OT assessment - what will they ask?

[shivvy]

I wonder if anyone could advise me about what sort of questions an Occupational Therapist might ask in an assessment of someone who has been off work for a number of years due to anxiety?

[squarebear]

A number of years?!?!

Probably, how have they got away with it for so long.

[Mosaic]

My experience of OT has been very positive, and the person I dealt with seemed very supportive and by no means working to a script to push me in one direction or another.

[Eve]

I'd have thought questions about how they are feeling now, coping strategies etc...

When they last had symptoms to varying degrees (eg from a bit of a wobble to not being able to cope), triggers, what helps (and what might help them in the workplace), what has changed, how they feel they can cope etc...

All sorts of scenarios so some context would help, could be from someone who is just easily stressed to someone who has had a full blown breakdown or suffering some kind of post traumatic stress. It would make a difference if any triggers were related to the workplace as to how to deal with it eg witnessing something traumatic at work or something traumatic happening versus something in their personal life or general disposition.

[China Doll]

Basically they'll be looking at what they can do to support your return to work. If you feel you can't get on board with that then I would suggest you hand in your notice and look for alternative work that you can do and I imagine the employers would think that too. OT's are good and helpful (in my experience) but someone who's been suffering with this for years and who has either been off work sick for a long time or who comes back and shortly after goes sick again is really a drain on resources for the employer and clearly in the wrong job for the person as it's making them ill.

[shivvy]

Thank you so much for your answers everyone (apart from squarebear obviously).

I don't have all the details but I know that the stress is not primarily work related. However the job is very stressful so when the other issues caused the anxiety it had a huge impact on the ability to do the job.

[squarebear]

My apologies but we had someone in a similar situation and it provided a huge strain on the rest of us to cover their work over the six months or so that they were away.

Needless to say, when they returned, it wasn't for long.