Themes in a Therapeutic Community

Abstract

Introduction The therapeutic community method of treatment was developed by Maxwell Jones at Belmont Hospital (Jones et al., 1952; Jones, 1954; Rapoport, 1960) for the treatment of psychopathic personalities. The method has been applied to an admission unit by Wilmer (1958) and to psychopathic personalities by Craft (1965). Clark (1964) has differentiated between ‘the therapeutic community approach’, of increased activity, freedom and responsibility for all patients in the hospital, and the ‘therapeutic community proper’, the small unit with face-to-face gatherings of all members, social analysis of events, opening of communications, flattening of the authority pyramid and blurring of roles.