TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to describe the necessary primary emotional development experiences for healthy personality formation.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is a critical synthesis of psychoanalytic theory.Findings– Five experiences are judged necessary for health “primary emotional development”: attachment, containment, communication, inclusion and agency. These can be deliberately recreated in therapeutic environments to form a structure for “secondary emotional development”.Practical implications– The ways in which these qualities of a psychosocial environment can be produced are described.Social implications– Failure to recognise the importance of these qualities of an environment can cause unhealthy, or frankly toxic, psychosocial environments in various settings.Originality/value– This is the author's original work, and has relevance for all psychosocial environments.
VL  - 34
IS  - 1
SN  - 0964-1866
DO  - 10.1108/09641861311330464
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/09641861311330464
AU  - Haigh Rex
PY  - 2013
Y1  - 2013/01/01
TI  - The quintessence of a therapeutic environment
T2  - Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 6
EP  - 15
Y2  - 2024/05/10
ER  -