SummaryA study was made of factors which cause discomfort in nursing personnel caring for psychiatric patients in one hospital. The 17 staff members participating reported a total of 54 discomforting staff-patient interactions. These interactions were classified by disease category and behavior category. Patients with the diagnosis, Personality Pattern Disorders: Schizoid Personality Reaction, were responsible for most of the discomforting interactions and most of the situations causing discomfort fell into the categories, “communication difficulties” and “expressions of hostility.”The findings suggest that the diagnosis of the patient and the patient's behavior pattern may make a difference in the number of discomforting situations reported by the nursing staff. The number of incidents reported for male patients was too small to make comparisons on the basis of the sex variable.