Who knew relationships could be so therapeutic?
Our occupations instill many feelings in us, dependent upon how they help us fulfill our roles. Working out is an important occupation that allows me to fulfill my role as a student. This occupation gives me the mental clarity needed to maximize my brain’s capacity and to temporarily deload the stress of learning. This creates a sense of meaning and fulfillment in my daily ordinary routine or “blissful ordinariness.” Everyone experiences a degree of dysfunction at some point in their lives that may disrupt their ordinary routine and result in loss of meaning and joy. The OT practitioner and client need to understand the role of occupational therapy in restoring dysfunction or establishing new goals related to the client’s occupational performance. The general population may have an understanding that occupational therapy serves to increase the physical aspect of occupational performance, however, it also supports the intrinsic factors (i.e. emotion, motivation, meaning, excitement, and fulfillment) of occupational performance as well. This reflects the holistic nature and distinct value of occupational therapy within healthcare. These intrinsic factors may be difficult for a client to explain to their occupational therapist, so the practitioner must create a therapeutic relationship with the client. The book, Introduction to Occupational Therapy by Jane Clifford O’Brien and Susan M. Hussey, defines a therapeutic relationship as,” the interaction between the occupational therapy (OT) practitioner and a client.” The book further explains that this relationship in intervention is intended to only benefit the client to enhance the therapeutic experience. Key elements of this relationship include trust, empathy, verbal and nonverbal communication, and active listening (O’Brien & Hussey, 2018). The key elements of a therapeutic relationship allow the practitioner to better understand the intrinsic factors that may hinder or support the client’s occupational performance. This connection between the therapeutic relationship and OT’s holistic nature to address the emotions of the client allows practitioners to restore the lack of “blissful ordinariness” that the client may be experiencing. For example, developing trust and demonstrating empathy (key elements of therapeutic relationship) may allow the client to give insight on how they don’t feel motivated to attempting to gain joy through their previous activities (blissful ordinariness) because they doubt themselves. In this example, developing a therapeutic relationship gives a better understanding of how the client feels to improve the effectiveness of therapy.
O’Brien, J. C., & Hussey, S. M. (2018) Introduction to occupational therapy. Elsevier Inc.
Nicely stated!
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