The term occupational therapy refers to therapeutic measures in the field of occupational and work therapy. On the one hand, occupational therapy aims to develop and promote skills and everyday abilities. On the other hand, occupational therapy aims to restore lost skills or maintain existing skills. Another aim is to practise existing knowledge and skills.
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Ergotherapy - Further information
Occupational therapy by means of occupational therapy
The field of occupational therapy within psychiatry is very diverse. It includes
- creative or manual activities (painting, clay, silk painting, woodwork, etc.), but also
- the training of cognitive skills (e.g. concentration training) or
- practising activities relevant to everyday life, such as shopping and cooking or using public transport (household training, training in coping with everyday life).
In addition to the development and unfolding of manual, creative, cognitive or everyday skills and the promotion of drive, activity and self-confidence, occupational therapy serves as a field of observation and practice for how patients deal with themselves (e.g. performance demands, perfectionism) and other people (fellow patients, therapists).
Occupational therapy is a fundamental element of inpatient therapeutic work, but also forms part of outpatient treatment. It is usually carried out as group therapy, but occasionally also as individual treatment.
Occupational therapy by means of work therapy
Occupational therapy aims to promote occupational skills in order to make it easier for the patient to return to work, but also to prepare for independent work in further treatment facilities (e.g. occupational rehabilitation measures, work in a workshop for the disabled).
Depending on their professional background and abilities, patients work in the clinic's carpentry workshop or nursery, for example, or take on simpler or more complex tasks on the PC. The therapy goals include aspects such as
- Ability to concentrate,
- stamina,
- diligence,
- social skills and
- flexibility
are the focus.