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A brief moment of glory: the impact of the therapeutic community movement on the drug treatment systems in the UK
Author(s) -
Yates Rowdy
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2397.00499
Subject(s) - demise , therapeutic community , glory , drug treatment , enthusiasm , medicine , drug development , political science , drug , psychiatry , public administration , psychology , law , physics , optics , social psychology
The introduction of concept‐based therapeutic communities, based upon the model pioneered by Charles Dederich with the Synanon community in California, was a significant development in the evolution of drug treatment provision in the UK. For a short period in the 1970s, these communities enjoyed unparalleled influence in the development and direction of treatment approaches across the whole spectrum of services. This article considers the developments in psychiatry and social care that prepared the ground for that phenomenon. In addition, the article considers the subsequent demise in the importance of therapeutic communities to the direction of drug policy and the implications that this might have for future development of residential treatment services.