This research project explores how activists in the (post-)Yugoslav space have worked to make
psychiatry more humane, democratic, and community-oriented. After Yugoslavias breakup, many
important activist efforts were forgotten, especially those aimed at reducing violence in psychiatric
care, questioning the power of large mental hospitals, and giving more control to people living with
mental health difficulties. These efforts remained largely invisible, partly because psychiatry in the
region has often been closely associated with authoritarian and patriarchal values. Rather than
welcoming critical ideas from the social sciences and wider activist circles, psychiatry has often
supported conservative political agendas while rarely questioning its own role and assumptions. This
study draws attention to three waves of activism: one in the 1980s, involving groups in Belgrade and
Ljubljana who sought to shift care into community settings; one during and immediately after the wars
of the 1990s, when professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina worked to rebuild services outside of
institutions; and a more recent wave from 2000 to 2020, when user-led and LGBTQ activist groups in
Serbia and Croatia began offering alternative therapeutic services. This research is based on interviews,
documentary analysis, and direct observation of conferences, public debates, and therapeutic group
sessions. By focusing on the voices of activists, service users, and marginalised communities, this
project highlights their role in advocating for fairer and more inclusive mental health care. It also
challenges the common tendency to analyse post-Yugoslav countries in isolation by tracing how
activists have collaborated across borders during and after the breakup of Yugoslavia.