Prep for Prac
As July draws to a close and August sets in, a new fieldwork block begins: Psychosocial Fieldwork, a journey across the underside of the coin, where concrete shifts to abstract and a deeper understanding of OT emerges.
A glance at the tabs on my Internet Explorer reveals the shift into prac mode: a row of academic websites interspersed with the odd Gmail tab has replaced the Facebook, Pinterest and movie sites.
It's tempting to let my finger slip and open up 'Iron Man 3', but the pressure of fieldwork looming closer has been a good motivator to leave the movies for the weekend and get some solid work in before all stress breaks loose.
I've spent the past few days collecting resources. My aunt's old copy of Kaplan and Sadock's 'Synopsis of Psychiatry' lies atop a pile of Psychology books on my bedside table, a library-loaned edition of 'Actions speak Louder' lies on the corner of my desk, underneath a few other miscellaneous books I found in the library on OT in mental health. A series of articles and e-books for later reading clutter the download file of my tablet. Collecting my resources was easy, but the reading part posed more of a challenge...
I've found that structure works well for me. Deadlines or physical tasks that I need to complete are easy for me to work through, but vague concepts, like 'do research' are where the problem comes in.
It was only once I found a quote by David Blackwell floating across the internet that I figured out how to unlock my inherent curiosity, necessary to wade through all the pages of interminable jargon:
"Basically, I'm not interested in doing research and I never have been. I'm interested in understanding, which is quite a different thing." --- David Blackwell
The bluntness of this quote struck me first, then got me thinking a bit deeper about my interests and the real purpose of research. To me, this means that there must be an underlying motivator to guide research; it's not the research itself that's the objective, but the understanding of a particular concept and alteration or addition to an existing worldview that makes research valuable. I began to question what my motivator was...
In 2013, I transferred to OT from a BSc. because the cold, clinical nature of the pure sciences jarred with my sense of empathy and interest in people: why we do what we do and what happens when things go wrong, emotionally, biologically, mentally and spiritually. But the part of me that loves to discover new ideas and figure things out, the reason why I applied for a BSc. in the first place, is still present. To combine these two facets and link my interests with my work, I tried a new avenue: I began to read narratives of people with psychological disorders, and those who work with them.
I discovered Vicki, who had climbed out of 'the black pit' of depression, Jamie, who'd had a manic and psychotic episode in the middle of a trip to Spain, and Tish, who punished herself for not coping with PTSD by starving herself.
(Government of Western Australia Mental Health Commission, http://www.mentalhealth.wa.gov.au/mental_illness_and_health/stories/diagnosis.aspx)
These narratives gave me a glimpse into the world of those with mental illness, and provided the impetus to open the heavy textbooks and start building knowledge bridges, so that I could in some way help people like the ones I had 'met' in the narratives I'd read.
My first stop was Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, to get an overview of exactly what the OT role is in the psych setting. According to Stoffel, who quoted the American Occupational Therapy Association,
'Occupational Therapy has as its primary domain an emphasis on "supporting health and participation in life through engagement in occupation", which takes place within a context, including the social and physical environments'
(Stoffel and Brown, 2011: page 3)
To me, this means that my role will be to identify barriers that prevent my clients from achieving competence in their daily occupations, whether it be poor social skills, impaired thought processes or a lack of constructive coping skills, and then work towards adapting behaviour, environment or methods of task completion to enable the client to participate optimally, thereby improving wellbeing and quality of life.
As open-ended as this sounds, it's a reminder to me that clients cannot be boxed into a textbook intervention programme, but that the intervention depends entirely on the client, their needs and their context.
An interesting term I found in the same text is Crowley's "procovery", the "process of attaining a productive and fulfilling life regardless of the level of health attainable" (Stoffel and Brown, 2011: page 3). I think this term provides a refreshing sense of hope that people with mental illness are fully capable of achieving functional goals, with the assistance of healthcare providers and a supportive environment.
The next stop on my research journey, before I revisit OT in Mental Health again, is Kaplan and Sadock's 'Synopsis of Psychiatry'. I particularly like this book because it provides an overview of all the more common psychiatric disorders I am likely to encounter, grouped according to their presentation. It also gives differential diagnoses, which are valuable in the SA healthcare system, where diagnoses are sometimes incorrect, have not been revised for many years or have not been confirmed. Going through this book gives me a broad idea of what I can expect when fieldwork commences, and allows me to prepare better for potential scenarios. Like many OT students before me, I find the intricate balance of the human brain fascinating, and this keeps me motivated to continue the study of the many ways in which this balance can be disturbed.
Stoffel, V.C, Brown, C (2011). Occupational Therapy in Mental Health : A Vision for Participation. FA Davis: United States
Government of Western Australia Mental Health Commission (2010). Personal stories by people with a mental illness, their families and friends. Retrieved from:http://www.mentalhealth.wa.gov.au/mental_illness_and_health/stories/diagnosis.aspx)
