ABSTRACT
Psychiatric hospitals sometimes inadvertently become only instruments of social control, often in spite of the efforts of therapists working there. The position of the irreverent therapist varies from that of a revolutionary, since the therapist's is not a quest to overcome oppression. As an analogy, one could say that irreverence on the part of the people and leaders of the former Soviet Union made a superpower dissolve. The irreverent therapist doubts that any theory or model has or will capture the "true" essence of human behaviour, always reserving the flexibility to challenge the limitations inherent in descriptions imposed by the institution, the client, and, most importantly, by his own biases. The consultant, exercising irreverence, was also aware that he might never be invited back to this traditional setting to consult again, even though the intervention was successful. The man became irreverent by changing his perception of the institution as a persecutor, accepting it as a nice place to live.
