TOTAL PUSH THERAPY

A supportive approach originated by Abraham Myerson for the treatment of chronic schizophrenics and other patients confined to mental institutions.To maintain morale and prevent deterioration among these patients, Myerson (1939) proposed to surround them with a highly stimulating environment and to involve them in constant activities. He felt that this would prevent them from lapsing into apathy and retreating from reality. The activities included daily walks, classes in bowling and other sports, showers and massages, and close attention to attractive clothing and neat appearance.As the patients improved, music, dance, crafts, and occupational therapy were used to rechannel feelings of hostility and promote social relationships and a sense of personal worth. Praise and reward as well as criticism and punishment were liberally used as motivations. All these procedures were combined to counteract the patient’s feeling that he had been rejected by a hostile world, and to replace the chronic frustrations usually experienced in a drab hospital environment with basic emotional satisfactions.The total push approach has had considerable effect on the improvement of the institutional conditions, including the introduction of music rooms, beauty parlors, and gymnasiums, as well as the wider use of psychiatric aides and volunteers who serve as a bridge to normal life. It is also closely related to the concepts of milieu therapy and the therapeutic communit"