Sorry to hear about your difficulties -- glad to hear you're beginning to tackle
them. I would be
interested to know why some activities were more therapeutic than others, if you have
any thoughts on this.
I would have thought kayaking would be therapeutic, as it involves physical activity
and a presumably
pleasant outdoors environment, both of which I would have expected to have fairly high
therapeutic levels.
what do you think makes the difference? I do see your point about distraction not
necessarily being
therapeutic.
Cheers
Mike Griffin
http://www.otdirect.co.uk
Ron Carson wrote:
> Hello All:
>
> Recently, I experienced great tragedy in my personal life. Left with
> feelings of complete overwhelm and helplessness, for much of the time I
> did nothing but reflect on the situation. Slowly, however, I began to
> engage in meaningful occupations such as kayaking, yard work and
> woodworking. In the wake of my experience, I have made several personal
> observations about occupation as a therapeutic medium.
>
> 1. Not all occupations are created equal when it comes to their
> therapeutic effectiveness.
>
> I love to kayak and fish - it's my new found hobby. However,
> during this experience, I quickly learned that kayaking was not
> therapeutic. For me, kayaking contributed to my depression and to my
> negative feelings. Fishing was a setup for failure. Being unsuccessful
> at catching fish (a very common experience) only contribute to my
> negative feelings. As great as kayaking potential to be therapeutic, it
> was a very negative experience.
>
> 2. Occupation's ability to divert one's attention is very powerful but
> may not be therapeutic.
>
> During my yard and wood working, I primarily focused attention
> on the task at hand and not on the the problems in my life. While this
> has certain therapeutic effectiveness, it may not have directly helped
> solve the issues. However, as I write this I can see that directing my
> attention away from the problems may have allowed me to be more clearly
> focuses when I did return to addressing the problems.
>
> Clinically, I have learned a great deal about the power (or lack of)
> occupation.
>
> Ron
>
> (Writing this is part of my self-prescribed therapy. This list serve is
> one of my occupations and writing today has been very therapeutic)
>
> rC
>
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