Occupational Therapy: A Glimpse of Its Future

Padilla and Peyton introduced the idea of neurooccupation as a way of resolving the typically Western conflict inherent in the reductionism-versus-holism dichotomy, or the separation of mind and body. They propose the term neuro-occupation signifies occupational therapy's historical view of the person as an active and dynamic participant in doing with the understanding that the central nervous system not only influences occupation, but that through occupation, humans influence, that is organize and reorganize, the central nervous system. The notion of a reciprocal relationship between doing and the central nervous system is not new. However, given recent research findings that support the idea that the nervous system is capable of reorganization in response to external challenges, the concept of neuro-occupation provides occupational therapists with a framework for taking advantage of applicable brain research and developing theories and research agendas that have the potential of better explaining the therapeutic use of occupation.