Objective To investigate the caring behavior status of nurses in psychiatric hospitals.Method One hundred and ninety eight nurses from psychiatric hospitals were investigated by caring behavior scale(CBS).Results The average score of the nurses on caring behaviors was(54.75±12.07),with 3 dimensions of“helping the patient through the unstable period(2.11±0.51), safeguarding the patient rights and interests(1.67±0.46)and understanding the patient needs(1.75±0.62).Conclusions Nurses in psychiatric hospital are poor at caring behavior,so the incentive mechanism for the mental hospital nurses should be adopted.In order to improve the nurses caring behaviors,various measures such as professional and systematic training should be done to improve their caring-giving behaviors.