Introduction

The concept of a therapeutic community has tended to be used in so many ways that its meaning has become vague and confused. Nevertheless it is becoming increasingly clear that the social environment of psychiatric patients whether in hospital or in the outside community can have a profound effect on their readjustment and eventual recovery. To study these social forces and apply them in therapeutically desirable ways calls for the closest collaboration between the psychiatric team and their social-science colleagues. It was in this context that we sought the help that was so generously afforded us by the Nuffield Foundation and the Medical Research Council.