Moral treatment: contexts considered.

Many scholars associate the 19th-century practice of moral treatment with occupational therapy practice. A more thorough understanding of moral treatment is therefore relevant for occupational therapists. This article considers moral treatment within the contexts that shaped both its characteristics and the course of its practice--the medical community and 19th-century society. This consideration may provide therapists with a broader understanding of moral treatment and enable them to address the question of a relationship between the two practices.