Posttraumatic stress disorder and occupational performance: Building resilience and fostering occupational adaptation

Issue title: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Work

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Lopez, Alexander

Affiliations: School of Health Technology and Management, Occupational Therapy Program, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8206, USA. Tel.: +1 631 444 1094; Fax: +1 631 444 6305; E-mail: alexander.lopez@stonybrook.edu

Abstract: Resilience and vulnerability refer to an individual's capacity to persevere in the face of adversity. Resiliency and vulnerability are distinctive personal characteristics influenced by environmental factors such as socio-cultural and institutional contexts. Resiliency and vulnerability are not absolute; they are psychosocial constructs of a phenomenological continuum. Hence, a resilient individual is not invincible to all life events but has the capacity to endure in most circumstances. Clients who sustain traumatic injuries or witness traumatic events have a greater vulnerability to stress disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Occupational therapy practitioners should be cognizant of a client's resilient and adaptive capacities when providing services to a client who has endured a traumatic event. This paper explores resilience theory and its application to occupational therapy practice.

Keywords: Occupation, vulnerability, social contexts

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2011-1102

Journal: Work, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 33-38, 2011