Significance Of Occupational Therapy In Mental Health

By Edna Booker


Mental health management is a journey. It requires input from various team members who include the patient, the therapist, social workers, care givers, counselors, support providers, nurses, doctors, aides and teachers. Every member in that team has a role to play and the goals each one has culminates to improvement of a patient life quality and degree of enjoyment. These they achieve by pinpointing and meeting the skills and behavior change required to get to this. Below is an outline of the significance of occupational therapy in mental health.

This kind of therapy is one of its kind but most people do not understand it well. The association of occupational therapy in America summarizes its goal as to offer support and empower each person to take part fully in his life and health by commitment in a particular occupation. When the client is allowed to take part in purposeful activity, his or her well-being, self-esteem and sense of attainment are boosted.

By occupation however is not just work. This takes in to inclusion socialization with others, attendance into a leisure course within the community, picture painting, management of finances, preparing meals and the time used to take care of personal hygiene. The therapists augment ability of patients to lead lives which are satisfying and meaningful.

The purpose of this kind of therapy can be described as helping people live life to the fullest. These professionals help a client to take into consideration their needs, abilities, strengths and interests too. Their social, cultural and physical environment is to be taken into account too. This enables the therapist gain understanding about the various factors relating to the occupation the patient is engaged in. Also the environment they live in which influences their mental status and their functioning ability too.

The professionals offering these services believe in approaching the treatment holistically whether the problem stems from mental health or physical health. They can be found in outpatient clinics, nursing facilities, intermediate care centers, hospitals, home health, neonatal ICUs, the workplace or community programs. The ones based on this condition work from residential hospitals, outpatient departments of private clinics and also mental health programs in the community.

Different assessments are conducted to gain the necessary information from the patient. After that a personalized profile on occupation of the client is put together. This is what is utilized to set goals and come up with a treatment plan. Some of the areas assessed include work, play, participation in social activities, interaction and communication skills, activity demands and education. The cognitive and mental processing skills and how motor skills are process are also assessed and many more.

The interventions which can be implemented in treatment process include cognitive rehabilitation, training on life skills, supported education, supported employment and interventions on life balancing. Modalities like biofeedback and training on interpersonal and social skill are intervention too.

The work of these professional can be intersecting with that of other key players in an interdisciplinary team. However their roles stands out as unique when it comes to clinical and theoretical contributions they make to facilitate the team recovery and also treatment process. In the integrated and all-inclusive program of treatment they are a vital part.




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