ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the occupational therapy group as an interactional experience and on the application of such an experience within a short-term psychiatric setting. The group-oriented occupational therapy program is aimed at providing treatment. Groups may differ in terms of the modalities used, the content of focus, and the expectant level of participant functioning. The occupational therapy group can provide a cost-effective, expeditious and structured means of evaluating an individual's social-interactive skills. One primary goal is to enhance social-interactive skills in relation to the patient's potential and the demands of the environment to which he/she will return. General hospitals have opened their own short-term psychiatric units. The essence of inpatient psychiatric treatment is that it occurs in a controlled milieu. There is a strong parallel between the experiential and structured nature of milieu therapy in general and the occupational therapy group. Occupational therapists should be prepared to be very flexible in both therapeutic approach and program content.
