See also Biopsychiatry controversy

Anti-psychiatry refers to a collection of alternative movements that challenge the fundamental theories and practices of (mainstream) psychiatry.

The main objections of the anti-psychiatry movement are:

1. The classification of various human behaviour patterns and mental phenomena as "mental illnesses" is arbitrary and does not satisfy basic scientific standards.
2. The specific definitions of or criteria for hundreds of current psychiatric diagnoses or disorders are vague and arbitrary, leaving too much room for opinions and interpretations to meet basic scientific standards.
3. Current psychiatric treatments are long-term far more damaging than helpful to the patients.
4. Psychiatrists have a historical record of playing a central role in oppressive government schemes like the incarceration and coercive treatment of political dissidents in former Soviet Union, and CIA mind-control experiments.

Within these movements, common criticisms include: that psychiatry applies medical concepts and tools inappropriately to the mind and society; that it too often treats patients against their will; that it inappropriately excludes other approaches to mental distress/disorder; that its medical and ethical integrity is compromised by financial and professional links with pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies; that it uses a system of categorical diagnoses (e.g., Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM) that they claim stigmatizes patients and to be ill-founded scientifically or clinically; and that the psychiatric system is experienced by too many of its patients as demeaning and controlling.

Individual mental health professionals and academics profess anti-psychiatry views . A proportion of users or ex-users of psychiatric services do as well. Some critics now focus on the predominant biological psychiatry. Despite its name, some parts of the movement promote a form of psychiatry which is merely contrary to current mainstream theories and methods. Some so-called "anti-psychiatrists" are keen to dissociate themselves from the term and the pejorative associations it has attracted.