Definition
Therapeutic community is a social and cultural therapeutic setting that is highly structured with defined boundaries, both moral and ethical, in which persons with similar problems receive treatment and provide mutual support to each other. More than a psychiatric treatment facility or hospital, it is usually a residential setting with the clients and therapists living together to support a rehabilitative approach based on milieu therapy principles that, when properly controlled, can have a positive impact. Although most commonly utilized in the addictions field, therapeutic communities for neurological disorders might include spinal cord or polytrauma programs in inpatient settings and would typically integrate rehabilitation therapies with opportunities to interact with other patients adjusting to similar trauma.
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De Leon, G. (Ed.). (1997). Community as method: Therapeutic communities for special populations and special settings. Westport: Praeger Publishers.
National Institute on Drug Abuse Research Report Series. (2002, August). Therapeutic communities (NIH Publication No. 02-4877). Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/Therapeutic/default.html
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Loftis, C. (2018). Therapeutic Community. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2128
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2128
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