Introduction

Distrust of and opposition to psychiatry emerged as an international phenomenon. The diagnosis of political dissidents in the Soviet Union as ‘mentally ill’ cast an additional worrying spotlight on psychiatry’s failings. There was also support from other movements. The emerging gay rights movement challenged the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, eventually largely achieving its goal. The developments loosely lumped together as ‘anti-psychiatry’ in the 1960s had many things in common as well as some significant differences. They offered critiques of psychiatry and mainstream ‘psych’ and their world views, and different understandings of madness and distress. The anti-psychiatrists were involved in reform and challenging abuse, as well as counter-theory building, so their appeal to a nascent survivor movement is hardly surprising.