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Applying Psychology in the Occupational Therapy Field

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Applying Psychology in the Occupational Therapy Field
Applying Psychology in the Occupational Therapy Field

As an Occupational Therapist, I will be treating clients who possess a variety of developmental, physical, and mental conditions. I will be therapeutically assisting clients who suffer from a disability, illness, or an injury. I will guide a client to develop, recover, and maintain their daily living, social, and working skills towards their goals.
My intervention as an Occupational Therapist would be teaching the client every day skills, educating the client and their family of daily activities, and adaptation of the client’s environment. The Occupational Therapy field will allow me to work in a variety of settings such as hospitals, clinics, and schools. The ages of the clients vary from pediatrics to geriatrics. My goal as an Occupational Therapist is to enable clients to have an independent, productive, and fulfilling life.
The clients I will be involved with will have many types of personalities and psyches. Many of the clients and their family support will struggle with their emotions due to their injury, disability, or mental health status. A few examples of clients’ emotions would be confusion, anger, guilt, embarrassment, joy, pride, and excitement. Ensuring trust, offering empathy, and directing guidance are crucial roles for an Occupational Therapist in order to progressively treat a client. Without a bond between Occupational Therapist and client, advancing treatment would be difficult on both parties.
There are numerous subfields, key issues, and perspectives in psychology. Behavioral, Cognitive, Health, Social, and Developmental Psychology would be a few of the psychology subfields I would encounter with my clients. As for psychology perspectives, Behavioral, Cognitive, and Humanistic approaches would be the main perspectives I would focus my attention on my clients.
The Behavioral perspective is the focus of observable and measurable of behavior. In



Bibliography: Feldman, Robert S. Understanding Psychology: 10th edition. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2011 “What is Occupational Therapy” The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc 1999- 2013 http://www.aota.org/Consumers.aspx “Cognition and the Occupational Therapy Process, Part 1”, Blackwell Publishing, 2011

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