What are the Advantages of Combining Occupational Therapy and Psychology?
Collaboration between occupational therapy and psychology enhances the mental and emotional well-being of clients. Occupational therapists and psychologists work together to address clients’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioural challenges, ensuring that interventions are comprehensive and tailored to the individual’s specific needs.
By treating clients in the community over an office-based setting, occupational therapists are able to see clients first-hand responses to the in-vivo exposures they are engaged in within the community, providing psychologists with objective accounts of how one is progressing, rather than relying on a client’s self-reports alone. Many clients are keen to begin in-vivo exposures, because of the known benefits associated with this approach to treating PTSD, but have difficulty initiating the exposures independently. By having an occupational therapist accompany the individual into the community, the client is able to meet “just right” challenges and has an experienced therapist alongside them if feelings of panic or overwhelm arise.
Though all therapists aim to ensure their client is completing exposures based of the fear hierarchy they’ve created and are starting with the least activating items, should panic and overwhelm happen during an independent exposure, this can be enough to dissuade some clients from continuing with in-vivo exposures, limiting their overall progress. As such, having an occupational therapist guide a client through their in-vivo exposures can help keep a client’s progress stay on track and instill a greater sense of confidence in their ability to complete exposures.
Skilled in cognitive rehabilitation, occupational therapists can also help support psychologists in treating clients who have sustained concussions, are experiencing long-covid or are recovering post-cancer treatment through providing clients with cognitive exercises and compensatory strategies for completing tasks. Keep reading …