientific method of holistic and personalized nursing care. It includes four main nursing theories: the holistic theory, the theory of human needs, the general systems theory and the interpersonal theory. Nursing diagnosis, the crucial part of the first stage of the process, is especially discussed with emphasis on the criteria of its appropriateness, the dimensions of the patient to be assessed and the already available psychiatric nursing diagnoses system as a frame of reference.