UK : Treatment approaches called therapeutic communities in the Uk operate primarily in the field of mental health (and especially personality disorder), and tend to be democratic and ‘permissive’ (ie: with relatively few strictly enforced rules of conduct), in contrast to the usage in the US, where the term is used primarily in substance abuse treatment services,  which are generally strict over what behaviour is expected, and more ‘hierarchical’ in the way they are enforced. There has been much long debate about the essence of a TC  (see Johnson, 2012)

US : Treatment approaches called therapeutic communities in the US operate primarily in the field of substance abuse, and tend to be strict about members’ permitted behaviour (eg: abstinence), and hierarchical, in contrast to the usage in the UK, where the term is used for a more democratic and less rule-governed (or “permissive”) approach.. There has been much long debate about the essence of a TC  (see Johnson, 2012)