Madness and chaos in the culture of a therapeutic community
Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities
ISSN: 0964-1866
Article publication date: 17 April 2019
Issue publication date: 23 April 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of staff members working in a psychiatric therapeutic community in relation to ideas of “madness” and “chaos”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a qualitative study based on oral history group witness seminars.
Findings
The findings indicate that many of the participants experienced working in a therapeutic community as both exciting and unsettling; some found themselves questioning their own mental health at the time. Despite a sense of “madness” and chaos in the life of the community, there was also a feeling that it provided a containing environment for some very disturbed patients.
Originality/value
This study is unusual in drawing upon staff member’s perceptions of their own relationship to “madness” in response to being involved in the life of a therapeutic community.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank for their support and assistance to the members of the steering group of the Oxford Project on the Oral History of Mental Health Services in Oxfordshire: Peter Agulnik, Neil Armstrong, Craig Fees, John Hall, David Kennard and David Millard.
Citation
Leach, J.S.R. (2019), "Madness and chaos in the culture of a therapeutic community", Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 16-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/TC-04-2018-0006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited