I feel the survivor movement in the USA and the various groups such as Soteria network in UK, are very important.
Sadly the more one looks deep into psychiatry, the more you realise pros for both traditional psychiatry and for critics of the system.
Criticism of psychiatry is at its best when talking of psychiatry's connections to the drug industry ie pharmaceutical companies.
Not very ethical at times.
Yet a consultant psychiatrist faced with a very distressed individual in a hospital. Can she offer her in depth counselling and then blame childhood trauma? Well first it's not quite attainable to get a person in that state to listen to anything.
Medication? Yes please, cry all professionals....and rightly so in such cases.
Such fascinating and complex ideas stem from one's readings in mental health.