- Milieu Therapy
Milieu Therapy is a form of
psychotherapy that involves the use of therapeuticcommunities . Patients join a group of around 30, for between 9 and 18 months. During their stay, patients are encouraged to take responsibility for themselves and the others within the unit. Milieu therapy is thought to be of value in treatingpersonality disorders andbehavioural problems .Henderson Hospital , inLondon , uses this type of psychotherapy. [cite book |author=Cameron, A |title=Crash Course Psychiatry |publisher=Mosby |year=2004 |edition=2nd |isbn=0-7234-3340-2]In Children [captured from: www.focus-alternative.org/milieu.htm]
Milieu therapy can also be used in children. It has been in existence since the late 1800s when moral treatment and therapeutic communities [Varcarolis, E.M. (1990). Foundations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. New York: W.B. Saunders Company, p. 30. ISBN 0-7216-1976-2. ] were key issues in the treatment of psychiatric problems. It has been used as a viable treatment modality for kids for over fifty years in residential and inpatient settings and more recently in the partial hospitalization and day treatment settings. August Aichorn, Bruno Bettelheim, Fritz Redl and David Wineman were among the early pioneers in using Milieu Therapy to treat "impulse-ridden and ego-impaired" kids in residential and school settings as early as the 1920s. Their work collectively has taught us that Milieu Therapy can be a powerful therapeutic tool when individual dynamics and the social system can be combined in a planned and meaningful way to manage and change behavior and relationships.
Milieu Therapy is a planned treatment environment in which everyday events and interactions are therapeutically designed for the purpose of enhancing social skills and building confidence. Academics are woven into the daily routine using an integrative and interactive approach that incorporates learning styles and areas of interest.
The milieu, or "life space," provides a safe environment that is rich with social opportunities and immediate feedback from caring staff. The milieu is not static but it is flexible and features normalizing and developmental perspectives that use common structures intended to be familiar to all children, such as daily routines, consistent rules and activities. The therapy is planned in such a way that it is constantly supporting, guiding and reinforcing the child's ability to learn life tools, such as problem solving and coping skills, while at the same time offering a safe place for these skills to be practiced and integrated into the child's repertoire of strategies. The milieu takes into consideration the perspective of the child as well as the perspective of the milieu at large. A simple example of this is a "wrap-up group" at the end of the day, where kids first tell what they appreciate from that day, and what their high point and low point are. Metaphorically, this teaches kids that every day has its ups and downs, yet there is always something that can be appreciated. They could do a self-evaluation and get feedback (not criticism) from the other kids. This is a very powerful group and can give kids an opportunity to see how others view them in a non-threatening forum.
One of Milieu therapy's primary goals is to teach kids "how" to "fit in" socially and emotionally in their world without changing "who" they are. They learn new skills that help them to better understand themselves and their relationships. The milieu is not a static environment, but is flexible and incorporates the use of common structures familiar to all children, such as daily routines, predictable rules and activities.
External links
* [http://www.swlstg-tr.nhs.uk/ Henderson Hospital Trust]
References
3. Varcarolis, E.M. (1990). Foundations of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. New York: W.B. Saunders Company, p. 30. ISBN 0-7216-1976-2
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