Multiple Sclerosis Case Study

Today, we talked about a twenty-three year old friend of one of my classmates who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in July of 2015. Not only did this diagnosis come a week before her twenty-second birthday, but her MS joined a number of other medical diagnosis already present. Thankfully, the MS she contracted is the mildest form of MS with intermittent bouts of the symptoms occurring. Currently, she is living alone and in law school. She also volunteers weekly doing equine therapy. Her goals throughout OT are to keep pursuing her interests in horseback riding and continuing law school. Helping the client to find adaptive ways to write, horseback ride, and conserve energy are all ways OT can help the client to pursue her goals.

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Adapting the Practice of OT

The beautiful thing about occupational therapy as a profession is its adaptability. It thrives in an environment that is multi-dimensional where the profession morphs according to the client. "Client-centered" and "top-down approach" are all key terms when describing OT. Instead of being a rigid process with little adaptation, the profession molds into the best fit for each specific client. Occupational therapists are more than just practitioners. In a way, OTs are detectives, teachers, and companions. One theory that capitalizes on the adaptability of OT is Frame of Reference (FoR). FoR implements the strengths of OT by allowing the practitioner's roles to adapt to each individual client. Using the client's FoR aids the therapist to develop an intervention that best suites his specific needs. This is where solving mysteries and applying reasoning to the situation is useful. Deducing the client's motivations and context are key in the deve...

The Changing Faces of Dementia

If you have not read Kathy Ritchie's blog on her experience coping with her mother's declining health after her diagnosis in 2010 with frontotemporal dementia, you should! It is a riveting example of the difficulties encountered when a relative forgets those closest to their heart. Kathy talks about the shock of learning about her mother's diagnosis and the decline in her memory and outbursts in church. For Kathy, her mother's death in 2014 felt swift and yet drawn out. All she wanted for her mother was peace, but yet it was a hard realization to let go. In a sense, death was the right answer, because her mother was not the same person Kathy had known, yet Kathy talks about how she misses her previous mother. The mother that bore her. The mother that raised her. The mother that loved her. However, the loss of the mother she spent those four years feeding, bathing, and dressing was not difficult. After reading about the frustrations...

TransFatty Lives

You can listen and research about the way someone with a disease might live, but you never truly understand what their life is like until you witness it firsthand. This is exactly what happened to me after watching "TransFatty Lives," a documentary about Patrick O'Brien's life after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Being a movie producer, O'Brien felt it necessary to capture every moment of his life from then on -- not leaving anything out. It was like I was able to personally witness the progression of his fight with ALS through the film. I watched as his functioning slowly but surely left his body. I watched as the telltale signs of his condition progressed throughout his body. I watched him, and three other grown men, struggle to get him in the shower. It was real. It was heartbreaking. It was him. The incredible part to witness was his continual effort to be himself. Even though he admittedly ...

Occupational Therapy: Where Science and Spirituality Collide

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