Milieu Therapy

Book excerpt: The writings and activities of Bruno Bettelheim have forever changed perceptions of the treatment of children in residential care. His concern with milieu, or the meaning of the environment for mental health, has contributed not only to the psychoanalytic treatment of troubled children and adolescents, but also to a theory of person and environment, fostering morale and enhanced personal integration. His emphasis on the importance of the hour by hour management of children's daily living experiences and his attribution of a critical therapeutic role to the caretaker have profoundly influenced treatment as well as the recruitment and training of child care counselors and caretakers. Milieu Therapy: Significant Issues and Innovative Applications, a tribute to Bettelheim, illuminates continuing efforts to further understanding of the caring process and its impact upon healing and repair measures for disturbed children. The contributing authors of Milieu Therapy have themselves been influenced by the work of Bettelheim. In this book they: distill and clarify Bettelheim's clinical legacy survey a select group of his political and clinical articles describe how communication can be fostered between residents and staff through the architectural design of the residence, holiday celebrations, and students'choices of reading material address management issues posed by youngsters with symptoms of character disorder and provide a description and examples of a three level style of response to these children discuss the impact of the milieu of college residence on the lives of students and the problems and opportunities of group life According to D. Patrick Zimmerman, one of the contributors, " . . . [Bettelheim] was instrumental in promoting a lasting concern about discovering the best treatment methods possible for emotionally disturbed children. . . . He taught many of us . . . to deeply care and think about the fate of even the most severely impaired children. His arguments . . . continue to stimulate us to unashamedly examine ourselves in our work with troubled youth." Professionals who work with children and are interested in the impact and influence of Bruno Bettelheim and his work will find a wealth of knowledge in Milieu Therapy: Significant Issues and Innovative Applications.