title: To survive, to become: our way of life (Presidential address).
abstract: Occupational therapy's domain consists of a carefully compounded alchemy of a great vision, transforming the "poetry of the commonplace" into a vital sustainer and prolonger of precious life. Through the judicious application of an unique technology--human occupation--cautiously blended with timeless values and beliefs, we will inevitably succeed where others have failed. The grand tasks of occupational therapy abide and endure: to attend to the multiple, complex, interrelated, and critical human activities of not just living, but living well. Through the habits of attention and interest, we engage the human in regaining the harmony of functions that ensure survival, retaining those characteristics that facilitate and push balanced growth and development, and attaining those interdependent meanings of a purposeful, fulfilled life within the context of a personal and social order.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000523:psychology / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States; D014931:Women, Working / Q000523:psychology