The Power of Occupation

"Our role consists in giving opportunities rather than prescriptions. There must be opportunities to work, opportunities to do and plan and create and to learn to use material."

- Elizabeth Cara and Anne MacRae -


"...A comprehensive understanding of a client... creates more effective and meaningful treatments. This greater understanding, including what is meaningful and motivating to her or him, is likely to enhance treatment compliance, thereby facilitating more positive outcomes."

"'Man, through the use of his hands... can influence the state of his own health (Reilly, 1962, p. 6)...' Empowering a client to take an active role in the healing process may be the first step toward helping him or her to reestablish meaning in life and therefore the will to live" (p. 86).

"Fidler has continued her explorations into the meaning of activities and their associated action processes and objects. Her recent work 'examines the potential of activities in their own right to represent, reflect, and infer social, cultural, and personal meanings and to communicate and call into play certain physical, affective, and cognitive responses'" (p. 101).

"Human beings are constantly evaluating events occurring in their everyday lives. Sometimes these appraisals are evident. Other times, these evaluative processes are not conscious, but rather automatic, most likely due to a lifetime of practice. In his cognitive explanations for psychopathology, Aaron Beck (1976) emphasizes automatic thoughts as causal agents of psychological disorder; in fact, he argues that emotion states are always preceded by related thought processes. In therapy, the individual is taught to slow down and become aware of relevant negative automatic thoughts so that they may then be restructures" ... "The goal of therapy, therefore, is to help the client monitor and systematically refute illogical and negative self-statements" (p. 109) (DEPRESSION)

"Research in the area of cognitive function has also enhanced our understanding of the importance of providing clients with meaningful tasks and therapeutic activities that are consistent with their level of cognitive functioning" (p. 111).

"Occupational therapists work within a system in which diagnosis is important, but their view of disorder differs from that of other mental health professionals. The difference revolves around the importance of function in everyday activities, the causes of dysfunction, goals of treatment, and methods of intervening (Bonder, 1991/1995, p. 17)" (p. 133).

"Occupational therapy 'alleviated their symptoms, gave them belief in the future, strengthened their self-esteem and feeling of capability, and all this appeared to give them satisfaction' (p. 108)" (p. 150).

"This cornerstone of client-centered practice 'does not negate the importance of professional expertise, but is guided by a commitment to listen and respond to each client. The clients' personal knowledge and experience of living with a mental illness enable them to explain their lives, goals, and plans and allows them to seek personal meaning in their lives' (Dressler & MacRae, 1998, p. 37).

"In client-centered occupational therapy, 'the targeted outcome is a vision of the future shared by the client and therapist and driven by the dream and desire of the individual. Dreams are unique to each individual, thus, targeted outcomes will also be' (Clark & Bell, 2000, p. 80)" (p. 154).