Anti-psychology describes the suspicion and resistance that some people feel towards psychological treatment. It is not a wholly accurate term, as critics tend to focus on psychological intervention in cases of mental illness rather than on psychology as a science, which covers a broad and diverse spectrum of topics. Thus at some points the term anti-psychiatry is more accurate. Some critics of psychology / psychiatry deny that mental illness exists at all, arguing that psychology / psychiatry aims to pathologise perfectly normal variations in human behaviour; whereas others accept the existence of mental illness but state that current mainstream psychological interventions are ineffective at best and unethical at worst.
Critiques against the application of psychology in its entirety often stem from moral objections to the degradation of the psyche through reductive systematic categorization. In this context the term "anti-psychology" may describe discontent with the incorporation of psychological tenets and techniques into religious practice. It may also describe the view that psychological manipulation affects the sovereignty of cognitive processes, corrupting free will. Psychology applied in this manner is readily discerned in advertising.