Therapy Management: Concept, Reality, Process

“Therapy management” (diagnosis, selection, and evaluation of treatment, as well as support of the sufferer) and “therapy management group” (the set of individuals who take charge of therapy management with or on behalf of the sufferer) are two concepts developed in medical anthropological research in Central Africa and reported in The Quest for Therapy in Lower Zaire (Janzen 1978). The concepts are described in terms of their historical development, subsequent reception by reviewers, and use by later researchers in the analysis of a range of subjects in medical anthropology. “Therapy management” holds promise for contextually sensitive analyses of the relationships among cultural assumptions and values, behavioral processes, and social and economic structures that influence the therapeutic process.