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The role of sociology in nursing continues to cast new light on many aspects of health and illness. Over the last 20 years, nursing practice has seen sociological theory become a valuable clinical tool, both in the diagnosis and prognosis of a wide range of illnesses and long-term conditions. Nevertheless, of these, the sociological examination of mental health problems and its impact upon nursing practitioners has received little coverage, simply because, as a discipline, mental health nursing has historically been wedded to a biomedical model, one which continues to embrace psychiatry/psychology as the driving force in the diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology. Adopting a sociological approach, this paper brings to light previously unexplored insights into the way nurses interact with patients experiencing mental health problems. Drawing on social interactionist methodology, this paper considers depression and other mental health problems in relation to current psychiatric nursing practice. Specifically, the paper focuses on aspects of role performance and interpersonal care in a psychiatric setting, and the impact the individual role may have on the wider aspects of institutional and official practices. The paper concludes by making a number of recommendations/observations for nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]