The unique role of the psychiatric nurse has always been to facilitate the psychosocial if not the spiritual healing of the person with mental illness. The manner in which psychiatric nurses exercise this 'psychic healing' function distinguishes them from other nurses. What is controversial about this view is the belief that psychiatric nursing is a spiritual activity. In this paper it is argued that psychiatric nursing is practised in a semi-public context in which patients and nurses re-affirm their need for self-examination as a core element of the life process. It is also argued that psychiatric nursing is a maturing force that educates people in the life process. The concept of 'trephotaxis', or the provision of the necessary conditions for the promotion of growth and development, is introduced as the defining characteristic of a new era. In this era the essential value of life and of nursing is comprehended as part of the flow of life as nurses loss themselves in their relationships with patients. Through this process nurses come to understand the stories they are told by their patients and to appreciate the point of patients' illnesses, and possibly the patients' lives.