--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Therapy entails the application of…" description: "\"“Therapy entails the application of conceptual machinery to ensure that actual or potential deviants stay within the institutionalized definitions of r..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/peter-l-berger-8474_mental-health_therapy-entails-the-application-of-conce_2879874.png" --- # Therapy entails the application of conceptual machinery to… ![“Therapy entails the application of conceptual machinery to ensure that actual or potential deviants stay within the institutionalized definitions of reality, or, in other words, to prevent the “inhabitants” of a given universe from “emigrating.” It does this by applying the legitimating apparatus…” quote by Peter L. Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/peter-l-berger-8474_mental-health_therapy-entails-the-application-of-conce_2879874.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/peter-l-berger-8474_mental-health_therapy-entails-the-application-of-conce_2879874.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/peter-l-berger-8474_mental-health_therapy-entails-the-application-of-conce_2879874.png) > ““Therapy entails the application of conceptual machinery to ensure that actual or potential deviants stay within the institutionalized definitions of reality, or, in other words, to prevent the “inhabitants” of a given universe from “emigrating.” It does this by applying the legitimating apparatus to individual “cases.” Since, as we have seen, every society faces the danger of individual deviance, we may assume that therapy in one form or another is a global social phenomenon. Its specific institutional arrangements, from exorcism to psychoanalysis, from pastoral care to personnel counseling programs, belong, of course, under the category of social control. What interests us here, however, is the conceptual aspect of therapy. Since therapy must concern itself with deviations from the “official” definitions of reality, it must develop a conceptual machinery to account for such deviations and to maintain the realities thus challenged. This requires a body of knowledge that includes a theory of deviance, a diagnostic apparatus, and a conceptual system for the “cure of souls.”” [Peter L. Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-l-berger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Therapy acts as social control, using concepts to keep individuals within accepted reality definitions. **In simple terms:** Therapy enforces societal norms through conceptual tools. Key Takeaway Question and understand the norms shaping therapy. Themes social control therapy deviance Mood critical analytical Type sociological critical When to use this quote - mental health practice - education - policy making Key Concepts institutional power diagnostic frameworks Questions to Reflect On - What freedoms are limited by therapeutic norms? - How can therapy balance control and autonomy? A Different Perspective Therapy may suppress individuality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mental health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mental-health/) [Social control](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-control/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Therapy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/therapy/) ## Related quotes > [“Reciprocal typifications of actions are built up in the course of a shared history. They cannot be created instantaneously. Institutions always have a history,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-l-berger/reciprocal-typifications-of-actions-are-built-up-in-the-course-of-a/) [Peter L. Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-l-berger/) > [“The Maoist mechanisms of social control have been loosened. A totalitarian state has become merely an authoritarian one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-g-chang/the-maoist-mechanisms-of-social-control-have-been-loosened-a/) [Gordon G. 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It's an emotional torture against our most innocent citizens: our children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gavin-newsom/make-no-mistake-conversion-therapy-is-not-about-praying-away-the-gay/) [Gavin Newsom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gavin-newsom/) [Browse all 3,803 Mental health quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mental-health/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Therapy entails the application of conceptual machinery to ensure that actual or potential deviants stay within the institutionalized definitions of reality, or, in other words, to prevent the “inhabitants” of a given universe from “emigrating.” It does this by applying the legitimating apparatus to individual “cases.” Since, as we have seen, every society faces the danger of individual deviance, we may assume that therapy in one form or another is a global social phenomenon. 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