As the concepts of ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’ have broadened, multi-disciplinary researchers have re-examined the place of psychology and psychiatry. Their analyses typically apply social and historical ideas about how mental health/illness is constituted to examine the pervasive influence of psy-considerations in everyday lives. The diversity of interpretations relating to the presence, absence or critique of mental health and illness signal the seeming universality of such issues. However, within the academe there is frequently little interaction between disciplines on these topics, despite similarities in approaches, methods, insights, applications and, importantly, politics. In response to this relative scarcity, Critical Mental Health in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Social and Historical Perspectives represents current diversity within academic studies of mental health and illness in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Many of the chapters in this volume have emerged from the Social Production of Mental Health (SPMH) interdisciplinary seminar series (2020 onwards) that has featured scholars in sociology, history, education, social work, physiotherapy and psychology, reflecting the increased criticality within psychiatry, psychology and mental health research. This introduction outlines this book’s intentions, summaries of historical and social perspectives in Australia and Aotearoa, and each of the chapters.