1. Is critical psychiatry the same as “anti-psychiatry”?
D B Double

2. David Cooper ( )
Psychiatry and anti-psychiatry (1967)

3. David Cooper (1931-1986) Psychiatry and anti-psychiatry (1967)
“[P]sychiatry … has aligned itself far too closely with the alienated needs of society”

4. David Cooper ( )
Villa 21 – an experiment in anti-psychiatry

5. David Cooper (1931-1986) Villa 21 – an experiment in anti-psychiatry
Positive non-action, “an effort to cease interference, to ‘lay off’ other people and give them and oneself a chance”

6. Definition by mainstream psychiatry
International movement against psychiatry which is “anti-medical, anti-therapeutic, anti-institutional and anti-scientific” (Roth, 1973)

7. Definition by mainstream psychiatry
International movement against psychiatry which is “anti-medical, anti-therapeutic, anti-institutional and anti-scientific” (Roth, 1973)
Generally seen as a passing phase in the history of psychiatry

8. RD Laing ( )
Not an anti-psychiatrist

9. RD Laing (1927-1989) Not an anti-psychiatrist
Athough agreed with anti-psychiatric thesis that “by and large psychiatry functions to exclude and repress those elements society wants excluded and repressed”

10. RD Laing ( )
Madness is much more understandable than commonly assumed

11. RD Laing ( )
Madness is much more understandable than commonly assumed
So-called normality is too often an abdication of our true potentialities

12. Thomas Szasz (1920-)
Not an anti-psychiatrist

13. Thomas Szasz (1920-)
Not an anti-psychiatrist, although also not a “psychiatrist”, as psychiatry is associated with coercion

14. Thomas Szasz (1920-)
Not an anti-psychiatrist, although also not a “psychiatrist”, as psychiatry is associated with coercion
“Because both the anti-psychiatrists and I oppose certain aspects of psychiatry, our views are combined and confused”

15. Thomas Szasz (1920-)
Mental illness is a myth, as disease is physical

16. Thomas Szasz (1920-) Mental illness is a myth, as disease is physical
State should not interfere in mental health practice or medicine in general

17. The “anti” element in anti-psychiatry
Psychiatry objectifies people and therefore becomes part of the problem rather than the solution to mental health problems

18. The “anti” element in anti-psychiatry
Psychiatry objectifies people and therefore becomes part of the problem rather than the solution to mental health problems
May have gone too far in abandoning notion of mental pathology

19. Excesses of anti-psychiatry
Cooper and Laing ultimately more interested in personal authenticity than changing psychiatry

20. Excesses of anti-psychiatry
Cooper and Laing ultimately more interested in personal authenticity than changing psychiatry
Few would want to go as far as Szasz in proposing no mental health law

21. Excesses of anti-psychiatry
Cooper and Laing ultimately more interested in personal authenticity than changing psychiatry
Few would want to go as far as Szasz in proposing no mental health law
Cooper’s excursion into family, sexual and revolutionary politics

22. Critical psychiatry
Does not deny its roots in anti-psychiatry

23. Critical psychiatry Does not deny its roots in anti-psychiatry
Seeks to avoid excesses of anti-psychiatry and polarisation in the debate about nature of mental disorder

24. Critical psychiatry
Psychiatry can be practised without the justification of postulating brain pathology as the basis for mental illness

25. Critical psychiatry
Psychiatry can be practised without the justification of postulating brain pathology as the basis for mental illness
Minds are enabled but not reducible to brains

26. Critical psychiatry
Psychiatry can be practised without the justification of postulating brain pathology as the basis for mental illness
Minds are enabled but not reducible to brains
Genes set the boundaries of the possible; environments define the actual

27. Encouraging self-criticism
Inclined to find fault, or to judge with severity

28. Encouraging self-criticism
Inclined to find fault, or to judge with severity
Characterised by careful, exact evaluation and judgement

29. Encouraging self-criticism
Inclined to find fault, or to judge with severity
Characterised by careful, exact evaluation and judgement
Of the greatest importance to the way things might happen

30. Reflective practice
Preparedness to think critically

31. Reflective practice Preparedness to think critically
Tolerate the uncertainty and ambiguity required during reflection

32. Reflective practice Preparedness to think critically
Tolerate the uncertainty and ambiguity required during reflection
Ability to think about own thinking processes and critically assess assumptions and beliefs

33. Critical theory
Loose collection of theories critical of society and the human sciences

34. Critical theory
Loose collection of theories critical of society and the human sciences
Frankfurt Institute for Social Research

35. Critical theory
Rational basis of social existence theoretically impossible

36. Critical theory
Rational basis of social existence theoretically impossible
Systems of collective beliefs legitimate various power structures

37. Scientific basis of critical psychiatry
Critique of science as positivism

38. Scientific basis of critical psychiatry
Critique of science as positivism
Interpretation important in establishing “facts”

39. Scientific basis of critical psychiatry
Corporate interests are compromising objective research

40. Scientific basis of critical psychiatry
Corporate interests are compromising objective research
Bias in interpretation of randomised controlled trials

41. A simplified comparison
Biomedical psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry
Critical psychiatry
Science
Positivist
Non-positivist

42. A simplified comparison
Biomedical psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry
Critical psychiatry
Science
Positivist
Non-positivist
Focus
Brain mechanisms
Person

43. A simplified comparison
Biomedical psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry
Critical psychiatry
Psycho-pathology
Yes No

44. A simplified comparison
Biomedical psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry
Critical psychiatry
Psycho-pathology
Yes No
Empirical

45. A simplified comparison
Biomedical psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry
Critical psychiatry
Psycho-pathology
Yes No
Empirical
Social control

46. Conclusion
Mental disorders are not brain diseases

47. Conclusion Mental disorders are not brain diseases
Psychiatrist is agent of social control

48. Conclusion Mental disorders are not brain diseases
Psychiatrist is agent of social control
Mental disorders must show through the brain but not always in the brain