Troubling 'therapeutic communities': Lived experience experts and abuse in the US 'troubled teen industry'

Description

Therapeutic communities are often hailed as a progressive alternative to inpatient psychiatric facilities. In the USA, this was notably popularised by drug rehabilitation community Synanon and is linked to the development of the ‘troubled teen industry’ (TTI). The TTI is a range of private residential facilities that seek to reform young people who have been labelled ‘mentally ill’, drug addicted, or in some way disruptive to the norms and expectations of their families and communities. TTI programmes are often run by ‘lived experience experts’, such as ex-addicts, who may or may not have formal qualifications. Reports of abuse and human rights violations in the industry are rife, often perpetuated by the ‘lived experience experts’. Drawing on my background as a Mad Studies scholar and activist as well as my experience as a TTI survivor-researcher, I will highlight the trouble with coercive control in therapeutic communities. Mad movements need to reconcile the liberatory potential of therapeutic communities with the real harms that come with radical approaches that often lack proper oversight and accountability structures, especially where profit motives come to the fore.

Period	25 Jun 2026
Event title	Political Pathologies: Between Resistance and Restraint
Event type	Conference
Location	Glasgow, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International