The concept of the therapeutic community has become widely accepted as the basis model at which the modern mental hospital should aim. The therapeutic character of the therapeutic community can be shortly described as intrapsychic (by counteracting too great a regression, thus reinforcing the Ego) and interpsychic (by social learning in the community and family treatment to further uncover family dynamics, thus clarifying the patient's position in the social role he has chosen. Essential to therapeutic community is the democratisation of the patient-staff relationship: the shift of power and responsibility to the patients can be implicit (when the power in the community is shared by everybody, staff members and patients alike), or explicit (when power is delegated to the patients alone). Sharing and delegation of power have definite therapeutic consequences, with their respective emphasis on social dynamics or on government and decision-making, i.e. on responsibility. The rapid changes that took place after the introduction of the delegationsystem in a big mental hospital are shortly described.