The meeting with a person who is affected by psychotic symptoms may be perceived problematic by health professionals. There are many studies that describe the coping strategies for health professionals, but not much is described about the nursing staff´s experiences of meeting acute psychotic patients. The aim of the study was therefore to elucidate nursing staff´s experiences of meeting people with acute psychotic symptoms. Interviews were conducted with 13 participants who work in mobile teams or in a psychiatric emergency wards. The participants were psychiatric nurses, general nurses, and assistant nurses. The interview material was then analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Two themes emerged which showed that in the psychiatric outpatient care, a caring approach with a soft attitude was dominating in order to get the patient on board. While in psychiatric emergency care a therapeutic approach with a determined attitude dominated in order to start medical treatment. This study may so the nursing staff´s experiences with patients suffering from acute psychotic illness visible for further reflection in order to improve the quality of care. Continued research could be, for example, about shedding light on the experiences of patients in a caring and a therapeutic approach and how to bridge the gap between these two approaches.