Category:Anti-psychiatry

Anti-psychiatry is the opposition to the current practices of psychiatry or scientific findings of psychology on which the medical practice of psychiatry is based.

This opposition may be based simply on criticism of the methods that psychiatry uses to treat mental illness. It may also, or instead, be based on a belief that "mental illness" is in fact a myth; that what society deems to be a patient's "mental illness" is a result of the patient subscribing to a different belief system than the society does. While this belief can reflect the fundamental dichotomy between an individual's rights and those of authorities, the fear and mistrust regarding the psychiatric profession, influencing much of the opinions of this position.

Psychiatric medication, in particular, is viewed with suspicion, particularly after so much propaganda has been aimed at recreational drug use. The effectiveness of medication cannot be overstated; it has turned the profession completely around; this success has lead to its use becoming wide spread, which in turn becomes a source of anxiety to those who mistrust it. The situation is complicated by the economic force and influence that pharmaceutical companies exert on the medical community and consumers, and the cases of these companies' manipulation in order to increase the market for their products are quite real.[1][2]

This category is for articles on people, organizations, concepts and things specifically associated with anti-psychiatry. Care should be taken not to add articles on subjects about which anti-psychiatry advocates may feel strongly, but which are more properly associated with psychiatry (as this would simply make the category redundant with 'Category:Psychiatry'). For articles on the political abuse of psychiatry, consider using 'Category:Political abuses of psychiatry' instead.