kb/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Psychiatry_Network-0.md

title	chunk	source	category	tags	date_saved	instance
Critical Psychiatry Network	1/4	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Psychiatry_Network	reference	science, encyclopedia	2026-05-05T09:09:07.013684+00:00	kb-cron

The Critical Psychiatry Network (CPN) is a group of psychiatrists who advocate for reform towards a more reflective, skeptical and patient-centered approach to psychiatry. CPN was created in January 1999 by psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, in response to proposals by the British government to amend the Mental Health Act 1983. The network was concerned about the potential for increased coercion in the act. Among their founders was Joanna Moncrieff, current co-chair of the network. "Critical psychiatry" can be contrasted with "anti-psychiatry", which is more abolitionist than reformative. Participants in the Critical Psychiatry Network share concerns about psychiatric practice where and when it is heavily dependent upon diagnostic classification and the use of psychopharmacology. These concerns reflect their recognition of poor construct validity amongst psychiatric diagnoses and scepticism about the efficacy of anti-depressants, mood stabilisers and anti-psychotic agents. According to them, these concerns have ramifications in the area of the use of psychiatric diagnosis to justify civil detention and the role of scientific knowledge in psychiatry, and an interest in promoting the study of interpersonal phenomena such as relationship, meaning and narrative in pursuit of better understanding and improved treatment. CPN has similarities and contrasts with earlier criticisms of conventional psychiatric practice, for example those associated with David Cooper, R. D. Laing and Thomas Szasz. Features of CPN are pragmatism and full acknowledgment of the suffering commonly associated with mental health difficulties. As a result, it functions primarily as a forum within which practitioners can share experiences of practice, and provide support and encouragement in developing improvements in mainstream NHS practice where most participants are employed. CPN maintains close links with service user or survivor led organisations such as the Hearing Voices Network, Intervoice and the Soteria Network, and with like-minded psychiatrists in other countries. It maintains its own website. The network is open to any sympathetic psychiatrist. Members meet in person, in the UK, twice a year. It is primarily intended for psychiatrists and psychiatric trainees and full participation is not available to other groups.

== Coercion and social control == The other involved the introduction of community treatment orders (CTOs) to make it possible to treat people against their wishes in the community. CPN submitted evidence to the Scoping Group set up by the government under Professor Genevra Richardson. This set out ethical and practical objections to CTOs, and ethical and human rights objections to the idea of reviewable detention. It was also critical of the concept of personality disorder as a diagnosis in psychiatry. In addition, CPN's evidence called for the use of advance statements, crisis cards and a statutory right to independent advocacy as ways of helping to sustain autonomy at times of crisis. CPN also responded to government consultation on the proposed amendment, and the white paper. The concern about these proposals caused a number of organizations to come together under the umbrella of the Mental Health Alliance to campaign in support of the protection of patients' and carers' rights, and to minimise coercion. CPN joined the Alliance's campaign, but resigned in 2005 when it became clear that the Alliance would accept those aspects of the House of Commons Scrutiny Committee's report that would result in the introduction of CTOs. Psychiatrists not identified with CPN shared the Network's concern about the more coercive aspects of the government's proposals, so CPN carried out a questionnaire survey of over two and a half thousand (2,500) consultant psychiatrists working in England seeking their views of the proposed changes. The responses (a response rate of 46%) indicated widespread concern in the profession about reviewable detention and CTOs. The CPN was paid attention by Thomas Szasz who wrote: "Members of the CPN, like their American counterparts, criticize the proliferation of psychiatric diagnoses and 'excessive' use of psychotropic drugs, but embrace psychiatric coercions."