ABSTRACT
The predominant movement in the UK, Europe, and the United States has been to focus on the therapeutic community idea as the only model to maximise the therapeutic aspects of psychiatric settings. I will briefly review the therapeutic community movement and key principles as well as outlining the rather contemporary idea of a therapeutic environment. Having done this, I will propose a new idea, “therapeutic atmospheres”, which I believe can be created in most psychiatric, mental health, and social care settings and which, I think, create the best opportunity for the patient to make a personal, clinical, and social recovery from severe mental illness.
