Critical Psychiatry, Critical Psychology, and the Behaviorism of B. F. Skinner

Abstract

Critical psychiatry suggests that the currently dominant medical model in psychiatry overstates internal disturbance and understates environmental stressors as important causal factors in psychological distress. Critical psychology suggests that when individuals experience problems in a culture, psychology emphasizes individual, rather than cultural, change. This article provides a brief overview of critical psychiatry and critical psychology and outlines how both movements share important epistemological similarities with the writings of B. F. Skinner, the founder of radical behaviorism.