THEORY, PRACTICE AND EVIDENCE IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY A DYNAMIC Essay

THEORY, PRACTICE AND EVIDENCE IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY A DYNAMIC TRILOGY - Essay Example Dissociative disorders may be thought of in terms of adaptation. The dissociative response to stress has served an adaptive role in the patient's life in the past in that it has protected the person against the full-blown impact of intense emotional pain and trauma. By the time someone with dissociative problems is in treatment or is seen by an occupational therapist, the dissociate is no longer adaptive. It interferes with the person's ability to face and cope with reality, and thus with the ability to function. The purpose of occupational therapy treatment for patients with dissociative disorders is twofold. Patients need first to recognize their fear of experiencing emotions and begin to allow and accept their feelings. They need to recognize formerly traumatic events that hold many conflicting, painful feelings for them. Occupational therapy and expressive and cognitive media can aid in individual's exploration toward self-awareness. Second, occupational therapy can help people learn new functional ways of coping when their fears interfere with functioning and daily life. The acknowledgement and acceptance of painful emotions can be very frightening for patients with dissociative disorders who understandably may have a difficult time choosing to face their difficult realities over choosing a more familiar and comfortable escape. It takes time and the development of a trustworthy therapeutic relationship for patients to be willing to risk this change. Part of "accepting" feelings involves learning more effective ways to cope with the accompanying pain rather than escaping into the altered reality or different personality. This involves, first, learning to recognize personal patterns of dissociation - in other words, when, where, how and under what circumstances dissociation tends to occur - in order to avoid using these old patterns when stress increases. Second, it involves relearning and learning specific new strategies for coping with stresses that may have induced the person to dissociate in the first place. The integrating of personalities means that some personalities will no longer exist as separate and distinct. Alters typically perform specific, compartmentalized functions. Talents and skills that may have resided with one alter may thus be lost, resulting in a loss of familiar ways of coping. Therefore, the newly integrated individual may have much to relearn. An individual will typically have learned to dissociate to the exclusion of learning other, adaptive ways of coping. In this case, unfamiliar new ways of coping must be learned and new roles may have to be taken over and learned by the remaining personality or personalities. Occupational therapists, in conjunction with other members of the treatment team, can assist patients with dissociative disorders in all the ways described in the succeeding sections of the paper. The Therapeutic Approach Occupational Therapists can aid the therapy team by gathering historical information. This may often be expressed through a nonverbal medium (art, drawing, sculpting, and crafts) and thus is more likely to be facilitated in the occupational therapy process than in other therapies. Through the same process, occupational therapists can learn general information about specific alter personalities such as their names, ages, reasons why they were created and functions they serve for the

Stem Cell Research in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Paper

Stem Cell in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - Research Paper Example Medical science has no doubt about the ability of stem cell research in finding answers to some of the genetic and physical diseases. â€Å"A stem cell is a generic cell that can make exact copies of itself indefinitely. A stem cell has the ability to produce specialized cells for various tissues in the body, such as heart muscle, brain tissue, and liver tissue† (RightHealth Results for What Is Stem Cell). The major advantage of stem cell is that it can be saved for longer periods under suitable conditions and used later to cure some of the chronic diseases. Stem cells are usually taken from aborted fetuses (Embryonic stem cells) and from the bloods, intestines, skin, and muscle of people including children and adults (Adult stem cells). Embryonic stem cells seem to be more effective than the adult stem cells in treating chronic diseases. However, killing fetus for taking stem cell is an ethical issue which is causing barriers in the development of stem cell research. Stem cel ls are capable of renewing themselves in to different types of cells through division. It can be used to replace or repair malfunctioning or inactive cells. The above ability of stems cells in renewing and repairing inactive cells and tissues has caught the attention of medical sconce recently. Some of the major diseases which haunted medical science for years, are believed to be treated with the help of stem cells. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its adult stem cell protocol to conduct Phase I clinical trials to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), TCA Cellular Therapy, LLC announced. This is the second FDA-approved protocol for the treatment of ALS using stem cells in the country; and the first using adult stem cells from the same patient. The aim of the Phase I study is to assess safety of IND 13729, as a stem cell therapy for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (Stem cell therapy IND 13729 for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in clinical trials: TCA Cellular) Most of the Neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s etc are believed to be treated effectively with the help of embryonic stem cells. These diseases are often occurred because of the malfunctioning or inactiveness of certain cells and stem cells can repair or regenerate these cells and bring back the patient into his normal life. These diseases are often caused by the loss of structure or death of neurons. According to Inou (2010), Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers' is caused by problems in cortical neurons whereas in dementia, Lewy bodies, or frontotemporal lobar degeneration is causing the disease. Parkinson disease is caused by dopaminergic neurons whereas upper and lower motor neurons cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (Inou, p.2560). Neurons are responsible for gathering data from the senses and sending to the brain for analysis. The instructions from the br ain are transferred to the body organs by the neurons. If neurons fail to do its duty correctly, brain may not get the data and the body organs may not get instructions from the brain. Thus a person with neuron fault cannot lead a normal life. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS is another disease which is caused by neuron problems and it can be treated effectively with the help of stem cells. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. In about 10% of cases, ALS is caused by a genetic defect. In the