Resistance: Diverse and Non-linear Journeys in Challenging Psy-knowledges

This chapter explores women’s resistances to psychiatric oppression and involuntary mental health treatment. It highlights women’s survivorship in response to mental health system interventions, while also engaging with the complexities of resistance, and how different social locations lead to diverse experiences and possibilities for resistance. Our research revealed the often lengthy and non-linear journeys of women in critiquing psy-oppression, which was usually not a simple, straightforward or single event. This demonstrates the importance of engaging with multiple forms of resistance, moving beyond the bounds of ‘traditional’ definitions of activism, to explore examples of women’s protest that might be otherwise overlooked or dismissed. In this way, we highlight women’s strategic navigation of complex systems, based on in-depth knowledge about the multi-layered dynamics and systems of psy-oppression.