The use of mechanical restraints in psychiatric settings is currently the subject of ethical controversy. However, both patients' and nurses' voices are absent in the debate over this controversial intervention. The objective of this qualitative study was to examine the experience of psychiatric nurses using mechanical restraints. Twentyone nurses working on either the acute psychiatric inpatient unit and/or the emergency psychiatric unit of a university affiliated Canadian hospital participated in semi-structured interviews, which were then transcribed, coded and analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method. Three main themes were identified : 1) Practice setting ; 2) Mechanical restraint process ; and 3) Resorting to mechanical restraints. These results highlight the organizational and emotional challenges faced by psychiatric nurses. Foucault and Goffman's work were the primary theoretical sources that guided the critical analysis of this qualitative research.