ABSTRACT
The anti-psychiatrists' conception of liberation and other key theoretical principles were not solely counter-cultural. This chapter explores the development of the anti-psychiatric theory, arguing that there is a continuum between their psychiatric ideas of the early 1960s and their overtly counter-cultural ideas of the late 1960s. It argues that the politics of the anti-psychiatric group were intimately connected to their study of the family and other inter-personal relationships. The chapter examines the anti-psychiatric theory of 'the family' and the political ontology which the group developed based on these ideas during the 1960s. It draws together the theoretical contributions of the various anti-psychiatrists as texts in conversation with each other, keeping in focus the network of interpersonal and group connections and the lines of communication and discourse. The chapter establishes the theoretical basis of the politics of the anti-psychiatric group, in particular their roots in ideas from various sources, ranging from psychoanalysis and group-psychology, to French existentialism.
