Occupational therapy's claim to be holistic, and its inclusion of four primary concepts in its definition and philosophical basc require that thc theoretical basis of any occupational therapy approach acknowledge a phenomenological dimension in the human being. Those four concepts arc: Self-actualization; intrinsic motivation; active participation; staisfaction of person and social requirements for productivity. An analysis of the major theoretical perspectives for occupational therapy in mental health indicates that the profession's predominant approaches do not include a phenomenological component and therefore are not holistic. Those approaches analyzed are Occupational Behavior, the analytic approaches of Moscy, Fidler and Fidler, and the Azimas, and the devclopmental approachcs of Mosey, Allen, and Llorens. Recommendations are made to effect a greater congruencc in reference to phenomenology betwcen the view of the human in occupational therapy as representcd by the official definitions and philosophical base and those theoretical perspectives which otherwise are reflcctive of the field's perspective.