Therapeutic Community is a redesign of the in-patient social environment to produce therapeutic change. Patients play an active role in their own treatment. The patients in the organization meet usually daily, in face-to-face meetings. The authority pyramid is flattened so that the traditional power hierarchy diminishes and all members of the community, both patients and staff, can contribute to ward administration. Thus, as patients assume more responsibility, roles become blurred and the communication process becomes an open one. (9 pp.)